How can you practice self-care while working with clients who have experienced trauma?

The majority of people working in mental health settings are "wounded healers" themselves. If, with the help of a mental health professional, they have identified it, they subsequently already would've had coping mechanisms in place, to guard themselves from triggering exposure. Diaring is helpful in managing one's negative thought pattern, as well as regular sessions with a mentor - like I had supervising sessions with my social worker while I was fostering.

I have always believed that life is based on vantage point, perspective, and perceptions. Therefore, no one is wrong. Allowing a client to express what they understand, need, and feel, from their vantage point, is imperative.

Knowing what your limits are and constantly checking in with yourself. Unfortunately many care workers are overwhelmed and don't give themselves enough time between sessions, to sit and reflect on how being with a client has made them feel. It's important to even take 10 minutes and ask yourself how you are feeling after working with the client? What feelings if any have come up for you? Were there any triggers for yourself that you noticed? Do you feel lighter, heavier or about the same? One thing I love to do is listen to music or sing an uplifting song, or get up and go for a quick walk to just shift the energy.

We often see self care as selfish but it is critical for our involvement in social services. We need to model what that looks like to our families so they can do that for themselves.

In order to be effective in your work with trauma survivors, you MUST practice self care. Build in time to exercise, rest well and eat a healthy diet. Setting clear boundaries with your clients will help you NOT get triggered by their experiences.

Boundaries can broken especially if you find yourself working 'off the clock' communicating with a client re session times, or asking how they are feeling etc. Boundaries can absolutely be blurred. I think it's important to set limits and communicate to a client expectations around times that you can communicate. I know of counsellors who put their phone away after a certain time and don't touch it till the morning. It's still a very sore subject as clients sometimes expect more than what we can give.

Boundaries can often become blurred when a client shares his/her stories with you, and over time you have developed a rapport and deep connection. So it's incredibly important to set limitations, boundaries, and expectations. As a mental health provider, I would be able to work with the majority of issues and trauma, but I would never work with clients who reported pedophilia tendencies - this was my limit, and a client like that would be referred to other professionals. It would be important to set personal boundaries during supervision sessions, as well as with clients.

Boundaries are not an option for own self-preservation. Knowing and setting boundaries are a necessity to protect your own mental health and to keep from burn-out. I find that by having my own set boundaries, knowing my boundaries, and most importantly sticking to them protects my mental health and allows me to perform at my best and provide what my clients need most from me. If I'm not keeping my boundaries and being lose with my limits, then my mental health suffers immensely. You can't pour from any empty cup - so by keeping my boundaries in place I can managed keeping my cup stay full!

It is crucial to acknowledge that the work environment you are in can be quite triggering at times, and it is necessary to detach yourself from your work. It is effortless to get involved emotionally and make things personal quickly, but maintaining professionalism can help you distance yourself from your clients and view the situation objectively. Viewing the scenario from an aerial perspective creates distance and helps you check in with yourself. Taking short breaks to provide you with that much-needed mental break can also help you maintain that distance.

It’s extremely important to be congruent and allow yourself feel your emotions, be it frustration, upset, fear, anger. The key to emotional regulation within us, it to feel our own and process our own emotional responses. Self care activity and extracting yourself from your work and work identity is key.

I feel that "on-call" feature should be more limited and used less in mental health settings than it's used currently. Agencies or extra staff should be outsourced to give time to permanent staff to unwind and compress and to reduce burnout.

It’s so difficult to work with individuals who have endured trauma without taking the time for yourself. Compassion fatigue and burnout are so real, and because the work being done relies heavily on empathy and providing support, it’s normal (& human!) to feel exhausted, fatigued, and even emotionally drained. Self-care looks different for everyone but whether you’re taking time to meditate and decompress after a difficult session or treating yourself to a favorite snack, it is NECESSARY. Give yourself credit for the work that you do and hold yourself accountable - you deserve a break, compassion, and kindness!

