Self Care and embracing Less
As I write after a long break, the wildfires of New Mexico are consuming the state and leading me to think fondly of greener lands. It's a strange time in our history on this planet, and I hope we can make the changes we need to make to get through this.
Self Care. An important topic for all therapists, and a particularly potent one for mental health professionals working with very vulnerable populations. When faced with such intense stories, affect, and need in session, it can be easy to feel like everything must be done to make things better. Oftentimes that everything involves going beyond our roles as art therapists to provide additional support: making phone calls to advocate with a disability staff person, going to the home and reviewing indoor kitchen hygiene with a family, taking a client to a domestic violence shelter, etc. I've done all these things and more with the refugees I work with. I believe strongly in offering these supports when there is no one else to do so, but within moderation. There is a line somewhere between additional support and over-extending oneself, and that line exists in different places within each of us. Only through testing it do we find our line, but it is also important to take into account that the line is moveable and changes based on other factors in our professional and personal lives.
Personal story:
Part of why I took a hiatus from writing here came from the fact that I've taken on too much at the moment. I am juggling six different jobs/contracts to equal a full time job with three different offices and a car I'm working out of. Many art therapists will likely smile at this: it's often how we do this on our own! I have no centralized office as I work out of two cities and still do home- and school-based work.
With this juggling act consuming as much of my energy as the actual work, I have very little reserves left over for going that extra mile for clients. Of course I didn't realize this for a while. I'm living the dream, right? Piecemealing all of my favorite types of work into one really cool career while living ecologically and maintaining a serious relationship and a social life...... obviously, something was bound to snap. And after several months, I did. The other day I made the ultimate therapist faux pas: I double-booked clients. This horrified me and brought into the mirror the full form of my over-extended, exhausted, overwhelmed self. After crying several times that evening and the following day (which happened to be my birthday), I realized I had to take better care of myself. I had crossed that line into overextension - I now reach that line a lot faster than I used to, and this is something I am still trying to accept.
How do I step back into a manageable amount of work and effort, back over the line? A centralized workspace would certainly be helpful. But I think the most important step is simply doing less. Doing less of the extras for my clients. Letting go of one of my gigs. Not taking on more clients. Socializing less so that I have more rest time. Sitting in silence now and again. Less. We live in a world that has forgotten the meaning of less in terms of happiness, satisfaction, and success. It's high time that started changing.
So here I am writing on my blog: ironic? Maybe. But I hope that by organizing my thoughts and putting it out there I can solidify my commitment to Less, and ultimately, to myself.
Self Care. An important topic for all therapists, and a particularly potent one for mental health professionals working with very vulnerable populations. When faced with such intense stories, affect, and need in session, it can be easy to feel like everything must be done to make things better. Oftentimes that everything involves going beyond our roles as art therapists to provide additional support: making phone calls to advocate with a disability staff person, going to the home and reviewing indoor kitchen hygiene with a family, taking a client to a domestic violence shelter, etc. I've done all these things and more with the refugees I work with. I believe strongly in offering these supports when there is no one else to do so, but within moderation. There is a line somewhere between additional support and over-extending oneself, and that line exists in different places within each of us. Only through testing it do we find our line, but it is also important to take into account that the line is moveable and changes based on other factors in our professional and personal lives.
Personal story:
Part of why I took a hiatus from writing here came from the fact that I've taken on too much at the moment. I am juggling six different jobs/contracts to equal a full time job with three different offices and a car I'm working out of. Many art therapists will likely smile at this: it's often how we do this on our own! I have no centralized office as I work out of two cities and still do home- and school-based work.
With this juggling act consuming as much of my energy as the actual work, I have very little reserves left over for going that extra mile for clients. Of course I didn't realize this for a while. I'm living the dream, right? Piecemealing all of my favorite types of work into one really cool career while living ecologically and maintaining a serious relationship and a social life...... obviously, something was bound to snap. And after several months, I did. The other day I made the ultimate therapist faux pas: I double-booked clients. This horrified me and brought into the mirror the full form of my over-extended, exhausted, overwhelmed self. After crying several times that evening and the following day (which happened to be my birthday), I realized I had to take better care of myself. I had crossed that line into overextension - I now reach that line a lot faster than I used to, and this is something I am still trying to accept.
How do I step back into a manageable amount of work and effort, back over the line? A centralized workspace would certainly be helpful. But I think the most important step is simply doing less. Doing less of the extras for my clients. Letting go of one of my gigs. Not taking on more clients. Socializing less so that I have more rest time. Sitting in silence now and again. Less. We live in a world that has forgotten the meaning of less in terms of happiness, satisfaction, and success. It's high time that started changing.
So here I am writing on my blog: ironic? Maybe. But I hope that by organizing my thoughts and putting it out there I can solidify my commitment to Less, and ultimately, to myself.
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