Self-Care by Michele Lozano

Take Away

mcastro7_13 — 2025-10-22 15:13:06 UTC

The biggest takeaway I got from all the readings was how important it is as a counselor to prioritize taking care of yourself. Compassion Fatigue, burnout, and secondary trauma are often lumped into the same category. Still, it is crucial to understand the difference so that you know the course of action to take to feel better. This understanding is so essential that it is even written in our code of ethics. The mass media have marketed self-care to us as bubble baths and facemasks. Still, in clinical and school settings, it is more about setting boundaries, seeking outside help, good supervision, and self-awareness.

Importance of Self-Care

mcastro7_13 — 2025-10-22 15:13:44 UTC

Whenever I think about self-care in the helping profession, I’m reminded of the airplane analogy which is putting on your own oxygen mask first. We must secure our own masks before we can assist others in need. As helpers, our natural inclination is to prioritize others’ needs over our own because we experience a sense of compassion satisfaction when we can support someone else. However, there’s often a sense of guilt, especially as a woman and a mother, about not putting others first. When we constantly give without replenishing ourselves, we eventually deplete our energy. Just like a car that runs without gas, we will eventually stop functioning. At that point, it becomes easy to make poor judgments and to lose compassion and empathy for others. We may even begin to feel resentment toward our clients or students when progress isn’t happening as quickly as we’d like, simply because we’ve invested so much of our time and energy.

We can not allow guilt to drive our decisions for self-care. That could mean just accepting that the grief will be there, acknowledging it, but then doing the work to care for yourself anyway. When we stop giving in to the guilt, the hope is that it will diminish gradually.

Personal Self Care Strategies

mcastro7_13 — 2025-10-22 15:24:15 UTC

The first self-care strategy I will implement falls under the category of Physical Self-Care. I will attend three high-intensity interval workouts every week. This will involve me ensuring that I go to bed by 10 p.m. and do not snooze my alarm when it goes off on workout days. To best prepare myself, I will ensure that I pick out my clothes for the next day and pack my gym bag ahead of time.

The second self-care strategy that I will implement is related to boundaries and communication. To practice this, I will prioritize delegating tasks in my personal and professional life and speak up to ask for help. An example of this would be assigning more tasks to those I supervise instead of keeping it all to myself. I know that I struggle with having control, and I often end up doing things myself because I don't want to ask or worry that it will be done incorrectly. I will also use this strategy in my personal life and not be afraid to ask my in-laws for their help with my son. An example of that could be asking them to watch my son so my husband and I can have a night out, or to do an extra task around the house while they are there watching my son. This could be starting the dishwasher, picking up the toys in the living room, etc. I feel guilty when I ask those around me for assistance. I need to learn to let the guilt pass and not fight it when it occurs.

Self Care Graphic Part 1

mcastro7_13 — 2025-10-22 15:24:33 UTC

Self Care Graphic Part 2

mcastro7_13 — 2025-10-22 16:10:09 UTC