Simple Self-Care for Therapists: Restorative Practices to Weave Through Your Workday

Summary

For mental health professionals who must regularly guard against compassion fatigue and secondary traumatization, intentional self-care isn't just essential; it's a survival tool. If therapists don't take proper care of themselves, they can't do their work effectively.

Taking up an exercise program, going on a vacation, turning to supportive social networks, while helpful remedies to the stresses of the job, are not always feasible and the results are often only short term. Synthesizing the latest thinking in mindfulness, neuroscience, energy medicine, and spiritual disciplines, Simple Self-Care for Therapists offers immediate relief in doable, bite-sized nuggets—easy exercises that can be seamlessly integrated into your current workday routine with little fuss.

Over sixty restorative practices are presented—tools for grounding, energizing, and relaxing—organized as antidotes to the most common pathologies that therapists suffer: vicarious trauma, compassion fatigue, and burnout. Bush, a therapist with over twenty-five years of experience, walks listeners through the descriptions and simple implementation of each practice, with illuminating stories from her own professional experiences.