Today is International Self-care Day which encourages everyone to look after their own health, both mental and physical.
At Dan’s Legacy, we not only help our youth clients develop positive habits to maintain their health, but we strongly encourage our staff to do so as well.
Supporting youth as they deal with their trauma and resulting mental health and addictions challenges can create high-stress environments and emotional exhaustion. This can often lead to burnout and, much like a high-powered tool that has been repeatedly used and poorly maintained, a person without adequate time for self-care will struggle to perform at their best.
Maintaining a healthy work-life balance is integral to effective self-care as it sets boundaries around work hours and helps eliminate some of the unnecessary pressure we put on ourselves.
When we look at Dan’s Legacy’s core values, we see words like accountability and compassion, words that were initially brought up to highlight how we should show up for our clients, but it’s evolved into how we show up for ourselves as well.
As our Program Director Tom Littlewood advises each therapist, the foremost rule of their practice must always be “self-care”.
Weekly team and one-on-one meetings with supervisors and managers, clinical supervision for the therapists, and routine check-ins across all departments are just some of the ways we provide spaces for our staff to talk about their challenges and seek support.
Mindfulness, a healthy diet (available at Dan’s Diner), regular exercise (available through our Fitness Program) and connecting to the land (Indigenous Cultural Workshops) are just some of the ways we help our youth clients learn how to self-regulate; by caring for ourselves as well, we can model that behaviour for our clients and give them our best each and every day.
If you or someone you know would like help in taking the first steps toward effective self-care, please visit our self-referral page.