As educators we spend a lot of time caring for others, whether it be our students, our coworkers, or family members. We are exposed to a lot of different situations that can weigh heavily on our hearts, causing us to spend hours thinking of our students and coworkers outside of the work day.
This page is dedicated to help us, as professionals, focus on caring for ourselves as we do for others. Self-care is often seen as a luxury, or something we can focus on only during breaks or when "everything else is done." We challenge you to begin to view self-care as a necessity versus a luxury, and create a plan to care for yourselves. After all, as adults who play an important role in the lives of many, we must take care of ourselves before we can truly do our best to take care of others.
To use this self-care page, we invite you to assess your current self-care, create a self-care plan to use moving forward, and to implement the plan you've created. Each person's self-care plan will look differently, as we all need different things to replenish ourselves. However, if inspired to, feel free to share your self-care plan with an accountability partner or administrator so they can also support you in carrying out your plan.
This page is dedicated to help us, as professionals, focus on caring for ourselves as we do for others. Self-care is often seen as a luxury, or something we can focus on only during breaks or when "everything else is done." We challenge you to begin to view self-care as a necessity versus a luxury, and create a plan to care for yourselves. After all, as adults who play an important role in the lives of many, we must take care of ourselves before we can truly do our best to take care of others.
To use this self-care page, we invite you to assess your current self-care, create a self-care plan to use moving forward, and to implement the plan you've created. Each person's self-care plan will look differently, as we all need different things to replenish ourselves. However, if inspired to, feel free to share your self-care plan with an accountability partner or administrator so they can also support you in carrying out your plan.
Step 1: Assess your current Self-Care.
This assessment tool provides an overview of effective strategies to maintain self-care.
Using the scale below, rate the following areas in terms of frequency:
5 = Frequently 4 = Occasionally 3 = Rarely 2 = Never 1 = It never occurred to me to do this.
Physical Self-Care
___ Eat regularly (e.g. breakfast, lunch and dinner).
___ Eat healthy.
___ Exercise.
___ Get regular medical care for prevention.
___ Get medical care when needed.
___ Take time off when needed.
___ Get a massage.
___ Dance, swim, walk, run, play sports, sing, or do some other physical activity that is fun.
___ Get enough sleep.
___ Wear clothes you like.
___ Take day trips or mini-vacations.
___ Other:
Psychological Self-Care
___ Make time for self-reflection.
___ Write in a journal.
___ Read literature that is unrelated to school.
___ Let others learn about different aspects of your personality and life, other than what they see in daily interaction.
___ Notice your inner experience—listen to your thoughts, judgments, beliefs, attitudes, and feelings.
___ Engage your intelligence in new areas, e.g. go to an art museum, history exhibit, sports event, theater performance, etc.
___ Allow others to do for you.
___ Be curious.
___ Say “no” to extra responsibilities.
___ Other:
Emotional Self-Care
___ Spend time with others whose company you enjoy.
___ Stay in contact with important people in your life.
___ Give yourself affirmations; praise yourself.
___ Love yourself.
___ Re-read favorite books and/or re-view favorite movies
___ Identify comforting activities, objects, people, relationships, and/or places, and seek them out.
___ Allow yourself to cry.
___ Find things that make you laugh.
___ Express your concern in social action, letters and donations, marches, and/or protests
___ Play with children.
___ Other:
Spiritual Self-Care
___ Make time for reflection.
___ Spend time with nature.
___ Find a spiritual connection or community.
___ Be open to inspiration.
___ Cherish your optimism and hope.
___ Be aware of non-material aspects of life.
___ Try, at times, not to be in charge or the expert.
___ Be open to not knowing.
___ Identify what is meaningful to you and notice its place in your life.
___ Have experiences of awe.
___ Read inspirational literature (talks, music, etc.).
___ Other:
Adapted by BWell Health Promotion from: Transforming the Pain: A Workbook on Vicarious Traumatization. Saakvitne, Pearlman & Staff of TSI/CAAP (Norton, 1996)
Using the scale below, rate the following areas in terms of frequency:
5 = Frequently 4 = Occasionally 3 = Rarely 2 = Never 1 = It never occurred to me to do this.
