5 Self-Care Tips to Prevent Burnout for Therapists

How To Slay The Dreaded Burnout Beast

It’s Monday morning and your alarm goes off. You hit snooze. 9 minutes pass by (or was it 9 seconds?) and your alarm goes off again. You contemplate pulling a double snooze or mustering the energy to roll out of bed.

How is it already Monday?

You wanted to do so many things over the weekend, but you spent most of your time on the couch and/or sleeping.

Your body feels heavy under the weight of the day ahead of you.

You’ve gotten used to feeling drained before you even clock in for work.

Ugh, you think to yourself, before pulling your blanket off of you and mentally preparing yourself to face another day.

Don’t worry, you’re NOT a bad therapist for feeling this way, and you’re NOT alone.

Many mental health professionals will come face to face with a dreaded beast we often refer to as burnout. He’s an elusive character that sneaks up on you like a thief in the night, and can slowly drain you of your energy, your passion, and your motivation.

The rates of burnout in mental health professionals are staggering. According to the American Psychological Association, anywhere between 21% to a whopping 61% of mental health workers encounter burnout throughout their professional careers [1].

Does this mean that you don’t care about your clients? Or that you don’t want to help people anymore? Does it mean that you’re just not cut out to be a therapist, or that the stress of being a therapist is just too much for you to handle?

Not likely.

But it could very well mean that your self-care game is seriously slacking.

If you’re a therapist, counselor, or any mental health professional, your days are filled with taking care of your clients and their needs. And then you go home, and you’re taking care of your spouse and your kids’ needs. And then your best friend calls you on the phone and you’re taking care of her needs.

So much of your day is spent walking others through their darkness. You have to take the time to maintain your own light.

As a mental health professional, you already know that the importance of self-care for the wellbeing of your clients is huge. However, it can be easy to forget just how crucial self-care is for you, too. In fact, it is your ethical duty to maintain your own wellness so that you can be fully present with your clients and meet all of your professional responsibilities [2].

If you know how important self-care is, then why is it so hard to practice?

Many counselors and therapists find it difficult to develop and utilize self-care strategies themselves, even after prompting clients to do so. This could be because as a mental health professional, you are expected to always be collected, composed, and there for others. Society has placed an expectation on you to be an impenetrable fortress. This may prompt a disconnect within you when you do begin to struggle with feeling overwhelmed, tired, or drained, but you feel that you “shouldn’t” feel this way [3].

Another reason that many female mental health professionals, in particular, may find it difficult to implement self-care practices throughout their day is because of the pressure that society has placed on women to be the “caregiver,” and for a woman to take the time to care for herself may be viewed as “selfish.” [3]

Obviously, these expectations are unrealistic and detrimental to your well-being. Implementing self-care strategies in your own life is one of the best things you can do for your clients and your loved ones. You will be more joyful, relaxed, engaged, present… and more YOU!

It’s important to always remember that self-care looks different for everyone. For example, some people may love yoga as a form of relaxation, but some people may not resonate with it in the same way, and that’s okay! The magical thing about self-care is that it constitutes whatever speaks directly to YOUR soul — whatever makes you feel good, warm, and light. If hitting the gym and adding 100 pounds to your bar in the squat rack is what does it for you, then by all means, go for it! We are all unique, so our self-care maps will be just as diverse.

Without further adieu, here are 6 practical things you can do to practice self-care.

1.Do something that brings you joy, and do it consistently. What did you like to do when you were a kid? Maybe you read books all the time when you were younger, and couldn’t wait to get your hands on the latest release of your favorite fantasy series.

Maybe you used to draw in your notebook at any given moment, whenever inspiration would strike! Perhaps you enjoyed dancing and often found yourself choreographing mini routines. Just because you’re an adult, it doesn’t mean that you have to give up the things that once brought you joy.

If you’re limited on time, try to carve out 20 minutes of your day to jump into a new fantasy book series or to wake up your inner artist. If you have a little more time on your hands, enroll in a weekly adult dance class. Find a way to incorporate your joy back into your life.

2. Set boundaries. As a mental health professional, you’re a very giving person. It might be difficult for you to say “no” to people, especially to your clients. However, maintaining boundaries is crucial to your wellbeing. Setting boundaries will place you back into the driver’s seat of your own life.

Some examples of setting healthy boundaries in the workplace are keeping your client sessions within their set time frame, being mindful of how often you negotiate fees with a client, and creating clear distinctions between what you are and are not comfortable self-disclosing to a client.

In your personal life, setting boundaries can look like saying no to a friend who asks you to go out, because you’d rather stay in, or telling your partner that you feel overwhelmed and that he or she needs to help you with maintaining the household. You are not selfish for being clear, being vocal, and verbalizing what your needs are.

3. Connect with friends. It’s amazing how good we can feel after sharing a few laughs with friends. In fact, research shows that maintaining social connections can have a positive impact on not only our mental health but on our physical health as well.

Lack of connection with others and feelings of loneliness are actually correlated with greater odds of experiencing health issues such as high blood pressure, heart disease, and even early mortality [4].

So pick up the phone and say hi to an old friend. Set up a zoom call (because Covid, amirite?) with a few of your friends, and just have fun! Maintaining the positive connections that you have in your life is integral for self-care.

4. Practice gratitude daily. When is the last time that you stopped and basked in gratitude for everything that you have in your life? According to Robert A. Emmons, Ph.D., a noted researcher on gratitude, practicing gratitude daily has been scientifically shown to improve mental health and reduce negative emotions such as frustration, regret, and jealousy. His studies show that practicing gratitude is able to reduce symptoms of depression and to increase overall feelings of happiness [5].

You can practice gratitude by starting a gratitude journal and jotting down a few things that you’re grateful for each day. You can reach out to one person every day and tell them something that you are grateful for about them.

You can take 10 minutes at night to reflect on one moment in the day that you were grateful for, whether it was eating a really good sandwich or having a really productive session with a client. There are so many ways to experience gratitude day in and day out that will contribute to your self-care.

5. Talk to a counselor. One of the best things that you can do for yourself is to give yourself a space to talk about how you’re doing, to talk about how you’re feeling, and to talk about the struggles that you are facing. Just because you’re a counselor, therapist, or mental health professional, it doesn’t mean that you’re immune to human emotion.

You spend your day absorbing the pain of others like a sponge — it will only benefit you to have a healthy way of releasing this. Speaking to a counselor will essentially force you into a space where you get to focus your energy onto yourself.

Remember, if you want to show up in all your glory to help your clients out, first you have to show up for yourself.

Which one of these self-care tips resonates most with you? Let me know in the comments below!