You Can Lead Us to “Toxic Water,” but Self-Care Is How We Hydrate
by Erlene Grise-Owens, EdD, LCSW, MSW, MRE, lead co-editor of The A-to-Z Self-Care Handbook for Social Workers and Other Helping Professionals
Imagine this scenario. Your organization has a toxic water system. Which response will you choose?
A. Immediately, you let your supervisor know about this toxicity.
Your supervisor assures you that you’re over-reacting to this poison and encourages you to take care of yourself. But you know that the organization needs to be held accountable. So, you plead with upper administration to make changes. And you know you are right. You wait for the organization to change.
Meanwhile, you continue to work there. You drink the water, because what choice do you have? On days you refrain from drinking it, you get dehydrated. You wait for the organization to realize it’s poisoning you and others. You berate the organization; you become increasingly angry, frustrated, hopeless, and depressed. The organization is to blame.
Why won’t they fix it? Why doesn’t an outside authority come in to fix the problem? Why? becomes your refrain. You feel utterly powerless. You become sicker, and the poison overwhelms you. In despair, you leave the profession.
B. At first, you think it’s your imagination. But you do some research and get a kit to do an analysis. This test confirms toxicity.
Immediately, you take steps to guard your own well-being. You start bringing in your own water. You buy tablets to dilute the poison, if you do have to drink it. You assess your job role and requirements. You intentionally set boundaries, gauging when you have to be in the office, taking lunch breaks and short walks, sequestering time away, and limiting exposure. You become radically focused on your health to mitigate the toxicity—prioritizing adequate sleep, nutritious diet, integrated movement, and healthy connections.
You do a power analysis. You identify a peer who agrees that the water is poison and joins you in taking care. You form alliances by talking with colleagues inside and outside the organization about strategies for mitigating toxicity and addressing it. You continue to collect data about the effects of the poison and study how to diminish it. You access all the resources you can to advocate for both self-care and organizational change. Making radical self-care part of your job empowers you.
Your refrain is How? How can I take care of myself, first, and sustain myself? You begin to learn how to advocate for yourself and others. You use this knowledge, resources, and your data about the effects of the poisoned water to advocate, educate, and empower the organization to change. Over time, you become stronger and, joined with others, effectively address the toxicity.
C. You take all the steps above in Scenario B. Still, the organization refuses to make even minimal steps for change.
Actually, you get scapegoated. With your enhanced self-worth, you know your value. You decide to leave.
With all the knowledge and skills developed—plus, your solidified self-worth—you parlay those strengths into a leadership role in another organization (or your own). In an unexpected way, navigating toxicity built resilience and capacity. You still know that organizations need to be held accountable, and you know that you don’t have to wait for that change.
You answer the question: Who is responsible for my well-being, with a resounding understanding that self-care is empowering yourself. Because you have learned to care for yourself, even amidst insidious toxicity, you sustain a long, well-hydrated career.
D. Design your own!
In all the above scenarios, the water is toxic. The organization (and, indeed, larger profession) needs to be held accountable. Yet, instead of projecting the power exclusively externally, self-care is how we empower ourselves. Yes, toxic water systems need to be addressed. We just don’t have to remain thirsty until that happens. Emphatically, it’s not either/or. Self-care helps us sustain ourselves whilst bringing about organizational, structural change. Self-care is how we ensure our own hydration. You might say, it’s digging our own well-ness. 😊
Although disappointing, realistically, we’re often led to “toxic waters.” And self-care is how we take the power back to hydrate in a healthy way. We can answer the question of when will I get to be healthy, with responding, “NOW!”
What self-care steps will you take NOW to mitigate the effects of the prevalent toxicity and other challenges in our profession?
Peace, Love, & Self-Care, Erlene
Dr. Erlene Grise-Owens, EdD, LCSW, MSW, MRE, is a Partner in The Wellness Group, ETC. This LLC provides evaluation, training, and consultation for organizational wellness and practitioner well-being. Dr. Grise-Owens is lead editor of The A-to-Z Self-Care Handbook for Social Workers and Other Helping Professionals. As a former faculty member and graduate program director, she and a small (but mighty!) group of colleagues implemented an initiative to promote self-care as part of the social work education curriculum. Previously, she served in clinical and administrative roles. She has experience with navigating toxicity and dysfunction, up-close and personal! Likewise, as an educator, she saw students enter the field and quickly burn out. As a dedicated social worker, she believes the well-being of practitioners is a matter of social justice and human rights. Thus, she is on a mission to promote self-care and wellness!