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
The New Social Worker is going on hiatus June-August and won’t be doing new posts. However, we’re not neglecting you! Join us in having a Super-Self-Care-Summer! This post provides a guide, with weekly emphases, to support and deepen your self-care all summer long.
This curriculum is your personal guide! Also, invite colleagues (team members, accountability partners, and others) to join you. Supervisors, trainers, faculty, administrators: This resource is ready-made for a self-care professional development course or other offering.
Here’s how it works. Download this post. Then, over the next 12 weeks, start your week with reading the designated link. (Be sure to read the links embedded in each post, too.) Throughout the week, reflect on and apply these readings. If you’re doing the curriculum with others, have discussions to generate ideas and support each other. Remember: Self-care is a journey, not a destination. Let’s get started…
Super-Self-Care-Summer: Your Weekly Guide
JUNE
- Week 1—Make a SMART Plan (or, revise your current one). Originally, I wrote this post as a new year focus, but it’s apropos for any time you want a new start or re-set. Use this resource to design a Self-Care Plan and test it out this week. What’s going well? What tweaks do you need to make? Remember that self-care needs to be individualized, integrated, and intentional. It needs to be SMART, structured, and sustainable. Use subsequent posts to hone your plan this summer.
- Week 2—Resolve That Self-Care Is NOT Selfish; It’s Self-Full. In all likelihood, as you embark on a super self-care summer, you’re encountering resistance—including from yourself. One of the biggest barriers is the entrenched, internalized message that self-care is selfish (and, thus, bad!). This week, focus on reframing self-care as self-FULL.
- Week 3—Practice Summer Self-Care As we officially enter the season of summer (in the northern hemisphere), let’s accentuate self-care as liberation through pleasure and power. How can you more intentionally (re)claim these aspects of self-care?
- Week 4—Focus on Good Enough Self-Care. “SUPER” self-care does not mean “PERFECT” self-care. Actually, “Good Enough” self-care can be super! Use the “Handy-Dandy Checklist” in this post to solidify your Good Enough!
JULY
- Week 5—Take a Break Y’all! Super summer self-care is an excellent time to remind that leisure is a human right! But, most of us need to take a class on that! (Wink!) This post is your Leisure Time 101—with your super summer assignment.
- Week 6—Remember Self-Care Doesn’t Always Feel Good. Whilst self-care is certainly about the “feel good” stuff, super self-care encompasses the full range of life. Use this week’s reading to reflect on and activate self-care that attends to the painful, difficult, uncomfortable, and boring facets of a full lifestyle.
- Week 7— Take the Cheap Challenge. Another common myth about self-care is that it’s a luxury requiring lotsa money. This week’s assignment: CHEAP self-care! This reading gives you an array of ideas. What would you add?
- Week 8— Celebrate International Self-Care Day! It’s time for our annual International Self-Care Day BINGO! This July 24th event underscores that self-care is a 24/7 commitment. Use the BINGO card for a fun celebration. Having a Super-Self-Care Summer? BINGO!
AUGUST
- Week 9— Practice Professional Self-Care. Another common myth about self-care is that it’s something we do after work, to recover from work. Super self-care is about lifestyle harmony, not life-work balance. That is, work is part of life—not separate from it. And, professional self-care is just as important as personal self-care. This week, focus on professional self-care. (NOTE: This reading has two parts—Professional Self-Care I & II. Be sure to access both blog posts.) How do you already practice professional self-care? How can you enhance it?
- Week 10—Consider How Your Home Supports Your Self-Care. Ironically, just as we often neglect professional self-care, we also ignore the powerful aspect of home-making as self-care. Use this reading to guide a deepening commitment to self-care in your home.
- Week 11—Go Back to Some Basics: How “R” You Doing? Super self-care requires continually revisiting basic building blocks of self-care. This week’s assignment guides you in reviewing, reinforcing, and recommitting to Reframing, Reflection, Routine, Rest, and Relationships.
- Week 12—Make Self-Care a Habit! In this last week of our Super Self-Care Summer, solidify your progress on the journey. Commit to making self-care a habit!
And, remember: Celebration is part of super self-care. So, Celebrate!
As our Super-Self-Care Summer winds down, I hope your individualized, integrated, intentional self-care is becoming a SMART, structured, sustainable habit! And, we all need continual reinforcement and refinement of the habit of self-care. Stay tuned! September is Self-Care Awareness Month, and we will celebrate it with you!
Peace, Love, & Self-Care, Erlene
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!