Staff Self-Care
TVR staff are often individuals who have grown to be “other” focused (as opposed to “self” focused) from an early age. However, counselors who neglect their own self-care may eventually run out of the energy necessary to help participants. Loss of life balance because of long term job stress often creates burnout. In the same way that participants are held accountable for the changes needed for positive employment outcomes, we must hold ourselves and our staff accountable for changes in our lives that will result in the life balance required to work at our jobs long term.
Some tribal communities believe that each time a person helps to heal another, a part of the healer is taken away. Restoration of those lost "parts" requires diligence. Self-care is a concept that counselors often try to convey to participants but many find it a challenge to put into practice in their own lives. Wellness experts say that as life gets busy, counselors may tend to assume that they can, or even should, handle problems and stress on their own. But, these experts caution, counselors who ignore their own needs may find their outlook on life and work will suffer. This is true for all TVR staff. No one is immune to the effects resulting from the amount of empathy, care and compassion required to work in TVR.
Signs of Burn Out
TVR counselors in particular are tasked with providing a tremendous amount of empathy to participants, and they often listen to very tragic and emotionally difficult stories. Sometimes TVR counselors can grow “comfortable” with hearing stories of painful events, and can get desensitized to those stories after a while. Even when work environments are filled with stress, fatigue, anger and resentments, it can still feel “safe” simply because they know what to expect every day. When providing TVR counseling day in and day out, it is vital that counselors have an outlet to be able to continue to be effective and enjoy their work.
Typical signs of burnout include the following:
- low energy or little desire to go to work
- uncertainty about how to help participants
- resentment toward certain participants
- feeling burdened by certain participants
- letting appointments go on much longer than scheduled
- increased absences or always running late
- avoiding co-workers, supervisor or certain participants
- forgetting important meetings or appointments
- excessive weight gain or loss
- viewing the world as unsafe
- losing sense of humor
For more information, a PowerPoint on preventing and addressing staff burnout can be found here. Download here.
Finding Balance
The good news is that once recognized, individuals can make changes to ensure that they will continue to enjoy their work in TVR for the long term. Staying connected with participants and our work while maintaining a strong and deep connection with our own experience is essential to finding balance. This includes recognizing warning signs that we are not taking adequate care of ourselves and then not feeling ashamed of those signs.
Boundaries with Participants
A part of creating balance starts with some preventative maintenance by establishing boundaries between our personal and professional worlds. TVR staff may be susceptible to poor boundaries because of a desire to take care of others, to meet their own social needs, to be “heard” themselves, or to please others. Also, participants with challenging behaviors may be able to press our buttons (especially when it comes to re-traumatization, shame, or enmeshment). Boundaries protect us as counselors, as they protect our participants. They help bring clarity to what is personal and what is professional. And they remind us to make time to meet our own needs.
It can be difficult for a counselor to maintain professional boundaries when providing services to a family member or close friend. If a TVR staff member is related to or close to an applicant or participant, it is important that the relationship be shared with other staff and the individual is assigned to another counselor's, or even the director's, caseload.
Setting boundaries may include being firm about issues such as talking with participants about calling or stopping in unannounced, developing friendships or sexual relationships, excessive self-disclosure (from the counselor or participant), extending meeting times, and making special allowances. Below is a chart illustrating examples of how common characteristics of relationships might look different in a personal versus a professional relationship:
Personal Restoration
Personal restoration is essential to prevent burnout and can include activities such as traditional ceremonies, exercise, restful sleep, personal counseling, spending time in nature, and spending time with family and friends. Here are some ideas that have been collected:
- Find a way to “neutralize” or "ground" between participant meetings, or schedule 10-15 minutes between appointments to give time for transition
- Only work with participants who are progressing. If they aren’t progressing, meet with them and determine what issues they are dealing with. If, after talking with them, they are still not progressing, discuss the situation with your supervisor and explore the possibility of closing the file, if that seems warranted, and asking them to come back when they are ready to move forward.
- Identify what is most important to you, such as family and friends, traditional practices, art, exercise, or travel. Find ways to incorporate these activities to help create a rich life outside of work.
- Create a Vision Board of images and key words describing what you want your future to look like.
- Incorporate a sense of play into your office or day.
- Find additional emotional support through personal counseling, mentoring, or support groups.
- Consider incorporating TVR team activities into the work environment.
- Incorporate mindfulness activities into your daily or weekly routine.
- Keep a gratitude journal or explore "reframing" negative experiences by finding positives that can come from situations.
- Practice daily affirmations, which can supplement the loop of negative self-reflections that are common for all of us.
Taking Breaks
It is important to know what is truly necessary to get done in a day and what isn’t. Everyone is entitled to downtime. We all have a basic need for "time out" when we can rest. It is important to make ourselves a priority at times so that we can give that same level of attention to the participants we work with. Taking breaks should be a part of everyone's day, and it is also important to prioritize leave time, vacations or “staycations,” that involve deeper levels of personal recuperation. Conferences and trainings are also a great way to disconnect from the regular routine and connect with colleagues performing similar work.
Case & Time Management
In the TVR profession, there will always be more that needs to get done than can actually get done by most anyone in a 40-hour work week. It might be tempting for some (often new) staff to want to work more than the time allotted, but it’s important to maintain regular hours because working more can lead to burnout in the long run. As teachers of self-advocacy, we must be also able to advocate for ourselves and our time and say “no” to commitments that take away from life balance. TVR staff must prioritize tasks and then make and keep a schedule to ensure those tasks with the most priority are taken care of first. As a reminder, breaks and self-care activities should be a very high priority!