A Comprehensive Guide to Social Work Self Care

What is social work self care? And why is it important? This post will teach you why self care for social workers is not just a concept but a necessity for a successful and fulfilling career in this field. 

I’m sure by this point you’ve heard the words ‘self care’ and you might even have a baseline understanding of what this concept means. 

This article will explore self care for social workers specifically. It will discuss what self care for social workers is, what it might look like and the importance of practicing self care. 

Lastly, it will provide ideas, examples and tangible tips for how to make a self care plan for yourself. 

By the end of this article you should have an idea of what self care is, why everyone is talking about it (why it’s so important) and how to begin practicing self care when it comes to managing your career as a social worker.

This post will teach you all about social work self care. You will learn what it is, why it’s important, how to begin practicing it today!

Comprehensive Guide to Social Work Self Care

Self care has become more and more popular over the last few years. Not going to lie, some people like to throw this term around pretty loosely. 

This post will eliminate the fluff, break down the basics of what self care actually is and teach you why it is so important. 

Important for everyone, yes, but especially important for social workers who have committed themselves to a career of helping and supporting others and the unique challenges this presents. 

What is social work self care? 

Social work self care is essentially the focus of how social workers can practice strategies of caring for themselves, personally and professionally to sustain a career in this field. 

It is catered to the unique challenges and benefits of a career in this helping profession. Recognizing the weight and privilege of supporting others and the specific concerns that social workers navigate while doing the important work they do.

Self Care 

Self care, in simple terms, is exactly what the name describes. It is the intentional action of taking care of yourself to preserve your well being. 

This can involve taking care of your physical self; your emotional self and your social self. It looks different for everyone because we all have different needs & ways to meet those needs. 

It means recognizing that your needs are important and then prioritizing them. However, self care does not mean being selfish or ignoring the needs of everyone else.

In fact, it means meeting your own needs first, as a priority, so that you can show up for others in your life (personally & professionally) in the best possible way. 

Its like the oxygen mask concept- in order to take care of others you need to be here and take care of yourself first. Self care is just that, making sure you make intentional effort to take care of yourself (whatever that looks like for you) 

This article will explore more in depth different self care strategies and provide examples and tips, so keep reading! 

Social Work Profession

Self care, in the context of the social work profession is even more important. Due to the unique challenges & impact of this type of career, taking care of yourself is a necessity in order to live a fulfilling and successful career. 

The social work field is dedicated to helping and supporting people, groups and communities at need. It is a commitment to work towards social justice, empower people to meet their potential, advocate for those who cant, and walk along side the most vulnerable populations. 

A career in social work is extremely rewarding. It can be so fulfilling to know you are doing important work that is for the good of others. To watch people grow and heal and succeed and know you played a role in that is one of the best feelings (I think) you can have. 

It is also extremely draining and challenging in a lot of ways. You are facing systems of oppression face on. You are listening and carrying the emotional weight of the people you work with. 

Also, systematically, it can be flawed in a way that negatively impacts those working in it. By that I mean agencies and systems require certain case loads, outcomes and initiatives that can make it difficult to provide the quality of work you might want to provide. 

Social workers can be overwhelmed with low funding, being assigned more work than is realistic for the workweek and a need to demonstrate their outcomes which is often how agencies can receive funding. 

The emotional toll of this intense work as well as the obstacles and factors at play on a larger scale can lead to burnout in this field. Quickly for some. And that’s why I continue to advocate that self care for social workers is not an option, it’s a must. In order to sustain a career helping others this is a necessity, bottom line. 

Importance of self care for social workers

As I was beginning to discuss, self care is important for all, but especially for those in the social work profession. 

Due to the emotional weight of working with such vulnerable and oppressed populations as well as the often thankless jobs we are doing, it can definitely chip at your own mental health. 

Managing Burnout 

Burnout is so common in this field and I would be shocked if you could find me a social worker who has not experienced some periods of burnout during their career. 

The emotional weight that social workers carry during their work days can be extremely difficult to set down at the end of the night. 

Imagine facing children separated from their families; veterans unable to re-integrate into their lives after returning from service; mentally ill folks struggling to make it through the next day; families grieving their lost loved one… the list goes on.. But these are just a few of the types of jobs that social workers carry. 

