1 of 29

Personal Wellness and Self-Care

2 of 29

Wellness

3 of 29

What is “Wellness” and why does it matter?�

“Active pursuit of activities, choices, and lifestyles that lead to a state of holistic health” (Global Wellness Institute)
Includes: disease prevention, good physical and mental health, sense of well-being, increased longevity, positive interactions, and enhanced personal performance
Thriving vs surviving

While there are many definitions of wellness, they can be summed up by the Global Wellness Institute’s definition: ”the active pursuit of activities, choices and lifestyles that lead to a state of holistic health.”

Key to this definition is the idea that wellness is not a passive state of being. It requires “active pursuit” - attention and intention. It also reflects the view that wellness is comprised of both physical health and well-being.

Creating and maintaining a state of personal wellness helps prevent the development of diseases, and poor physical and mental health, by reducing the impact of stress on body and brain. It produces positive feelings and self-esteem. And, as a human services professional, it will improve your ability to be productive and help others.

Wellness practices can help you become the best version of yourself.

A focus on wellness activities can lead to positive experiences:

Relaxation

Vitality

Peace

Health

Enjoyment

Energy

Meaning

Happiness

Well-Being

Balance

Serenity

4 of 29

Eight Dimensions of Wellness

Emotional

Spiritual

Social

Physical

Occupational

Intellectual

Financial

Environmental

5 of 29

Emotional

Joy

Calm

Enthusiasm

Love

6 of 29

Environmental

7 of 29

Financial

8 of 29

Intellectual

Curiosity

Creativity

Teaching

Learning

Inspiration

9 of 29

Physical

Nutrition

Sleep

Exercise

Relaxation

Physical Wellness occurs when we engage in physical activity, eat healthy foods, and get adequate rest and sleep.

There are four “pillars” of physical wellness. They include:

Exercise: Try to maintain 30 minutes of movement each day. This can be as simple as taking 2 15-minute walks per day, going to the gym for a workout before or after work, or finding another way to move your body on a regular basis.
Nutrition: Eat healthy foods that include a variety of colors, textures, and flavors – all fresh, avoiding processed food,
Sleep: It is critical to your physical and mental well-being to get rest and allow your body to recover from daily wear and tear by getting 7-9 hours of sleep each night, and
Relaxation: Mental well-being requires caring for oneself and avoiding stress whenever possible. Make it a point to create time for relaxation – reading a book, watching a movie, or simply sitting and sipping a cup of tea – each day.

10 of 29

Occupational

Value

Teamwork

Skills

Goals

Achievement

11 of 29

Social

Friendship

Nurturing

Caring

Comaraderie

12 of 29

Spiritual

Peace

Faith

Sacred

Devotion

13 of 29

Work-Life Balance

14 of 29

What is Work-Life Balance?

Balance between career and personal life
Limit stress and maintain well-being
Balance varies from person to person
Achievement and Enjoyment
“Balance” changes over time

Work-life balance is a state of equilibrium between time spent on our work activities or career and the time we spend with family, friends, and activities we enjoy in our personal lives. The goal is not to set a static, time-bound balance, but to achieve a state harmony between work and personal activities.

The key consideration in what it means to have work-life balance is: what does it take to experience limited work-related stress and maintain health and well-being.

The balance between these two conditions is different for every person. A parent of young children may need or want more time to focus on his or her personal life in order to have quality family time. A single, middle-aged person might need or desire more time for personal endeavors such as exercise. Health conditions, family commitments, life stage, levels of job stress, our values, and other factors all play a role in determining what work-life balance means to an individual.

A simple way to define work-life balance is to think of it as the balance between achievement and enjoyment. Each of these is important to success and contentment in life.

Work-life balance isn’t static. You may be focused on a project at work for several weeks. This may occupy your time and thoughts both at work and at home. The time you spend on personal activities you enjoy may be reduced. When the project is complete, your mind is freed from it and you may put more energy into a hobby or spending time relaxing. We may “teeter-totter” between achievement and enjoyment throughout the day, week or month, but as long as there are plenty of opportunities to plan for and engage in relaxing, enjoyable activities, we will experience as sense of balance.

