Last week, we talked about compassion fatigue and the negative toll it can take on therapists. Even if you haven’t reached this state of vicarious trauma, most mental healthcare professionals will encounter seasons of burnout. In 2022, 45% of therapists reported feeling burnt out, per the American Psychological Association.
If you’re a therapist, you’ve chosen a meaningful career, but one that can be personally burdensome. To protect yourself, a self-care routine is key.
As one study put it, “While a lack of self-care is related to higher levels of burnout and secondary traumatic stress symptoms, a greater risk of health status decline, and the experience of stress (Butler et al. 2017; Mayorga et al. 2015; Santana and Fouad 2017), engagement in self-care is associated with greater well-being (Colman et al. 2016), lower levels of stress and negative affect, higher levels of positive affect, flourishing, self-rated academic and clinical performance (Zahniser et al. 2017), compassion satisfaction (Butler et al. 2017), and quality of life (Goncher et al. 2013).”
With that in mind, let’s look at some ideas for self-care for therapists that you can try for yourself.
#1: Social support
No person is an island, and that’s just as true for a mental health professional as anyone else. Even as you take care to protect your clients’ privacy, you don’t want to isolate yourself. In fact, you need to keep a healthy social network. We know this is hard to commit to, but it’s so valuable to prioritize and recognize the importance.
Make it a point to connect with people you care about on a consistent cadence. A regularly scheduled phone call or coffee date with a close friend gives you the opportunity to step out of your work world and into your personal connections.
That said, friends and family may have a hard time sympathizing with the difficulties of your job. Here, a peer consultation group of other therapists or a mentor can be a huge help. You might even ask for any suggestions they have about self-care for therapists borne of their own experience.
#2: Physical health
You would tell any of your clients that taking care of their body is a key element of taking care of their mental health. Remember that you’re the same.
Prioritizing a consistent sleep schedule, drinking plenty of water, eating a nutritious diet, and regularly exercising all help you feel your best. In other words, these physical health measures can directly combat burnout. This starts with the way you organize your schedule. As difficult as it is to leave breaks in your schedule as a therapist, they may be the tool that helps you cope and sustain the role with longevity. This is one of those delayed gratification challenges.
As you’re getting physically active, look for ways to do that outside. A walk, run, yoga class, surf session, or anything that gets you into the fresh air can be a big boon to your mental wellness.
In fact, you might make it a habit to go for a walk or try stretching when you have space between clients. The combination of being outdoors and moving your body can be an effective way to release job-related stress.
#3: Gratitude
In our blog on compassion fatigue, we explored how challenging it can be to continually hear about the difficult parts of other peoples’ lives. Actively looking for wins and practicing gratitude for them can help you maintain a sense of balance in your own life.
You might benefit from a journaling practice here. Making a point to sit down and write about what’s going well — both for your individual clients and for your career as a whole — gives you the opportunity to identify successes. Fostering a sense of gratitude for those high moments can help to offset some of the weight that comes with the more challenging aspects of your work.
As a therapist, it’s your role to help people identify where problems in their life lie. This can put you in the mindset of detecting what is “wrong,” clouding the perspective of all that is going “right.” Practicing gratitude is a great way to shift yourself away from this framework.
#4: Breaks
It’s important to carve out time for yourself that you spend away from work, both physically and mentally. Even if you don’t take a lunch break at a traditional time, using a portion of your day to step away and see to your needs goes a long way.
If you’re feeling on the edge of burnout, it might also be a good time to schedule a vacation, too. Start planning now so you can truly get away. Notify your clients well in advance. Coordinate with a colleague who can handle emergencies while you’re away.
This way, when the time comes for your vacation, you can turn off your devices and truly get the time you need.
These are just a few suggestions for self-care for therapists, but hopefully they got your wheels turning. In your line of work, taking care of yourself is essential.
That might mean seeing a therapist of your own. If you don’t already have one, you can contact us at the Ventura Counseling & Wellness Center in Ventura or the West Valley Counseling Center in Tarzana.