Bottom line, social workers work with the most at risk and most vulnerable populations. So, by default, this is a population of people who are struggling with some thing, typically many things and need help. 

If you are working with folks who have active suicide risk, or working in a homeless shelter for youth, or a hospital wing for terminally ill people…. There is almost no way to shut off your emotions at the end of the workday. The things you hear and the people you meet are real and their lives stick with you after you clock out for the day. 

It can often feel like the todo list is never ending, the obstacles thrown at these people are constant and it can be hard to see clear progress sometimes.

Not to mention the systematic requirements (to see x amount of people in x amount of time) can make the work feel non stop and prevent you from spending time doing the work you would like to. 

Compassion Fatigue & Secondary Trauma

Compassion Fatigue and Secondary Trauma are two concepts you will learn about in your social work education and then likely experience as you move through your career as a social worker. 

Compassion fatigue refers to the impact of caring for someone’s emotional pain essentially. It is the physical and emotional response to working closely with other’s pain and witnessing their trauma first hand. 

It can impact anyone in a helping profession or caregiving role. It can impact those in a range of fields (medical, social, legal) but typically applies to people who are doing some type of caring for others. 

Secondary Trauma reflects its name. It is experiencing a level of trauma as you witness and are close to another persons trauma. By this I mean if you are working very closely with folks who have been traumatized you will begin to hold some of that emotional weight and impact and carry it as you move forward. 

It doesn’t mean the trauma has happened to you but it means that as you support this person in navigating their trauma you have a close-up look at what their experience is and the consequences they are facing. 

Because social workers are advocating for social justice, their jobs often are with people who are at highest risk and with the highest needs. So, often this includes working with people who have experienced horrible things and face devastating realities. 

As a social worker, you have the honor and privilege of getting to talk about, share and help them carry their trauma as they move forward in life. Your goal is to try and lighten their load a bit and by doing that we end up carrying some of the weight, whether we intend to or not. 

Because of this responsibility and commitment social workers make to serving others, taking care of themselves is essential. In order to continue showing up for your clients or the people you serve, you must take care of yourself first. 

It’s not an option, it’s not a recommendation, it is an absolute necessity. In order to sustain a life working in this field, and to sustain a life outside of work, self care is of the utmost importance. 

Practicing self care can allow you to have better work and personal life boundaries, allowing you to shut work off to the best of your ability at the end of the day. 

It can improve the relationship you have with yourself and with the people in your life. Being able to balance work and personal life relationships is hugely important to your well-being. 

Social Work Self Care Plan

So, what does that look like? I know I’ve talked a lot about why self care is important and what unique challenges social workers face that require self care. But now I will discuss what self care for social workers might actually look like and provide some ideas and examples for you to consider as you apply this to your own life and career. 

I suggest building a plan to practice self care. It may seem silly, especially as you are new to the field and feeling motivated and excited and not yet burnout. But making a plan ahead of time is the best way to prevent burnout from happening versus trying to make a plan once you are already burnout (by then it might be too late). 

Self-reflection & self-learning 

The first part to creating your self care plan starts within. It starts with doing some self reflection and introspection to understand yourself better. 

Not all self care plans will look similar, nor should they. The things that stress people out and cause burnout differ per person as do the tools and strengths they can use to combat burnout. 

Learning yourself, your stressors, triggers, strengths, joys and resources is the first step to creating your self care plan. 

Identify your stressors & signs of burnout 

Start by identifying the parts of your job and life that do cause you stress. The areas of life and work that are depleting your cup, as they say. We all have them, whether it be in our professional or personal life, or both. 

This could be specific job responsibilities you are required to do (monthly report writing, home visits, documentation, face-to-face meetings, etc). Again, what stresses one person out will not be the same as what stressors another person so spend some time reflecting on what parts of your job cause you some stress. 

This also applies to your personal life. There might be external events or deadlines, financial stressors, or certain people in your life that are hard to deal with. Identify these areas and pay attention to the ways these stressors impact you on a physical, emotional and social level. 

Identify your strengths & resources

Once you’ve identified areas of stress, next is to identify your strengths and resources. This can be identifying the areas of work that bring you joy and fulfill you. The parts of the job that make you say, yes this feels good, i feel good about the work i did today.