Optional video:

How to make work-life balance work

15 of 29

Five Steps to Creating Work-Life Balance

Conduct a personal values inventory
Set clear and consistent work-life boundaries
Prioritize: Do the important things first
Be in the moment
Do what brings you the greatest return

16 of 29

Five Steps to Creating Work-Life Balance

Step 1:

Conduct a personal values inventory

What matters most
Understand what you value
Focus on what matters

17 of 29

Five Steps to Creating Work-Life Balance

Step 2:

Set clear and consistent work-life boundaries

Leave work on time
Create “off” time that is adhered to
Identify a home office space
Create “digital breaks” – no technology
Communicate your boundaries clearly

Step 2: Set clear boundaries

Setting and maintaining work-life boundaries can be challenging regardless of where you are in your career. Younger people, just setting out in their careers may feel pressure to be as available as possible to their workplace in order to begin to develop a positive reputation, while more seasoned workers, who have reached the level of supervisor or manager may feel an obligation to the organization and the employees they support to be readily available whenever needed.

Regardless of where you are in your career trajectory, it is important to establish your boundaries between work and your personal life early on and to stick to them.

This can be done in the following ways:

Create a work schedule that allows you to leave at a pre-determined time each day.
Let your staff and the people you report to know that you won’t be checking emails or voice messages after hours and on weekends (unless it’s required as part of “on call” duties.
If you work from home, even part-time, create an identified “workspace”, or home office, where you work, keeping the rest of your living space for your personal-life activities.
Ensure your colleagues and those you’re accountable to understand what your boundaries are. Lack of clarity can result in unmet expectations, stress, and erosion of boundaries.

18 of 29

Five Steps to Creating Work-Life Balance

Step 3:

Prioritize: Do the important things first

Plan your day/week around priorities
Limit interruptions
Include non-work activities

Step 3: Prioritize

Today’s workplace often demands that employees manage multiple projects, activities, and responsibilities simultaneously, leading workers to jump from one activity to the next with each task being the priority in the moment. But, as the saying goes, “If everything is a priority, then nothing is.”

Most people would agree that all tasks are not equal, yet in our desire to stay on top of our workloads, many of us approach the work as though they were. Even when we do prioritize, many of us start with looking at what’s on our schedule for the day, and prioritizing those activities, but will that really serve us well?

To quote Stephen Covey, “The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities”

Take time at the beginning of the week, or at the start of each day, to determine what your priorities are for the day. Plan the day accordingly. If the task or project requires detailed focus, consider turning off email and sending your incoming calls to voicemail You can then set aside time at some point during the day to check them.

Consider putting a note on your door or cubicle letting coworkers know you need uninterrupted time and when you’ll be available again. These simple measures will limit interruptions and allow you the time you need to focus on your priorities.

Ensure that some of what gets prioritized is time for rest, rejuvenation, and enjoyment.

19 of 29

Covey’s 4 Quadrants

Quadrant 1: Urgent and Important Crises Pressing problems Projects with deadlines	Quadrant 2: Not Urgent but Important Relationship building Planning Recreation and Family time
Quadrant 3: Urgent but Not Important Interruptions Some phone calls Some mail/email Some reports	Quadrant 4: Not Urgent and Not Important Busy work Some phone calls Some mail/email Time wasters

Urgent

Not Urgent

Not Important

Important

One way to think about how to prioritize is to use the 4 Quadrant tool.

In his books, First Things First and The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey - internationally renowned motivational speaker introduced the 4 Quadrants matrix.

This matrix serves as a tool to understand our activities and determine what we want to prioritize. Most of us do urgent things first without considering whether or not they are important. In some cases, this means that we occupy ourselves with what’s right in front of us, even if it’s not important. If we prioritize thoughtfully before engaging in activities, we are more likely to be effective in our work, feel more in control, and achieve a sense of balance.

We may find ourselves frequently engaged in activities in Quadrant 1: dealing with things that are both urgent and important – a project with an approaching deadline, a crisis, issues that weren’t attended to and now require immediate attention. Some things that are urgent become so because we didn’t focus on them when they were NOT urgent. While we must attend to matters that are urgent and important, it can cause a great deal of stress. With good planning, fewer matters will arise that are both urgent and important, and more will be important, but far less urgent.

Quadrant 2 is the quadrant of peak performance in both work and personal life. This is where, ideally, you should spend the majority of your time. It is during this time that you can plan tasks, engage in creative problem-solving, learn, and build relationships and collaborate with others.

