The world of social care is busy. From the moment you step foot into the building until you leave many hours later it is demanding. Phone calls, emails, assessments, reports, meetings, supervision and team chat. All essential parts of the day, all requiring your complete focus, your energy, and compete for your time. Priorities can often change with each new phone call or email.
You can go from being in control of your day with a plan to dealing with spiralling chaos at the next moment due to further demand.
Not only are practitioners dealing with all of these demands – they are people too.
They run out of fuel as they have been so focussed on their day they forget to stop at the garage, they have left an almost poorly child at nursery, their dog needs to go to the vets and then they finally get home and someone has used all the milk and then their world crashes.
In a world so full of demands and constant new crises and priorities how does the practitioner look after themselves? How do they fit in a moment to breathe, relax, or even begin to think about self care?
Looking after a team
When I became a manager, I knew the welfare of the team would be important. There were resources, which might help, but how I could bring those into daily practices or tailor them to the individual needs of people?
Embedding self care into daily practice is essential. I recall times as a practitioner when I neglected my own self care and how I learned the lesson harshly that if I don’t look after myself I am no use to others. My own learning has made me more aware of how vital self care is.
It is important to ensure staff are aware of the available support, resources and opportunities within the service. Mindfulness groups, yoga at work, lunchtime healthy walks and details of the workplace counselling service are all need-to-know.
A recent resource produced by Siobhan Maclean, ’50 Acts of self care’, has proved useful by using these cards in staff meetings, getting the team to pick challenges for themselves and the wider team.
Source: ‘Social workers don’t just deal with spiralling demands – they are people too’ : Community Care
Carer Voice 