It also involves paying attention to the spaces, activities and people that make you feel good outside of work. So that means identifying what adds positively to your life. This can be certain people, places you like to go, or things to do that calm you, nourish you or bring you joy. 

It can be the way you like to workout and exercise your body as well as the way you like to rest and refresh yourself. Maybe it’s about the music you listen to, the media you consume and the meals you feed your body.

It also involves identifying the resources you have available. That can mean the time, spaces or freedoms you have to do these things and understanding what is possible and helpful and what your limitations are. 

For example, if you know you love the sunshine and sitting on a beach, imagining a tropical vacation half a world away likely won’t be as helpful as trying to find a sunny spot in your neighborhood. 

It also takes some intentional reflection to identify the people and spaces that do fuel you and bring you joy. We often move so fast through our days and the world that we don’t often pause to ask ourselves what is bringing us joy. So this step involves taking the time to do just that. 

Build your self-care toolbox 

A self care toolbox can be a literal or imaginary toolbox but you should take some time to really think about it. 

This is basically the identified tools, resources & activities you have identified to be positive for you.  It can be helpful to write these ideas down cause sometimes when you’re in the thick of burnout you might not remember things in the way you can before burning out.

What to include in your toolbox

In your toolbox, I would recommend including activities that you can do with little to no external help. By that, i mean including activities you can do without having to contact another person or spend much money. 

You want to have realistic strategies and tools that you can use whenever you need. Consider something you could access or do pretty easily on a day you don’t have a whole lot of time to dedicate. 

This is important because self care often doesn’t look as glamorous as the media makes it out to be. It’s not always some big trip or spa day to yourself. It can more often look like taking a few minutes from your daily life to check in with yourself and give yourself some kind energy and time to be. 

It can be little things you do for yourself throughout the day (listening to your favorite playlist, eating a good healthy meal, setting aside 10 minutes to write or meditate) as well as some of the larger planned activities. 

I would recommend making a list of things you can do for yourself that are pretty low stakes. So these items are the ones you could do with little or no extra expense, small time commitment and reasonable to access. 

Then, i would recommend making a list of external things you can do for yourself. This involves specific people who make you feel your best self, certain places or locations you typically feel calm in and any activity you enjoy doing (grocery shopping, walk at a certain park, etc). 

If there are some bigger activities you really enjoy doing for yourself, feel free to include them, but be realistic with your expectations. It is not about doing these grand self care days where you spend lots of money it is more important to focus on achievable and realistic activities you can do for yourself on a regular basis.

Schedule self-care activities in advance & anticipating your needs 

Anticipating your needs and stressors and planning ahead accordingly is a great idea. This means to consider if your stress typically spikes at a certain point of the year, what external stressors are at play in your life and how to anticipate periods of additional stress. 

This might look like meal prepping if you know the second half of your week will be extremely busy or it could look like planning an activity with a friend for a week you know you might need a positive activity. 

Scheduling regular activities that you can do on an ongoing basis in addition to having a list of some bigger activities is a good idea. 

Instead of thinking about self care as a one off or a day you dedicate to yourself, consider it more of a lifestyle. A way of doing small things throughout your days or weeks that promote your own well-being. It shouldn’t be some grand gestures you do for yourself but smaller scale ways of taking care of yourself that you can realistically do consistently. 

For many this includes some type of exercise of 

movement, eating healthy & fueling your body with nutrients, as well as paying attention to the way you care for your emotional and social self as well. 

This involves paying attention to your self-talk and whether it is positive, neutral or negative as well as the impact of this on your state of emotional well-being. It is also about learning to say no to the things that drain you and yes to the things that fuel you and bring you joy. 

Lastly, taking care of your social self involves knowing your limits, scheduling activities with the people and spaces that bring you joy and promote your well-being, and again saying no to the things that don’t impact you in a positive way. 

Now that you’ve got an idea of what self care for social workers is, and why it’s important, it’s time for you to create a plan to implement this into your daily life. 

As detailed above, start by reflecting on your professional and personal stressors, strengths and resources and make a unique plan accordingly. Remember that it doesn’t need to look any specific type of way, it is important that the tools and activities you choose and plan actually help you in a positive way. 

This post was all about social work self care. After reading you should have a better understanding of what this is, why this is important, how to practice self care as a social worker yourself.