A Practical Guide to Self-Care for Helping Professionals [downloadable]

Self-care for professionals is vital to the effectiveness of the services being provided. Helping professionals may not consider their own needs, or they may be preoccupied with their responsibilities.

Helpers often mistakenly believe that they are invulnerable to fatigue, stress, frustration, and depression. Often, they see the needs of others and feel the responsibility to lift them up, and in the process forget about self-care.

As helping professionals, we have learned that helpers need help, encouragement, and support, too. This article was written to affirm that, for helping professionals,
proper self-care is both a responsibility and a necessity.

This PDF was originally published as a wraparound guide and is an adapted version for team-based planning process.

Download the PDF for tools to assess the need for self-care, partner exercises, and additional online resources.

Source: Children’s Mental Health Network | A Practical Guide to Self-Care for Helping Professionals, https://www.cmhnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/New_Practical-Guide-to-Self-Care-for-Wraparound-Professionals-1.pdf | Published in 2020. Retrieved August 2024.