(Realistic) Self-Care for Mental Health Workers

**Many of these tips are probably applicable to lots of other fields. However, I only have experience with mental health jobs, so that's why my focus is there. We all need to take care of ourselves!**

If you're like me and work in mental health, you know that self-care is crucial to survival in this field. However, a lot of the time, people's suggestions for how we can maintain self-care aren't always realistic. For example, how am I supposed to "just take a trip/vacation" when I barely make enough money to exist at home? It's one of the things that has always frustrated me.

So one day I decided to sit down and think about the little ways that I (and some coworkers) make sure to incorporate self-care into our lives that are much more feasible. I hope you find them helpful!

- Take routine mental health days as much as possible to maintain compassion fatigue/burnout. This could mean using some sick/vacation time, or just flexing your work days if you're able to do that. I know that for me personally, taking a day off when I know I need it is always more helpful than waiting until I'm tearing my hair out and ready to storm out of the office.

- Write yourself into your schedule every day and make that time a priority. I was at a trauma training once and our trainer looked at us and said "you make all this time every day for families and clients, but you need to do the same thing for yourself," and that has stuck with me ever since. That prioritized time might be for exercise, meditation, or just doing something that helps you relax. Maybe it's listening to your favorite album or reading a chapter of a book. Whatever it may be, it's important to make that time for yourself every single day.

- Know your limits and abilities. We have all been there: the client/family who expects way too much of you, when it's them who need to do the work for their own progress. Far too often, people see the title "therapist" or "clinician" and they think, "Oh, fantastic! They can fix my kid/issue/life!" Not true. Our job is to teach people the skills they need to promote their own change, not do it for them. I tell folks all the time, I don't have a magic wand that I wave around and make problems disappear. It can get very overwhelming working with people like that, so it's important to remind yourself of the things that are not your responsibility when you're meeting with clients.

- Utilize self-awareness when getting too enmeshed/spending too much time with clients. There are always clients or families who will demand a lot of us. In September alone, I saw one family on my caseload a total of 22 times. I got to the point where I was having dreams about them, and was always checking my phone to make sure they hadn't called or texted, even on weekends. Clients have a way of pulling us into the middle of all their struggles sometimes, and when we let that happen, we become enmeshed. This often means that there is a lack of clear boundaries, which is never good in a therapeutic setting. When dealing with families/clients who are emotionally taxing like this, make sure that you're aware of what's happening. Set clear boundaries so that everyone understands your professional limits.

- Rescheduling appointments if you know you can’t deliver what clients need that day. This can come into play when you find yourself enmeshed or spending an excessive amount of time with clients. Of course, most (if not all) of us have productivity requirements for our jobs, so it's important to not go too overboard with this. But when you're already feeling drained and you know that you're scheduled to meet with an individual who has unrealistic expectations of you, reschedule. In my own experience, it's much harder trying to maintain those appointments and then sitting there feeling defeated or useless because you don't have the energy to deliver what they need.

- Find ways to leave work at work. This is especially important if your line of work is a mobile service, like family based or mobile therapy. It can be incredibly hard to leave work at work when work things sometimes happen at home. I know I've spent my fair share of late nights catching up on notes or updating treatment plans instead of saving them for the next day. However, getting stuck in routines like that can make it damn near impossible for our "work brain" to shut off. Figure out a routine that allows you to turn off your work brain when you get home. Leave your work bag in the trunk of your car, or find a designated spot for it at home. Turn off your work phone and work emails promptly at 5pm, if that's when your day ends. They seem like pretty common sense things, but being able to say "I'm done with this for today, whatever I didn't finish I can come back to in the morning" makes a world of difference.

- Rely on your coworkers to vent/support one another. Who doesn't love a good group of work friends?! When I did family based, I was incredibly lucky to have the most amazing group of coworkers, many of whom became close personal friends. It felt so vindicating to know that everything I struggled with, they had dealt with too. There's something about realizing that you're not alone that makes the struggle easier to process. Start up a group text where you can vent, or schedule a happy hour to get together and blow off some steam. Having a supportive group of coworkers can be the reason you stay at a job longer. Let them be your sounding board. What we do is not easy, don't shoulder all of that burden alone!

- Recognize early signs of burnout when they appear. The mental health field is notorious for having ridiculous rates of turnonver. And, honestly, it makes sense! We are grossly underpaid and overworked, and the work we do is hard. It's always important to be very aware of when you start to feel symptoms of compassion fatigue or burnout, and then address them in a constructive and healthy way. For me, the most common early signs of burnout include lack of motivation, fatigue/excessive sleep, and dreams about work/clients. When these things start to happen, talk with your supervisor and come up with a (hopefully constructive) plan to address them. Take a day off if you need to, or dedicate a day to just sitting at the office and getting paperwork done. Remember that you need to care for yourself before you can be expected to care for anyone else.

- Find healthy ways to decompress at home. This can easily be tied into the time you prioritize for yourself every day, and the ways that you leave work at work! When you come home after a long and stressful day, you might try doing some yoga or other exercise rather than plopping on the couch with Facebook and Netflix (like I do entirely too often). Maybe you'll find a new recipe for dinner, rather than ordering UberEats for the 8th time this week (something else I'm guilty of doing). Whatever it may be, make sure that you're allowing yourself to process your day rather than just compartmentalizing it.

Do you work in mental health or another field where these tips are useful? Do you actually think they're useful and realistic? Let me know!