Title: Self-Care for Therapists and Mental Health Professionals
Headings: Self-Care for Therapists and Mental Health Professionals
Self-Care for Therapists and Mental Health Professionals
1. Types of Stress Experienced by Helping Professionals
Distress
Therapist Burnout
Vicarious Traumatization
Compassion Fatigue
2. Develop a Self-Care plan
How do you cope now?
What are you already doing for self-care?
Maintaining your Self-care and continuing to eliminate Maladaptive Coping Skills
Be prepared
Commit, Share, & Follow
3. Continue to Monitor your Self-Care
4. Self-Care activities
Self Care Retreat for Women Therapists and Helping Professionals
(Sautee, GA, November 8-11, 2018)
Self Care Literature
References

Content: Distress
Distress is defined as “extreme anxiety, sorrow, or pain” and referred to a normal and inevitable experience of life. Whether this stress is a result of personal loss, financial concerns, or from working with difficult clients (such as high-conflict custody cases), it is important to remain mindful of this stress. Left unchecked, distress can lead to feelings of inadequacy or the inability to cope. Left unchecked, distress turns into the next type of stress- therapist burnout. Therapist Burnout
Therapist burnout is a term often discussed in Counseling graduate programs, but not entirely understood unless it has been experienced. It is important to remain self-aware of emotional exhaustion, loss of empathy, and your sense of accomplishment – all of which fluctuate on a continuum. If you notice you are struggling in any of these areas, be sure to create and maintain your self-care plan, which will be covered later in this article. Vicarious Traumatization
Some have suggested that vicarious traumatization is also known as compassion fatigue, however, in this article we differentiate the two. Mental health professionals working with clients who were victims of trauma are particularly susceptible to vicarious traumatization. This occurs when the therapist is emotionally activated after learning or hearing about an emotionally intense experience of the client.