Mindfulness is a form of self-care. Mindfulness is being fully present in the moment, aware of sounds, sights, smells, and tactile sensations. A mindful individual is not thinking of the past or the future. I think of mindfulness as putting on my baby eyes. I do not judge what is going on; I observe and attend to my surroundings in awe.

In my experience, working in a field that demands so much of your time can make you lose sight of the other things that matter. One way to achieve this balance is by dedicating certain days of the week, like weekends, to focus on the things that make you happy and recharge your energy for the upcoming workweek. Alternatively, you can find small ways to bring joy to each day, such as enjoying your favourite coffee or treating yourself to lunch at a cafe you love. These small moments of joy can help you take care of yourself throughout the week. By doing this, you can reflect on how much or how little attention you have been giving yourself and work towards finding a better balance.

Supervision is a great opportunity to: brainstorm tricky or unusual cases; to seek practical or emotional support; to enrich topical knowledge; to share concerns over a client or oneself; etc. Therefore middle management should seek to provide regular supervision sessions, and they shouldn't be seen as a "waste of time" (like in some organisations).

The organisation I work for use external supervision to remove the load on management, and also create a personalised space for individual staff to discuss their case or support needs. This reduces the risk of staff feeling like it’s a performance management issue and helps to foster an overall more positive culture.

Some time ago, a wise mental health professional who I interviewed for my grad school's class told me to always maintain connections with people from my profession, because it could be a lonely road. It stuck with me and I made sure I nurtured connections with some of my mental health peers and professors/mentors. Since my solo telehealth private practice I definitely understand what "lonely road" could be like and it is great to get a fresh perspective from a professional friend I trust and respect.

In this field of work, practising self-compassion is a vital self-care strategy. Tradespeople have tools they need to take care of, and as human service workers, we need to take care of the tools of our trade, our minds and our hearts. Know that feeling pain or other emotions is a natural response to the difficult narratives we bear witness to. We feel the impact of their stories because of our joint humanity. Taking time for a self-compassion break is so important. I personally use the affirmations "It's okay to feel this; I am not alone" and "I am safe and loved". This simple acknowledgment allows me to embrace and care for my emotions rather than deny them, fostering resilience.

Sometimes it can be tough to stay positive in this field, but it's all part of the journey, right? On those difficult days, I like to remind myself of the amazing impact I can have on the lives of my clients - that's what keeps me going! And let's not forget about the power of a supportive work environment. When we come together as a team, celebrate the little wins, and lift each other, it makes everything so much better. Of course, a good joke or a funny email from a colleague can always lighten the mood too!

For me I find that keeping a positive mindset and attitude is helpful and important. Keeping my daily practice of writing in my gratitude journal keeps me focused on what is truly important to me and helps me seek the good things that are happening around me.

Life is not stagnant, the amount of stimuli we come in contact with each day is impossible to track. While a solid plan for self-care can set us in the right direction, we must change as the stimuli in our environment continue to do. As a behavior analyst we are aware of the need to review data and make plan changes when our progress slows, ceases, or changes in ways we were not anticipating. This concept applies for plans we create for ourselves as well. The best plan is always to, “roll with the punches.”

As a clinician it can be hard to remember to put yourself first. You don’t want to call out when you are sick because your students will miss you. You don’t take your lunch at the day program because the staffing is low. You speed from one client to the next because of your high caseload. It is important to keep in mind that taking time to ensure you are at peace will have the best impact on yourself and your clients.

All aspects of the article are important. Many are also influenced by organisational culture. Agencies talk about being Trauma Informed, yet their frameworks to support this can be lacking. Many practitioners aren’t given reflective practice/ clinical supervision; it’s judged as being covered in line management / case allocation structures appropriate to the agency. It’s something quite different. I’ve worked with many domestic abuse support workers; A&E staff, police personnel, social workers & other practitioners who aren’t afforded a space to reflect, to process; so some article points are less achievable due to team/agency culture. So a key, for me, is addressing trauma informed frameworks of agencies.