Photo credit BigStockPhoto TashaNatasha
by Dr. Tomerial Brooks LCSW, MBA
The word “self-care” has become a buzzword within the social work field. Often, when practicing self-care, thoughts of massages, exercising, and getting more sleep are evoked. While these practices are helpful and promote well-being, recently I have found myself contemplating what self-care looks like for me as I have navigated various organizational spaces and social work positions.
As a Black, female social worker having been conditioned in my personal life to caretake and prioritize others, I have experienced similar unspoken messages within the profession. The consequences of living out these expectations personally and professionally became hard lessons learned, until I came into the realization that I would best be served by practicing self-preservation.
I have attended workshops and conferences emphasizing the importance of self-care for social workers and the ethical duties to take care of ourselves as we serve others. While many social work training courses are centered on skill development and best practices to serve clients, I have found few that have gone deeper into this idea of self-care beyond boundary setting or treating ourselves in external manners.
In this current political climate whereby the call for social workers to engage, advocate, and fight for all things is high, I am compelled to assess my capacity as a social worker who is experiencing similar harms and injustices to those of the clients I serve. To this end, I find it most beneficial to stand in self-preservation as I honor my authentic self and authentic feelings of anger, hopelessness, and frustrations.
Humans First
In the helping profession, there can exist a thin line between our identities as helpers and as humans first. When these lines become blurred, or organizations fail to support those differences, negative consequences can arise both personally and professionally. As I embrace and honor each aspect of my intersecting identities, it is imperative that I reframe the traditional, nuanced definitions of self-care that no longer best serve me.
Self-Preservation
Many of my social work colleagues have expressed similar feelings of exhaustion and frustration with the many areas of need and change within this current climate. How one chooses to practice their own forms of self-care is highly personal. As a social worker holding two minoritized identities, my perspective has shifted in a way that now I actively engage in different forms of self-preservation, such as curating a peaceful life.
Permission Granted
Are there spaces within social work organizations for social workers to actively delineate their human selves from their professional selves? As I have maturated throughout the social work profession and evolved as a person, I have found it liberating to grant myself permission to challenge the usual ways in which I have been encouraged to practice traditional forms of self-care.
Self-preservation serves as a bolder approach in my efforts at honoring my human self in a profession that calls for compassionate giving of ourselves. Finding this balance is crucial and not always easy. However, doing so can be rewarding and enhance one’s professional and personal development.
Dr. Tomerial Brooks, LCSW, MBA, is a private practitioner and part-time instructor at the University of Kentucky College of Social Work. Dr. Brooks received her Bachelor of Arts degree in social work at Anderson University and her Master of Social Work degree from Indiana- Purdue University Indianapolis. Dr. Brooks’ research interests include organizational psychology, Black women’s mental health and career-related issues, and systemic racism within the criminal justice system.