Listed below are self-care tools and mental health resources you may find personally helpful as you navigate the work of being a CASA.
This information is liable to change without our knowledge.
Erlene Grise-Owens, EdD, LCSW, MSW, MRE, who has written about and promoted self-care for social workers, offers these five R’s as a way to approach self-care:
Attempting to reframe one’s perspective on situations and approaches can help ease the way to self-care. For example, reframing self-care as essential and necessary, rather than something else to add to an already busy day, can help to make self-care a part of one’s lifestyle.
Self-care can be more effective if it is preceded by reflection. Reflection can enhance self-knowledge and help to identify the best strategies through which to practice self-care. Social workers can choose to reflect on their own or through discussions with therapists or supervisors.
To be most effective, self-care should become integrated into all aspects of a person’s life. Making the practice of self-care routine can be accomplished in many ways, starting with something small, such as regularly making the bed, or through more direct practices, such as regularly keeping a gratitude journal.
That rest is an essential element of self-care is not surprising. But rest is more than just sleep. Rest also can include things such as taking breaks, engaging in play, meditating, or stopping to take a breath.
Establishing healthy relationships, connections, and boundaries for oneself and with others is critical to the effective practice of self-care.