Self-Care Padlet by

Burnout, Compassion Fatigue, and Secondary Trauma

afrasco1 — 2024-10-24 15:44:34 UTC

With the high burn out rate of counselors, I want to be proactive in staying balanced and healthy. I like the sayings 'Either stress controls me or I control the stress.' Also, the advice given as a professional counselor to 'enter their world but not being lost in that world.' I was amazed in the webinar: Compassion Fatigue in School Counselors she advised not to look at the faces of your client during a highly emotional session. She also spoke to increase emotional distancing so that you won't go down the slippery slope of burnout, compassion fatigue, and secondary trauma. It will be a tough balance to fully and actively listen and show empathy and also distance oneself so we can continue to do the work we hope to do. The example/image given of secondhand smoke really hit home with me. Counselors need to be proactive in not letting the client's problems impact us and our emotions, etc.

afrasco1 — 2024-10-24 15:46:46 UTC

afrasco1 — 2024-10-24 15:48:54 UTC

Self-Care

afrasco1 — 2024-10-24 15:50:05 UTC

Self-Care is crucial because you can't help others unless you help yourself. We have all seen people who are burned out, overworked, and need a break. After reading the readings given, it makes me want to create definitive actions I need to do in order to keep going. Like, I can't leave for work my spiritual, emotional, physical needs are met and then after work do a self-check on how low each of these tanks are, and then get to filling them right away. My biggest take away from all the readings is the need to take care of myself first. Again, and again the example was given while flying on a plane of you need to put your oxygen mask on first before assisting others. I thought of the acronym PIES=Physical, Intellectual, Emotional, and Spiritual. One could go a couple of days when things get crazy busy not exercising or perhaps reading a book, but the emotional and spiritual must be monitored daily.

Personal Self-Care Strategies

afrasco1 — 2024-10-24 15:52:13 UTC

One simple strategy that can be done anywhere at anytime was the STOP approach. Stop and pause. Take a deep breathe. Observe inside and out what is going on and how you are doing. Proceed with what you were doing. Another strategy is at the end of each day of counseling, to write down all the positive impact and improvement gained throughout the day. This would be a reminder to stay optimistic, positive, and also to remind why we are doing what we are doing. Helping each person improve in some way towards happiness, freedom, and greater joy. I want to start the day saying positive self-talk phrases and also after work do the same. Also, after work, on the drive home to speak out loud the things that are still in my brain replaying or need attention because they were highly emotional. Another exercise I do daily is say a short prayer and then mention something I'm grateful for and I do this ten times. Biking for me helps me in the physical, emotional, and spiritual categories and just being outside in nature and away from work or home is freeing. Several of the resources given in class, one attached above, are impactful and only take a few minutes a day.

My Self-Care Plan

afrasco1 — 2024-10-24 16:39:27 UTC

This particular visual really sums up the areas I want to work on this semester as a student. It is easy to just grab whatever food is accessible. I'm a doer so the desire to get up early to start school and sacrifice sleep. When my brain is slowing down and is telling me to take a break to do it.

afrasco1 — 2024-10-24 17:51:31 UTC

afrasco1 — 2024-10-24 17:53:25 UTC