I am a firm believer that before you can take care of others, you first have to take care of yourself.  Counselors have a very difficult job, that of trying to help individuals work out their issues.  On a day to day a counselor sits there listening to client issues.  These issues could be something as simple as having OCD to perhaps having to counsel a pedophile.  A counselor has to put his or her personal problems to the side and concentrate on helping others.  It would be easy to lose yourself and forget about taking care of your personal needs.  I am devising a plan for myself and for all of the counselors that I work with.  We are going to make sure there is at least 30 minutes out of the work day that will be devoted to a time out.  We will call this resiliency time, no clients will be scheduled under any circumstance during our resilient time.  

            The building is huge with much unused space.  The supervisor has agreed to turn one office into a gym and the other into a relaxation room.  Resiliency time can either be relaxing in a massage chair, where you can go and relax with soft music and dimmed lights.  The gym will be more of a stress relief room with treadmill, bike and a bow flex.  The idea is that with taking a time out counselors will be able to recoup and avoid burn outs.  This will be helpful to both the client and the counselor.  A happy client can remind a counselor that in the end it is all worth it.  Other things that I will do to make sure burnt out does not happen, is to join a support group and perhaps even attend counseling myself.  I would encourage all my peers to take advantage of the opportunities given to us to take a time out.