The Ethics of Self-Care
Understand your responsibilities as a caring professional.
Posted February 4, 2020 | Reviewed by Abigail Fagan
Self-care as a counselor, educator, or health care professional is critical. Self-care forms the foundation for healthy emotional, physical, mental, and spiritual well-being. Many of you work in demanding situations, hold high expectations for yourselves, and believe you should be able to handle anything no matter what the challenge. But that can lead to burnout and compassion fatigue.
Do you recognize your own unique stressors? First off, compassion fatigue is a serious issue among counselors as literature points to a number of negative side effects:
You can also view compassion fatigue as secondary traumatic stress accumulated from helping or wanting to help a traumatized or suffering person. Another distinction to keep in mind is that secondary trauma and compassion fatigue are not the same as burnout. Burnout is associated with the daily stressors of the job whereas secondary trauma and compassion fatigue is directly related to what therapists absorb from clients’ material. Another difference is that burnout is often more subtle while secondary traumatic stress can have a rapid onset with similar symptoms to those affected by post-traumatic stress disorder.
Some therapists may believe they are immune to compassion fatigue but that is not true. Some may cope better than others, some may hide it better than others, but all are impacted by its residual effect on our minds, bodies, and psyches.
So what can you do to care for your own self?
For myself, I often go into the creative realm to recharge from the rigors of therapy. This can include writing, poetry, or creating workshops geared towards personal development, addictions, or multicultural issues. I also love basketball so I try to play periodically while also officiating games from elementary school through high school which allows me to escape my private persona as a therapist.
Finally, spiritual practices of prayer, meditation , and gathering with other like-minded individuals are what give me a sense of meaning, purpose, and vitality separate from my work or career . In other words, while we may love caring for others, this is not our identity and cannot be our source of validation. We must remain vigilant to find other means to nurture ourselves, lest we fall victim to burnout or compassion fatigue.
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Sam Louie is a therapist in Seattle who specializes in multicultural issues and sexual compulsivity.
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This article is part of the Bringwise Psychology Journal — daily insights on human behavior, mental health, and personal growth.