Social workers are among the highest risk of experiencing occupational burnout. Because of this, self-care is essential to the practice of social work and critical to the survival and growth of the profession.
Continued Social Work presenter Nicole Steward, MSW, RYT, says that sometimes we care so much about other people that we sacrifice our own needs without even noticing.
“We can do this for quite some time—until the lack of care we've given ourselves shows up negatively in our health, well-being, or professional choices,” Steward said. “Those of us who come into this work to help others have to acknowledge the heaviness of what we’re doing and be self-aware of our own triggers that can lead to burnout. If we’re in this work because we want positive outcomes for those we serve, we cannot achieve that if we’re going to hollow ourselves out to do it.”
Throughout her two decades of experience in social work practice, Steward has realized the need for radical self-care to discharge the toxic stress that can be absorbed through work. This awareness drives her to study trauma as well as the ways yoga and mindfulness affect our brains and bodies to keep us engaged and renewed. “We all love to care for people, but we have to acknowledge that there is a weariness that comes along with that,” Steward said.
The following information is taken from Steward’s Continued Social Work course Self-Care for Social Workers: Personal and Professional Supports for Sustainability.
Understanding Traumatic Stress
- Compassion fatigue: Physical and emotional exhaustion over time, the “cost of caring”
- Secondary traumatic stress: Natural, predictable, treatable, and preventable consequence of working with suffering people
- Vicarious trauma: Gradual, unconscious changes in view of self, others, and worldview
- Burnout: Gradual draining of energy, leaving no joy in the work that previously excited and energized
Two Categories of Self-Care
1. Personal self-care
- Activities and practices we adopt in our personal lives for health and personal well-being
- May involve engaging in a fulfilling hobby, spending time with a supportive friend, exercising, using humor, or meditating
2. Professional self-care
- Self-care in the context of work and how we do our work, which may involve attention to workload, professional development, and time management
- Purposefully engaging with practices that promote an effective professional self
Three Domains of Personal Self-Care
- Self-awareness
- Knowing the signs of stress
- Seeing patterns and behavioral habits
- Acknowledging impacts of the work
2. Self-regulation
- Mastery over thoughts and emotions
- Reframing of distressing and hopeless situations
Relaxation and mindfulness as a soothing practice
3. Self-efficacy
- The ability to persist in the face of insurmountable odds
- Self-confidence in our work as social workers
Associated with high levels of human caring
“By cultivating deep, courageous self-care practices, we can stay in this challenging work long enough to see our efforts make a positive impact in the world,” Steward said.
Featured Presenter
Nicole Steward, MSW, RYT. Nicole is a social worker and registered yoga teacher (RYT) with a focus on community engagement, public education, foster youth advocacy, and trauma-informed yoga. With more than a decade of social work practice in non-profits and K-12 education, Nicole has noticed the need for radical self-care to discharge toxic stress we absorb through our work. This awareness drives her to study trauma as well as the ways yoga and mindfulness affect our brains and bodies, keeping us engaged and renewed. Nicole teaches yoga, mindfulness, and offers self-care workshops and retreats. Nicole believes self-care is a way of being we must adopt if we are to sustain ourselves as service providers, educators and human beings.