Hello and thank you for taking the time to learn a little bit more about me & my blog.
I have been working as a social worker for over a decade and am passionate about writing, teaching, and direct clinical practice with children and families. In addition to being a medical social worker, I teach as an adjunct professor in the graduate social work program at Simmons University.
Self-care is important to me because it took me a long time to understand what it is and how to practice it.
In graduate school I struggled with how to balance juggling the role of being a full-time student, working, and doing an internship. I was all on my own with no financial support and it took a toll on my health. I wanted to know if other graduate students had similar struggles so for my master’s thesis I did a research project on Self-care and Social Work Graduate Students and presented my findings at an International Social Sciences Conference in Hawaii. My research project validated my own lived experience. I wasn’t the only one who did not know how to find balance.
It has taken me a long time to understand why the NASW Code of Ethics states that self-care is an ethical obligation for social workers. I realize more and more how important it is to integrate a daily self-care practice in order to be a healthy, mindful and sustainable person and clinician.
As social workers we expend extensive time, physical and emotional energy helping others.
It’s easy to keep going and putting yourself last but ultimately you pay a price.
I believe that social workers are vital to our communities and our skill sets are unique. Our role in society is a precious commodity that we must preserve through self-care.
In order to care for others, we must first learn to care for ourselves.
I want to share my self-care practices with the hopes that people will find tools to better care for themselves. By promoting self-care, mindfulness and professional development practices, my aspiration is to make a positive difference in our society…one small practice at a time.