Physical Self-Care
___ Eat regularly (e.g. breakfast, lunch and dinner).
___ Eat healthy.
___ Exercise.
___ Get regular medical care for prevention.
___ Get medical care when needed.
___ Take time off when needed.
___ Get a massage.
___ Dance, swim, walk, run, play sports, sing, or do some other physical activity that is fun.
___ Get enough sleep.
___ Wear clothes you like.
___ Take day trips or mini-vacations.
___ Other:
Psychological Self-Care
___ Make time for self-reflection.
___ Write in a journal.
___ Read literature that is unrelated to school.
___ Let others learn about different aspects of your personality and life, other than what they see in daily interaction.
___ Notice your inner experience—listen to your thoughts, judgments, beliefs, attitudes, and feelings.
___ Engage your intelligence in new areas, e.g. go to an art museum, history exhibit, sports event, theater performance, etc.
___ Allow others to do for you.
___ Be curious.
___ Say “no” to extra responsibilities.
___ Other:
Emotional Self-Care
___ Spend time with others whose company you enjoy.
___ Stay in contact with important people in your life.
___ Give yourself affirmations; praise yourself.
___ Love yourself.
___ Re-read favorite books and/or re-view favorite movies
___ Identify comforting activities, objects, people, relationships, and/or places, and seek them out.
___ Allow yourself to cry.
___ Find things that make you laugh.
___ Express your concern in social action, letters and donations, marches, and/or protests
___ Play with children.
___ Other:
Spiritual Self-Care
___ Make time for reflection.
___ Spend time with nature.
___ Find a spiritual connection or community.
___ Be open to inspiration.
___ Cherish your optimism and hope.
___ Be aware of non-material aspects of life.
___ Try, at times, not to be in charge or the expert.
___ Be open to not knowing.
___ Identify what is meaningful to you and notice its place in your life.
___ Have experiences of awe.
___ Read inspirational literature (talks, music, etc.).
___ Other:
Adapted by BWell Health Promotion from: Transforming the Pain: A Workbook on Vicarious Traumatization. Saakvitne, Pearlman & Staff of TSI/CAAP (Norton, 1996)
Step 2: Create a Self-Care plan.
Now that you have completed your self-care assessment, use this information to assist you in creating a self-care plan. Start by choosing at least one item from each area of the self-care assessment that you will actively work to improve and add those items into the appropriate sections of the self-care wheel. Once you have at least one item in each section, think about whether or not you would like to add other items before moving on to Step 3.
|
|
Now that you have ideas generated from each area, decide which of those you would like to focus on as part of your self-care plan and describe how you will do so. The idea in this step is to really think about what that will look like and how you will create space for that.
For example, if journaling was one of your ideas, get specific in thinking about how often you will journal. Will you do it on a daily basis, a weekly basis, or just as needed? In your final self-care plan specify that. The more we can envision these things happening and plan ahead of time for them, the easier they will be to implement. A final idea could look like. "I will journal about my day's highs and lows each night before bedtime."
For example, if journaling was one of your ideas, get specific in thinking about how often you will journal. Will you do it on a daily basis, a weekly basis, or just as needed? In your final self-care plan specify that. The more we can envision these things happening and plan ahead of time for them, the easier they will be to implement. A final idea could look like. "I will journal about my day's highs and lows each night before bedtime."
Step 3: Putting your Self-Care plan to work for you.
You've come a long way in creating your self-care plan and now have some goals set on how to prioritize self-care for yourself. Such an exciting time!
Now let's spend some additional time and think about the following:
Now let's spend some additional time and think about the following:
- How much time will I carve out of my day/week to focus on these action items?
- Where will I house my plan so I don't forget about it? Will I put reminders on my phone, in my car, in my office, etc.?
- When will I reassess my plan to ensure that I'm still focusing on what's important to me and making changes as needed?
- How will I get others involved? Will I have an accountability buddy for my whole plan or do I want to choose different people to check in with different goals? Will I check in with a coworker or supervisor in regards to my professional area, and with a family member or friend in regards to my personal self-care?
Additional Self-Care Resources:
Please check back frequently for additional resources as we continue to update this page.