Quadrant 3 is unfortunately where we may spend a considerable amount of time. We focus on matters that are urgent without considering whether or not they are important. Reading and answering all emails, whether they need our attention or not, allowing interruptions to shift our attention from what we’re doing, answering a phone call when in planning meetings, and so on. Practice remaining focused on what you’re doing, and consider whether an urgent matter REALLY needs your attention. Is it as important as what you’re doing now? If not, don’t attend to it until you have completed the important tasks.

Lastly, Quadrant 4, comprised of “time wasters” – things like Facebook scrolling, looking at Amazon without needing to purchase something, reading emails that don’t pertain to your work (or personal life) such as group communications or ads – can consume enormous amounts of time, without yielding much, if any, benefit. Avoid these activities as much as possible – unless they are planned as part of your relaxation time.

Activity:

Complete 4 Quadrants Worksheet

20 of 29

Five Steps to Creating Work-Life Balance

Step 4:

Be in the moment

Don’t carry thoughts or issues from one activity into the next
Maintain a “be here now” approach
Attend to who or what is in front of you

Step 4: Be in the moment

Every day, as you face a new task or activity, take a moment to let go of what happened before and what you need to do later, and shift your focus and attention on what you are preparing to do, right now. Be totally present in the moment.

If you are still thinking about the meeting you just came from or the report that’s due by the end of the day, you are not giving your best energy to the task at hand.

For better work-life balance, applying the same approach to keeping work at work and leaving your personal life at home.

When you sit down at your desk, or meet with a client, you must let go of what’s happening at home. Similarly, when you walk in the door at home, you need to leave your work issues and thoughts behind.

For some people, particularly those with stressful jobs, spending some time processing the day with a friend or family member after work helps them release it from their mind. If this approach works for you, continue to practice it, but make sure there’s a clear end to work-related talk, so you can shift into your “home life”.

The idea is that whether at work or at home, your aim is to be fully present in who you are with and what you are doing.

21 of 29

Five Steps to Creating Work-Life Balance

Step 5:

Do what brings you the greatest return

The Pareto Principle or 80-20 Rule
Focus on efforts that bring the best results with the least effort. Do them often.

22 of 29

Healthy Relationships

23 of 29

Qualities of Healthy Relationships

Trust
Honesty
Mutual respect
Boundaries
Effective communication

So, what are the qualities of a healthy relationship?

While features such as compatibility and equality may play a role in initiating a healthy relationship, they are not always within our control. If you google ‘healthy relationships’ you will get hundreds of results – from psychology gurus to government organizations. Even though there are many ways to consider whether a relationship is healthy, there are several qualities that emerge from the literature again and again. They are all ones over which we have control – trust, honesty, mutual respect, boundaries, and effective communication. And, while we don’t control the other person’s contribution to the relationship, we do control our own.

Trust and honesty are critical to creating and maintaining healthy work and personal relationships. A trusting relationship is built upon a foundation of honesty and mutual respect. A relationship in which one or the other person doesn’t feel trust or can’t depend on another isn’t likely to be secure and nurturing. Likewise, if those in a relationship aren’t honest with each other, trust erodes over time.

There are times when being honest is scary. We may feel like we are revealing a weakness or are exposing a part of ourselves we’d prefer to keep hidden. True honesty requires a degree of transparency and that can be uncomfortable. But to maintain a healthy, mutually supportive relationship, each person must commit to being honest and open with the other.

Mutual respect: We all have different values, opinions, perceptions, and ideas. In a healthy relationship, we accept our differences and respect others because we value them as human beings. This respect can enrich our lives as well as support our relationship. When we respect others’ points of view, we learn new ideas and ways of understanding the world around us. It also ensures that they feel fairly treated and valued for who they are.

There are several kinds of boundaries that come into play in relationships –

Physical boundaries: understanding and communicating what you need physically (“I can’t go out after work, I’m tired and need to rest” or “I really need to eat, let’s get back to this conversation after lunch”),
Emotional boundaries: respecting and honoring feelings (“I understand that you don’t think this should upset me, but it does and I need you to honor that” or “I’d really like to talk with you, when can you make time for me?”),
Boundaries around time: Consider your priorities and set time boundaries accordingly (“I need to leave at 5:00 sharp so I can see my son’s soccer game” or “I’d love to be able to do that, but I don’t want to over-commit myself, can I take a rain check?”), and
Intellectual boundaries: Your thoughts and ideas deserve respect and you have a right to ask for them to be acknowledged (“Every time we talk about this, I feel as though you’re belittling my thoughts” or “I respect that we see this differently”)

Establishing boundaries in each domain so the other person understands them is important to maintaining a respectful relationship.

