Self Care And The Well Being Of Individuals

The American Counselor’s Association task force was developed to raise the awareness of counselor impairments during their career in the helping profession (n.d.). This allows the counselor to discover where their own abilities are on a spectrum that ranges from wellness to impairment. Strategies for monitoring such ranges have been implemented and available to counselors to assist them in self-care (Lawson, 2007). Lawson (2007) states counselors must take initiative to take care of themselves in order to be able to serve others in the counseling profession.

Counseling is defined as ”the use of therapeutic strategies to help clients address personal concerns and mental health issues” (Nystul, 2016). Pursuing counseling as a career involves many years of formal study and certification or licensure. After receiving licensure to practice as a professional counselors it is a requirement to maintain involvement and certification in certain associations in order to hold your license. These association often require further education and/or professional practice in order to maintain membership in these associations. It is quite obvious that counseling requires a large amount of commitment and passion in order to pursue it as a career and maintain a title as a counselor. I have conducted an interview with a professional counselor in order to further understand the experience of being a counselor. The interview that I conducted explores the requirements of maintaining and receiving a counselling career, the experience of being a counselor, and what characteristics or skills a professional may have. The Individual who agreed to the interview was a counselor by the name of Susie Facio. Susie Facio, through this interview, will be giving us a look at what influenced her to become a counselor, what her work entails on a day to day basis, and what qualities and skills she has acquired in order to become a successful counselor.

Social Work is a helping profession that strives to help the community on micro, mezzo, and macro levels. It is an investment of self to offer services and help to those in need. Areas of service can include, but are not limited to, traumatic situations, family situations, and child protection. As in most social service professions, the field of social work can often times take a toll on the emotional and physical stability of a social worker. One side effect from working in a helping profession is compassion fatigue. As a result, the National Association of Social Workers stresses the importance of self-care and its vitality in ensuring the social worker does not get burnt out by the profession.

Nursing is a continually evolving discipline. Nursing theories and conceptual frameworks serve as basis for research, education, and standards of practice. Theory plays a vital role in every nurse’s practice as it aims to define, explain, and predict the phenomenon of nursing. It helps the nursing profession expand its practice, develop research studies, and enhance patient care. This paper will discusses two of the major nursing theorists and their respective works. The paper will focus on Dorothea Orem’s self-care theory and Madeleine Leininger’s theory of culture care diversity and universality. These famous nursing scholars have contributed immensely to the study of nursing and its practice.

Working in the helping field has its many joys and privileges. Seeing a child, whose self esteem is at the bottom, light up when he/she accomplishes a new task, see the growth an alcohol and drug addict has made in treatment, or to see the family, that when they entered the door of your office, was on the verge of separation, but now are communicating and working out their own needs with little assistance from you, their therapist, is some of the most rewarding moments one can experience. However, to believe that life is all about these positive moments and that the battles you join in with others to overcome will not have an impact on you

According to Wester, Trepal, and Myers (2009, p. 91), “well counselors are more likely to produce well clients.” Thus, the mental, physical, and emotional health of the counselors has the ability to affect their clients. ACA (2005) states that “Counselors act to avoid harming their clients”. Moreover, counselors have an ethical obligation to evaluate, address, and improve their wellness when necessary (Wolf, Thompson, Thompson, & Smith-Adcock, 2014). Research shows that higher organizational stress was associated with lower client participation in the treatment program (Landrum, Knight, & Flynn, 2012). In addition, the working alliance between the counselor and the client is diminished due to high stress and burnout (O’Sullivan, 2012). A counselor who experiences burnout may lack empathy, respect, positive feeling, therapeutic gridlock, and or boundary violations (Wallace, Lee, & Lee, 2010). Therefore, it is vital for counselors to remediate their impairments when they occur. Counselors have to be aware of the signs and symptoms related to their own mental or emotional problems (ACA, 2005). Likewise, counselors should build resiliency against burnout. Resiliency is built by a continuation of healthy decision making (Wester, Trepal, & Myers, 2009). Counselors should seek help or assistance when they observe warning signs of personal impairment, not just for themselves, but for the wellbeing of

