Part 1
The first part of the assignment is to reflect upon the importance of self-care for social workers and your current self-care practices.
To complete this part of the assignment, please review and complete the Self-Care Assessment Worksheet [DOCX] Download Self-Care Assessment Worksheet [DOCX]. You do not need to share your specific ratings on this assessment but rather consider the overall findings of the assessment and share the insights you gained from completing this assessment (for example, you noticed that you have room for improvement in the area of physical self-care, or you did not consider some of the items listed on the assessment as self-care, etc.)
Part 2
For part two of the assignment, you will work on developing a self-care plan. This plan will allow you the opportunity to practice writing SMART goals.
SMART goals are:
- Specific.
- Measurable.
- Achievable.
- Relevant.
- Time-Sensitive.
Please write your goals in bullet form (each goal is one sentence; they should not be written in paragraph form).
You may wish to review the reading from your study: Week 6: SMART GoalsLinks to an external site..
Write a 1–2 page self-care plan including self-care reflections with three goals.
- Describe why self-care is important for social workers.
- Reflect upon your completed self-care assessment and share three insights you had as a result of this exercise.
- Write 3 SMART goals, based on your self-care assessment, for yourself related to self-care.
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Self-Care Assessment Worksheet
This assessment tool provides an overview of effective strategies to maintain self-care. After completing the full assessment, you can move on to developing a full self-care plan.
Using the scale below, rate the following areas in terms of frequency:
5 = Frequently 4 = Occasionally 3 = Rarely 2 = Never 1 = It never occurred to me
Physical Self-Care
___ Eat regularly (e.g. breakfast, lunch and dinner)
___ Eat healthy
___ Exercise
___ Get regular medical care for prevention
___ Get medical care when needed
___ Take time off when needed
___ Get massages
___ Dance, swim, walk, run, play sports, sing, or do some other physical activity that is fun
___ Take time to be sexual—with yourself, with a partner
___ Get enough sleep
___ Wear clothes you like
___ Take day trips or mini-vacations
___ Other:
Psychological Self-Care
___ Make time for self-reflection
___ Have your own personal psychotherapy
___ Write in a journal
___ Read literature that is unrelated to school
___ Let others know different aspects of you
___ Notice your inner experience—listen to your thoughts, judgments, beliefs, attitudes, and feelings
___ Engage your intelligence in a new area, e.g. go to an art museum, history exhibit, sports event, theater performance
___ Practice receiving from others
___ Be curious
___ Say “no” to extra responsibilities sometimes
___ Other:
Emotional Self-Care
___ Spend time with others whose company you enjoy
___ Stay in contact with important people in your life
___ Give yourself affirmations, praise yourself
___ Love yourself
___ Re-read favorite books, re-view favorite movies
___ Identify comforting activities, objects, people, relationships, places and seek them out
___ Allow yourself to cry
___ Find things that make you laugh
___ Express your outrage in social action, letters and donations, marches, protests
___ Play with children
___ Other:
Spiritual Self-Care
___ Make time for reflection
___ Spend time with nature
___ Find a spiritual connection or community
___ Be open to inspiration
___ Cherish your optimism and hope
___ Be aware of nonmaterial aspects of life
___ Try at times not to be in charge or the expert
___ Be open to not knowing
___ Identify what is meaningful to you and notice its place in your life
___ Have experiences of awe
___ Read inspirational literature (talks, music, etc.)
___ Other:
Adapted by BWell Health Promotion from: Transforming the Pain: A Workbook on Vicarious Traumatization. Saakvitne, Pearlman & Staff of TSI/CAAP (Norton, 1996)
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