Self-Care A-Z: The Art of Practicing Self-Care

by Jennifer Gazda, DSW, LCSW

“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.”

          ― Audre Lorde   

     Another self-care article – sure, we all know what self-care is and how it is important to prevent burnout. We even inform our clients about how it will help alleviate their daily stress levels. In my years of practicing social work, I found that many of my colleagues and students in the profession understand this term but struggle to effectively practice it. I am here to encourage you to begin taking steps now, before you develop other coping methods that may be detrimental to your heath – overeating, having a drink to calm down, avoidance, and so forth.

     In the world of COVID-19, social workers are experiencing additional burdens and stress. We provide therapy, case management, advocacy, and the list goes on. However, how are we to provide therapy services to the many people on wait lists when our schedules are already too full? How are we to provide case management services to link clients with community services when funds are running out and more people need the support after a job loss? How are we to ensure our clients in nursing homes do not withdraw further into depression following the isolation of not being with family members? Our challenges are high, but if we truly take the time to care for ourselves, we are better able to come together collectively to face them. We can better help our clients, take care of our own families, and practice political activism to work toward social justice.

     To be able to be an effective social worker, I challenge you to do the following:

• Schedule self-care: As much as you fill your daily calendar with client appointments, you should begin adding in one hour daily for something that brings you peace. This could be journaling, exercising, reading, walking – if one hour seems too overwhelming, start with 15 minutes and build yourself up to a longer period of time. Who doesn’t have 15 minutes to spare?
• Forgive yourself: You will make mistakes. It is difficult when a professional mistake has an impact on another person’s life, but know this will happen. No one is perfect, and the important thing is to learn from your mistakes. What can you take away from the experience as a learning opportunity? Spending time beating yourself up over something you cannot change is of no value. Keep looking forward.
• Ask for help: If you find yourself having an “I’m out of my league” moment and do not know what to do, that is okay! Take some time to educate yourself, ask a supervisor/mentor for guidance, and most importantly, know when to back out and acknowledge that sometimes clients may need to be reassigned. This is not your personal failure – this is your wisdom of knowing your limitations.
• Say no: You are not required to take on additional assignments at work or go to every party that you are invited to. You do not have to be everyone’s social worker. Your family and friends will come to you for help and guidance, but you need to be sure the social work hat is not always “on.” It will mentally exhaust you.

     I believe that you can achieve better outcomes, personally and professionally, by making a conscious effort to practice these tips. It is time for social workers to put themselves first before trying to fill someone else’s cup.

Jennifer Gazda, DSW, LCSW, is a social worker from suburban Chicago and has practiced for the last 20 years in multiple capacities as a social worker, including in child welfare, counseling, hospitals, nursing homes, and medical/psychiatric care management. She is an adjunct instructor at Aurora University.

Self-care is an imperative for the ethical practice of social work and other helping professions. From A (awareness) to Z (ZZZZ--Sleep), the editors and contributors use a simple A-to-Z framework in The A-to-Z Self-Care Handbook for Social Workers and Other Helping Professionals to outline strategies to help you build a self-care plan with specific goals and ways to reach them realistically.