Self-Care Strategies for Counselors: A Personal Plan

Introduction

Self-care is an important part of healthcare and counseling (Nelson, Hall, Anderson, Birtles & Hemming, 2018). Self-care facilitates reflection and resilience, and helps one to maintain proper perspective when providing counseling for clients. Some types of clients may be more difficult or trying for counselors than others. This paper discusses characteristics of clients that I expect might be trying for me and the self-care strategies I would use to avoid becoming fatigued, burned out, and ineffective when working with such clients.

Client Characteristics That May Be Challenging

Client characteristics that I expect would be difficult for me include clients of a different demographic or culture than my own. For example, if I had a client who was two generations removed from my own—or even one generation removed—I would need to remember that this individual's perspective is very likely to differ from mine simply because of the cultural inputs unique to every generation. Gen X differs from Gen Y and Gen Z in terms of work ethic; Baby Boomers tend to be more loyal than other generations; and there are many other differences a counselor must be mindful of (Stead, Flahive, Fitzgerald & Frost, 2017).

Cultural differences are likely to be even more demanding. Every client will have a unique cultural background, particularly in the United States, where so many subcultures exist and persist and often prove more informative and meaningful in people's lives than mainstream culture. Mainstream cultural inputs traditionally provided by religion, region, class, or ethnicity are increasingly muted in the modern era, replaced by new subcultures based on trends sometimes associated with movements in media, politics, or society (Dupont, 2020). Subculture can shape individuals' beliefs about sexuality, gender, politics, religion, identity, emotions, one's role in the world, and one's general attitude. Some subcultures may also influence whether a person is open to receiving counseling in the first place, making it a major challenge to understand each client's perspective and readiness.

Clients with different sexual orientations than my own, or clients with disabilities, are not likely to present a significant problem for me, because these are not perspectives I expect to have trouble understanding. The difficult cases are more likely to be those in which I am unsure what the client's perspective actually is. People who are open and honest about their perspectives are relatively easy to understand and work with; I do not anticipate these types of clients presenting serious problems.

Personality types that might present some difficulty would probably include individuals who are melancholic, as I know I might lose patience with this personality type. I tend to be more choleric in temperament, so when I see a solution to a problem it can be challenging for me to sit patiently and wait for others to arrive at the same conclusion—yet that is often precisely what a counselor must do. Melancholic personality types also tend to be absorbed in their own emotions, which can be a difficult dynamic to address, especially if the client is unwilling to shift focus away from those emotions.

Clinical syndromes I would probably find difficult include bipolar disorder and antisocial personality disorder. I suspect it would be challenging to provide counseling for individuals who are either indifferent to humanity or unable to remain in a stable mental or emotional state for extended periods. I would likely advocate for pharmacological therapy to be used alongside counseling for these clients.

Settings such as crisis programs or rotating shifts could also be difficult for me, because they would mean I am not in control of the environment. A constant stream of distress calls could feel overwhelming, and I can see how that type of setting would require significant personal adjustment. I could easily envision needing time away from work to unwind and care for myself if I were working in such conditions.

I do not think I would mind working with mandated clients or with perpetrators of violence, abuse, or bullying. Part of counseling, as I understand it, is the capacity to address precisely these kinds of issues. What matters most to me is remaining open to others' experiences. If I found myself selectively avoiding certain cases out of fear or self-doubt, I would have to question my overall effectiveness as a counselor.

Overview of Self-Care Strategies

To avoid becoming fatigued, burned out, or ineffective when working with challenging clients or in demanding environments, I would engage in a variety of self-care strategies across six dimensions: physical, emotional, cognitive, social, financial, and spiritual. Issues such as having enough time for friends and setting sufficient money aside for personal well-being can become stressors that undermine one's capacity to work in trying situations if they are not deliberately managed. That is why I include them in my self-care plan, even though they may not seem at first glance to be directly related to working with difficult clients. A counselor who is stressed about finances will be less focused on a client's needs than one who is financially secure and able to give full attention to the work at hand.

Physical and Emotional Self-Care

Physical self-care strategies will include eating a healthy diet, establishing a routine of low-impact exercise such as hiking at least once a week, and ensuring sufficient rest each night. Sleep is important to my overall health, and I do not want to deprive myself of it by staying up late for activities that seem tempting in the moment but that would leave me fatigued for days afterward (Schubert & Broom, 2020).

Emotional self-care is important for staying centered, positive, and able to help others, especially in difficult cases. If one's emotions are not grounded, reactions can be counterproductive or even harmful. My emotional self-care goals include journaling in the evening to facilitate self-reflection and a meditative mindset; sending messages of warmth and affection to loved ones at least once a week to maintain a sense of positive connection; and engaging in some form of dramatic catharsis once a week to regularly cleanse accumulated emotions—whether through watching a film, reading, listening to music, or creating something of my own.

Conclusion

Self-care is one of the most important things a counselor or healthcare worker can engage in because that person is the source of care for others, and if the source is broken or burned out it will not be of much good to others. The counselor must therefore perform the required maintenance to remain in good condition when their services are needed. I expect to be challenged in my work by individuals whose perspectives may be difficult to discern—someone whose views I am unfamiliar with, whose subculture is not easily defined, or whose clinical presentation is hard to stabilize—or by overwhelming environments such as high-volume crisis settings. These challenges could become debilitating over time without a deliberate self-care plan in place.

My self-care strategy will therefore consist of six dimensions of overall health: physical, emotional, cognitive, social, financial, and spiritual. The specific strategies I will apply across these six areas range from dieting and regular exercise to daily prayer, from journaling and creative expression to socializing with friends, from financial budgeting to spending meaningful time with family. Together, these practices will support my capacity to remain an effective, centered, and resilient counselor.

References

Dupont, T. (2020). Authentic subcultural identities and social media: American skateboarders and Instagram. Deviant Behavior, 41(5), 649–664.

Nelson, J. R., Hall, B. S., Anderson, J. L., Birtles, C., & Hemming, L. (2018). Self-compassion as self-care: A simple and effective tool for counselor educators and counseling students. Journal of Creativity in Mental Health, 13(1), 121–133.

Pluut, H., Ilies, R., Curseu, P. L., & Liu, Y. (2018). Social support at work and at home: Dual-buffering effects in the work-family conflict process. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 146, 1–13.

Schubert, M. M., & Broom, D. R. (2020). Exercise and diet. Handbook of Eating and Drinking: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, 787–803.

Stead, A., Flahive, M., Fitzgerald, C., & Frost, M. (2017). Generational considerations for counseling older adults. Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups, 2(15), 42–52.