TAKING CARE OF OURSELVES

When we deliver workshops to professional and or parents and carers we are often asked how we manage to take care of ourselves and still deliver the best service for the children and families who need it most.

As trained and qualified mental health professionals we recognise this and understand self-care implicitly and know from our extensive training how best to respond.

This is one of the reasons we often refer to the rise of wellbeing work and organisations/ individuals increasingly developing or tagging on mental health interventions to the work that they do when sadly they are little equipped to understand the way that burn out symptoms initially present or overwhelm when the complex nature of the issues the client brings is beyond the learning, remit, skill set or experience of the recipient worker.

The professionally trained Therapist, Counsellor or Practitioner who has completed a post- graduate Diploma/ Degree following intensive study receives clinical supervision at regular intervals as a mandatory requirement of their registration body and this will be part of the ethical basis and guideline that they work to- that protects themselves and the public whom they serve and deliver a service to.

For example- while Play Therapists are progressing through 3yr post graduate clinical training they are required to put themselves in to therapy- which can equate to 60 sessions of personal therapy over 3yrs.

It makes sense- if you do not do the work on yourself and understand how to separate what is yours from that of the client- how will you safely work in a therapy session with a client who may bring a similar life circumstance to the table as the one you have experienced- and you become triggered or do not know how to manage the feelings you are left with or have counter transferred to the client?

We protect ourselves from burn out with formal clinical supervision

and additional caseload supervision and at Mind Mosaic Child & Family Therapies we facilitate an informal Therapist/ Counsellor and Family Worker/ Therapeutic worker forum on an evening once every 6 weeks that brings together practitioners from across Inverclyde and beyond. The good attendance at this forum highlights the recognition and awareness our network partners place on self care and good practice and they find a place where they can come to de-stress and reduce the anxieties of life and work with supportive colleagues

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As approved clinical Supervisors we also provide Supervision to practitioners and orgs- both local and national from other areas in Scotland.

Food for thought?...you owe it to yourself and to the clients seeking help to take care of your own mental and physical health- you cannot pour from an empty cup

 For further info contact us on 01475 339019 or email: children@mindmosaic.net