Dr. Erlene Grise-Owens, Ed.D., LCSW, MSW, MRE writes about self-care for social workers. Erlene 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!
Self-care needs to be individualized, integrated, and intentional. It needs to be structured, SMART, and sustainable. Habits engage all these components. Forming positive habits is crucial to self-care success.Read more
What is your self-care vision for 2020? Consider choosing a self-care word and creating a 20 for 2020 list to focus your self-care efforts and goals.Read more
Self-care needs to be adapted by the seasons. Even if one’s geographic location doesn’t have nature’s signs to indicate the change of seasons, seasonal self-care variations are beneficial. Rest, reflect, and reconnect during the winter months.Read more
Viewing self-care as only “feel good” (unintentionally) equates self-care with a special treat, extra luxury, or rare indulgence. In fact, self-care is sometimes uncomfortable and often difficult.Read more
Pitting organizational accountability or community care against individual empowerment and vice versa is largely counterproductive. Let’s just come to complementary and constructive terms: Community Care, AND Organizational Wellness, AND Self-CareRead more
Social service organizations are experiencing critical challenges and even crises. We’ve been through these times—recently and over the course of our careers. Here are our top 3 strategies.Read more
It's the 3rd anniversary of the Self-Care A-Z blog. Let’s use September to focus on professional self-care. As contrasted with self-care outside work parameters, professional self-care is how we integrate and prioritize self-care as part of our work.Read more
If we only eat bon-bons, we’ll have serious health consequences. And, no matter how much we may want at times, we cannot live in a bubble (bath) forever. However, having those “B” strategies helps us bring our “A” self-care game.Read more
We all fall. Make it part of self-care, not just an obstacle. Don’t let the falls keep us down. Use them to wake us up and move us forward on our self-care path.Read more
Did you know July 24th is International Self-Care Day!? Here’s the background and a CHALLENGE for you and your colleagues to participate and promote Self-Care is for Life!Read more
What's love got to do with self-care? Lizzo is a rapper/musician who combines flute and feminism. She’s getting increasing accolades, with the release of her album, “Cuz I Love You.” Her story has many facets. At heart, it’s about radical self-love.Read more
The World Health Organization recently declared burnout as an “occupational phenomenon.” This recognition gives legitimacy to the move toward self-care as a means to address this phenomenon Social workers can lead in addressing burnout.Read more
“Re-storying” is an aspect of the narrative approach that I’ve appreciated for many years. Here, I share an example - a re-storying of Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree - and invite you to share in re-storying, as self-care.Read more
What does "home" mean to you? Is your home a space that is consistent with your self-care needs? What are you grateful for, and what would you like to change about your home?Read more
Too often, social workers forget or deny that we are human! For World Social Work Day, Erlene Grise-Owens urges social workers to be apply the importance of human relationships to themselves.Read more
In 2008-2009, NASW issued a Policy Statement on Professional Self-Care and Social Work, calling self-care “an essential underpinning to best practice in the profession ." How are we doing a decade later?Read more
The typical understanding of self-care is that it happens outside work. However, professional self-care—practicing self-care as part of work—is crucial!Read more
The New Social Worker, in collaboration with BSCorbett Consulting, LLC, presents a series of two webinars for Spring 2018 - on self-care and salary/benefits negotiation. Join us for these career-enhancing presentations by top experts.Read more
Using an A-to-Z framework, the editors and contributors to this self-care handbook outline strategies for social workers/helping professionals to build a self-care plan with specific goals and ways to reach them realistically.Read more
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