How can you practice self-care while working with trauma survivors?

The good news is that there are many fairly simple ways we can avoid or decrease the likelihood of experiencing severe negative effects of trauma work. I love all of the suggestions here especially, identifying when you are distressed. One good way to do that is to use the Professional Quality of Life (V) self assessment that can measure Compassion Fatigue, Compassion Satisfaction and Burnout. Use it routinely so you can easily track when things change. When you see you are experiencing more fatigue or distress, try to go back to the use of the CORE FOUR: make sure you are getting sufficient sleep. Exercise-body movement is essential. Active Mental Relaxation-e.g. mindfulness, meditation, music and Social Support. These are essential!

The way my body responds to stressors are: needing more sleep, my energy levels drop, becoming more irritable, my head hurts and my body just has pain. Since I am someone that has done extensive research on stress and how it impacts the body, I have found that I feel particularly weighted and I find it hard to make decisions. Some would call it fatigue, but in my case it feels like something I don't recover from. It takes several things to recover which seems to be more difficult to manage after a doctor telling me in 2010 I had Complex PTSD.

Deciding what is going to work for you physically when you don't know what the work load will be like is challenging. Setting a goal of what one can physically handle needs to include must haves in a week/month. For me, it is bike riding, sleeping, taking dogs out and communicating when something is too much. The communication part is always a challenge for me as my ability to say something is too much or overwhelming doesn't seem to be communicated until I have done too much. It's a weakness of mine.

All the comments are spot on when you work with clients who have experienced trauma. I am a firm believer in having your own therapist as well. I remember the words of one of my professors "healer heal thy self."

Figuring out what nourishes you one day and what nourishes you another day, can change. It is never just one thing. Personally, the positive activities are helpful, but my rejuvenation comes more from being with people I care about. That can be from people I have known from work and friends. My own immediate family is not a place I get rejuvenation from and since I have not married yet, I rely on several areas of my life and don't expect just 1 area to be of support.

Currently, I am not a social worker, but I support students who are training to be psychologists. I'm very aware of the skills it takes to become a psychologist and support them through the process. My strengths and achievements in this roll include: giving students moments of resilience when they question if they have it, removing roadblocks to getting education, providing resources that support them getting through education, giving a roadmap to attaining their goals and emotionally supporting them in a long educational process that takes an average of 4-7 years to complete.

Personally, this is something I struggle with in my life. I overwork and then don't pay attention to other parts of my life. Work life balance doesn't make sense to me, it feels more like a cycle vs a balancing act, but that is just me. Sometimes life is hectic, other times it is not and things are running smoothly.