Effective communication is critical to maintaining a healthy relationship. Communication consists of listening and speaking. So often, we focus on what and how to say what we want to communicate, that we often miss the importance of listening, REALLY listening, with an intent to understand, what the other person is saying. Try to understand their point of view. Active, focused listening is a skill that is developed with lots of practice over time. If you want to be an effective communicator, strengthening this skill is critical.

Once you’ve listened to understand, be clear about your intent when stating your thoughts or opinions to the other person. Speak with the intent to be understood - Use ideas and language you know they will be responsive to. Be specific – avoid generalizations such as ‘always’ or ‘never’.

Activity:

Complete Assessing Your Relationships worksheet

24 of 29

Vicarious Trauma

25 of 29

What is Vicarious Trauma?

“Emotional residue of exposure from working with people and hearing their trauma stories, becoming witnesses to the pain, fear, and terror that trauma survivors have endured,” or
“A state of tension and preoccupation of the stories/trauma experiences described by clients”

(American Counseling Association)

Sometimes also referred to as compassion fatigue, secondary trauma, or secondary victimization, vicarious trauma may be experienced by people working in human services, victim services, law enforcement, medical services, fire services and other fields where they encounter others who have experienced trauma. Continued exposure to stories of trauma shared by clients, reviewing case files, or hearing about trauma after responding to a situation in violence or other traumatic experience has occurred, may result in vicarious trauma.

The American Counseling Association defines vicarious trauma as: “Emotional residue of exposure from working with people and hearing their trauma stories, becoming witnesses to the pain, fear, and terror that trauma survivors have endured,” or “A state of tension and preoccupation of the stories/trauma experiences described by clients”

26 of 29

How Does Vicarious Trauma Present?

Feelings of anger or sadness
Over-involvement
Bystander guilt, shame
Feelings of self-doubt
Fatigue, difficulty sleeping
Feeling numb
Low motivation
Difficulty managing feelings
Decreased enjoyment

27 of 29

Strategies for Coping with Vicarious Trauma

Increase self-reflection
Seek support
Build connections
Create time and space to reflect
Use supervision
Ensure work-life balance
Practice self-care
Maintain good health
Consider therapy
Be realistic
Don’t take responsibility for others’ well-being.
Take time off.

There are many ways to both prevent and cope with vicarious trauma. If you find yourself experiencing any of the symptoms of vicarious trauma, or if you are feeling stress from working with others who have experienced trauma, try these coping strategies:

Increase self-reflection - recognize your signs of stress and potential vicarious trauma
Reach out to others, seek support from colleagues and family
Build connections to family, friends, coworkers
Create time and space for reflection at work
Discuss vicarious trauma in supervision
Create good work-to-home boundaries and work-life balance
Practice self-care – engage in relaxing and self-soothing activities.
Maintain good physical health – eat well, get plenty of rest, make time for physical activity
Seek support from a therapist if you are struggling to manage your emotional or mental wellbeing.
Be realistic about what you can accomplish - avoid wishful thinking.
Don’t take responsibility for others’ well-being.
Take time off when you need it.

28 of 29

Self-Care

The path to wellness in each of the eight dimensions requires good self-care.
Self-care occurs when we attend to our well-being in a focused way.
Practicing self-care regularly helps reduce stress, improves outlook, helps focus us on what we value, increases physical well-being, and supports optimal social, intellectual, and spiritual well-being

With an understanding of the dimensions of wellness, components of work-life balance, essentials of healthy relationships, and issues related to vicarious trauma, we can consider how to engage in good self-care.

Self-care is the path to wellness in each of these areas. We need to attend to our well-being in a focused and sustained way. Practicing self-care on a regular basis will ensure we maintain wellness in each of the 8 dimensions, sustain good work-life boundaries, create fertile ground for growing healthy relationships, and prevent or mitigate the impact of vicarious trauma.

Self-care should become a routine part of one’s life, like hygiene practices. Create time each day for some self-care activity. It can be as simple as doing a 5-minute meditation or mindfulness practice, or as extravagant as going to a day spa for a treatment. Whatever you do, make sure you make a habit of setting aside time regularly to nurture yourself in ways that build your resilience, nurture you physically, emotionally, intellectually, socially, and spiritually.

29 of 29

Questions or Comments