Social Work Self-Care
Happy National Social Work Month to future and current social work students, practicing professionals, and retired social workers out there!!
Today I’m going to be sharing some self-care tips specifically for social workers. We are currently practicing in a time of incredible chaos, and many of the other social workers that I am lucky to call friends or colleagues are all expressing the same thing: burnout. And so now more than ever, it is important to take a step back and make sure that our self-care toolbox is as diverse and equipped as possible.
I see you. I hear you. I am so grateful for the work that you do and am so appreciative of the sacrifice.
Now, let’s look at how to take care of ourselves, too, shall we?
Boundaries
Boundaries take two forms for me: boundaries with clients and workplace boundaries.
Client Boundaries can look like:
Only viewing/answering client inquiries (emails, phone calls, texts) during business hours
depending on your practice, you may have to modify this to include developing a screening process for emergencies
Being mindful or minimizing your use of self-disclosure
Maintaining the role of facilitator and goal of empowerment (doing with versus doing for)
Not running over your allotted time (particularly if it means going into your breaks or prep time!)
Workplace Boundaries can include:
Determining a caseload that you can reasonably and effectively maintain - and then sticking with this number
Note: when working in an agency or organization, caseloads may not be in your control. Boundaries in this case can look like advocating for your needs and working more collaboratively with your team as much as possible to share the load
Keeping communication with your colleagues and/or bosses limited to business hours
Turning off work devices (e.g. phone/computer)
Not downloading work-related apps onto personal devices (e.g. email/contacts/booking software)
Work/Life Balance
Similar to creating and maintaining boundaries with your employer or co-workers, this area can be particularly tricky if you work in - or own! - private practice. As a small business owner or member, it can be easy for our own thoughts and focus to stray to work on the evenings or weekends.
I argue this comes from a place of dedication. If you’ve ever found yourself late at night thinking about a treatment plan, or worrying about the success of a referral you’ve made - it’s because you care about your clients! You want the best for them and you are committed to the work that you are doing. I totally get that, and I’ve been guilty of this more than a few times. The problem with this is that your mental and emotional energy is still being taken up with work, and this interferes with a healthy work/life balance. We all know how important it is to leave our personal life at home, but we often allow our caseloads to come home with us.
This means that we aren’t getting a break or getting to refill our cup, because we are still carrying that weight around with us! When I find my thoughts straying to a client, or to something work-related, I find acknowledging what I’m doing and redirecting it to be helpful.
Or, if it is an idea that I consider important and I know I will forget (I have a terrible memory!!) I'll jot it down as quickly as possible for the next workday and then redirect my thoughts to the present.
Bonus: create a Transition Ritual (especially if you work from home or have a short commute!) to help symbolize the end of the Work Day and the beginning of Personal Time. This can be something like changing your clothing, or intentionally using your commute home as a time to process your day, or journaling/brain dumping.
Get the Support You Need
Create support networks!! Who can you go to for support at your agency or practice, even if it’s just for someone to empathize and validate your experience for a few minutes? If you have a supervisor, this is a great resource to be able to debrief on challenging situations or when you are struggling with something. Debriefing regularly can go a long way.
It’s also important to identify what support you have outside of social work as well, in order to help nurture you as a human, not just as a professional. Who can help ground you and remind you of your strengths? Who supports the work that you do, but can also help remind you of what else you have in your life - or what else is out there!
Bonus: Seeing a mental health professional yourself can also be beneficial, as this is an unbiased professional who can help you process and gain healthy coping strategies.
Break on Your Breaks
We’ve talked about work/life balance and boundaries, and a related but often forgotten area are our breaks.
Do you find yourself catching up on case notes during your lunch (guilty)? Do you skip your lunch breaks (guilty)? Do you take breaks during the day, or in between sessions - or do you find yourself using the opportunity to send an email or work on a project (again…guilty)?
Again, I believe that this comes from a place of commitment and dedication but it is not serving you! Our bodies were not made to sit in an office chair, stare at a computer screen, or not rest for 8-12 hours per day, 5 (or more!) days every week. So I encourage you to be mindful of how you are spending your workdays and try to ensure that periodically throughout the day you are taking a true break for yourself. This could be getting up and stretching, eating your lunch away from your desk, or even just taking a few moments between tasks to practice some mindfulness or do something that you enjoy (such as reading a few pages of a book or magazine, playing a game, or socializing).
Professional Distance
What may be one of the hardest acts of self-care is to work on not taking things personally.
While we hold space professionally, it is important that we don’t permanently take on the weight and responsibility for all of what our clients bring to us personally. I find this to be particularly true when working with clients who do not achieve a goal, or who relapse or experience a setback. It can be crushing. We can feel like a “bad social worker” or “bad therapist”. We can feel like we failed or are failing.
Here’s the thing: social workers are facilitators with the goal of empowering. We are not saviors and it is not our job to “fix” every problem. So it’s important to remember that our clients are not a reflection of ourselves, personally or professionally.
Refill Your Cup
Social workers have a tough profession. No matter what field or level of social work you are in, we all face systemic barriers, interpersonal challenges, and holding space for a variety of traumas and uncomfortable truths. It can be hard - no two ways about it. So it is essential that you are finding ways to include what brings you joy into each and every day. Many times we forget about this
As I’ve talked about before in other blog posts, self-care doesn’t have to be extensive or complicated. It can be as simple as making time for your favourite drink during the day (cotton candy herbal tea or iced coffee for me!), connecting for even a brief chat with a friend, or reading a few pages of a good book. The important thing is that in the face of trauma, grief, and the weight of what we are attempting to do, we can’t lose sight of what supports us and refills our proverbial cup.