Working as a therapist can be exhausting, but yet, rewarding at the same time. As a therapist we deal with daily encounters of other people’s lives, issues, problems etc. Taking multiple cases of providing therapeutic interventions has an effect on the human body and the psyche. The wear and tear over time begins to haunt us without recognizing how neglectful we can be towards ourselves because our focus is for the sake of other people’s sanity. The profession is hard, and can be detrimental to professionals who do not take care of themselves. Self-care is an important aspect when working as a therapist. Our health, mental health, spiritual values, etc. should matter just as the client’s health, mental health and spiritual values matters

Self-awareness and the use of self is a key component in social work practice. Depending upon how one integrates their personal being and accompanying thoughts, experiences, emotions, and consciousness into the helping profession has a profound impact on whether that integration is positive or negative, particularly when it comes to that of one’s relationships with their clients. While remaining impartial is often critical to effective social work practice, the complete separation of self from one’s professional practice is not only impossible to realize, but would arguably have less of a meaningful impact with one’s relations with clients as well as self. Understanding the use of self and the importance of self-awareness in the social work profession is the first step in establishing a healthy means of practicing and the impact that our own individuality has when interacting with clients. In this paper I will analyze, and further critically reflect upon, four academic journals on the topic of the use of self in social work; later applying this learning to an experience from my field placement.

This practice session was completed with Taryn Ellens on Tuesday March 7th, 2017. During this sesssion the client discussed her overwhelming feelings of stress and confusion surrounding her educational program as well as her place of employment. She shared that she was feeling overwhelmed in terms of her busy schedule and stressed because she wants to do well in her program and that she had been thinking about perhaps taking some time away from school or from work, but she had not made a decision yet. She noted that taking some time away from at least one aspect of her life would allow her to engage in some self-care and stress management, however, taking time away from work was not an ideal option at this time so she was considering taking

It is evident that the relationship between work stress and mental health has been established by numerous research studies. As discussed in Koesky (1993), the fact that all jobs involve some degree of stress makes it all the more alarming as to the level of stress experienced by individuals working in the human services. That is, given that these individuals are heavily involved in the lives of others, they often develop mental health symptoms that are characteristic of work-related stressors. In fact, “This involvement, which requires caring commitment and empathic responding, places workers at risk for a special type of strain commonly referred to as 'burnout'” (Koesky, 1993, p. 319).

Tragic events or hardships can impact therapists personally through their own experiences or through the stories told by their clients. It is crucial for therapist to develop their own self care plan in order to prevent burnout. Burnout in beginning therapist is very common. Beginning therapists often feel anxiety over the welfare of their client (Wityk, 2003). Therefore, when a client that is at high risk, the therapist can feel a greater responsibility over their welfare and feel overwhelmed. It is crucial that therapist take time to decompress and devise a plan to recharge their batteries. It is important to have recurrent balance and resilience (Osofsky, 2008).

Licensed professional counselors have a unique occupation in that not only do they interact with their clients on a highly personal level, but they also momentarily share their client’s burdens, worries, and concerns. This vicarious aspect of counseling creates the possibility for a counselor to continue sharing the client’s troubles long after the session has ended. According to Norcross and Guy (2007), “The person of the psychotherapist is inextricably intertwined with treatment success” (p. 2) meaning that if we desire more positive outcomes than negative ones we must figuratively become one with our clients. Due to this fact, “self-care is not simply a personal matter but also an ethical necessity, a moral imperative” (p. 6). If we fail to leave work at work at the day’s end, then other facets of our lives are in jeopardy of becoming tainted.

Stress management and self-soothing techniques are critical for surviving modern work—no matter the focus of the work. Psychotherapists tend to disregard their

What is self care deficit? Orem’s five methods of helping Maintaining nurse-patient relationship Managing system of nursing care Responding to patient request Coordinating care Continuing nursing care

A helping profession is one that nurtures the growth of or addresses the problems of a person's physical, psychological, intellectual, emotional or spiritual well-being.