Tag Archives: Self care

As a practitioner it is important that we focus on our own physical wellness. Though work is exciting and brings a pay check it can also be stressful, challenging, and difficult to meet the changing demands of our funders and person served. Too often we neglect our own self-care in pursuit of serving others. The following are some suggestions that staff may consider personally and to share with individuals seeking employment:

Be sure to get enough sleep at night:  Sleep is critical for being alert and attentive to support people in their employment efforts. Tending to our sleep hygiene give us energy to meet with employers, do job development and rapid job search.

 Prepare healthy meals:  Healthy meals can go along ways instead of catching fast food on the run.  Bringing healthy lunches and snacks several days a week can remind us about taking needed lunch breaks to refresh the mind and body.

 Relaxation and Stress Management:  Planning weekly distressing activities outside of work whether its, yoga, walking, running, swimming, and or weights are important to balance job tasks and responsibilities.  When I have not balanced physical health needs my work performance suffers, I’m easily frustrated, and I do not enjoy my work; unless, I am demonstrating self-care practices. 

 Role model:  As I actively participate in self-care practices I feel much better about the good work I’m doing including meeting the demands of the people I serve and supervisor. Many of these self-care practices are important to share with the people we are helping to get a job.  As a practitioner we are role modeling self-care practices to help people we support.  An additional benefit is that we may also feel better about the work we are doing and feel physically well.

I welcome you to share the self-care practices you are using for your own physical wellness.