Burnout is a huge problem for counselors, and one really effective way to prevent it and address it is to create downtime.
But it’s more than just scheduling some time off. Creating downtime needs to be a daily activity. Because of the emotional nature of the work we do, often our client’s problems start to bleed over into our own personal lives. How many times have you driven home and walked in the front door still thinking about something your client said? Or worrying about your client?
Start with time boundaries
Are you on call 24/7 for your clients? This may be unhealthy. You may want to consider shutting your phone off after a certain time and referring clients in crisis to the local crisis center by including that information in your voicemail. In addition, making sure you are getting adequate sleep and proper nutrition. Therefore, make sure you aren’t seeing too many clients, or clients too late at night, and take proper meal breaks. As counselors we are helpers, but we need to say “no” to things that interfere with our ability to take proper care of ourselves.
Leave work behind
Try some concrete strategies to stop taking your clients’ issues home with you. Here are some suggestions:
- Change out of your work clothes as soon as you come home. Have a separate wardrobe for “home clothes”. Do not mix the two.
- Take a shower, or wash your face to “wash off the day.”
- Develop “closing ceremonies” like watering your plants at the end of the workday to signal that you are done for today.
- Look at your office door before you leave and say “goodbye” to all of your clients’ problems.
- At the end of the day, write down what was the most stressful, then tear it up into tiny pieces and throw them away.
Try some creative pursuits
Because we don’t see the “results” of the work we do in the same way that a carpenter might, consider taking up a creative hobby that involves working with your hands. One that doesn’t require much concentration, such as gardening, could have the added benefit of being meditative. But don’t just limit yourself to hobbies. Be sure to engage with your community in a positive way, such as volunteer work. And last but not least, try to laugh every day.
Yours in the Joy of Knowledge.
Dr. Barbara LoFrisco
*adapted from “Stumbling blocks to counselor self-care”, Counseling Today, March 2015
