In recent years, the epidemic situation in COVID-19 has been repeated, and earthquakes, rainstorms and air crashes have occurred from time to time. Regardless of natural and man-made disasters or other accidents, psychological crisis events are accumulating at the only growth rate in the past. After the crisis, not only the initial victims, rescuers and those directly affected by temporary difficulties, but also more onlookers and witnesses will be affected. Therefore, as a psychological counselor, the challenge of psychological assistance is getting bigger and bigger, and the demand is getting stronger and stronger.
As professionals, we abide by the moral principles of kindness, responsibility, honesty, justice and respect of psychological counselors, be friendly to every helper, and practice social responsibility. Psychological assistance, crisis intervention, voluntary service and so on are all jobs that we often come into contact with. But psychological counseling itself is a very internal work, which needs constant personal experience and supervision. Owen Allen said that your "self" is your main tool, learn as much as possible from it. Don't let your blind spot stop you from understanding your patients or their feelings.
Therefore, it is particularly important to understand the importance of self-care and find specific methods of self-care at work, so as to ensure good working conditions at work, maintain physical and mental health and reduce the risk of job burnout.
First, why do you need to take care of yourself?
1, self-care is an ethical requirement.
The Code of Ethics for Clinical and Counseling Psychology of Chinese Psychological Association points out that psychologists should constantly update their professional knowledge, enhance their professional ability and promote their physical and mental health so as to better meet the needs of professional work. Specifically, it includes: "Psychologists should pay attention to self-care, be alert to the possibility of hurting clients due to their physical and mental health problems, seek help from supervisors or other professionals when necessary, or limit, interrupt or terminate clinical professional services.
As the minimum code of conduct for psychological counselors, ethical code includes self-care, which shows the importance of self-care.
2. Self-care is a professional belief.
What is the professional belief of psychological assistance?
Valuable, lucky, responsible and rewarding, you don't have to be too busy because of the aid situation, you have to accept your incompetence.
The book lists a game: the teacher asks everyone to pull their hair and pick themselves up. Obviously, this is an impossible task. This game shows that we should keep our feet on the ground. When our feet stand firm, we can help those who are about to fall or drown. After all, we can't expect to pull ourselves together by pulling out our hair. Therefore, we can't expect too much from the effectiveness of our aid. It is necessary to clarify the responsibilities and restrictions of work interruption.
3. Self-care is the premise of assistance.
It is normal to be born as a human being and have eternal feelings for the tragic situation of others. However, if there are repeated substitute injuries without self-awareness and timely treatment, it may bring great psychological harm to psychological counselors. Therefore, we must be alert to this kind of situation and do a good job in psychological care.
Second, think clearly about the motivation of helping others and helping themselves.
Soliloquize and strengthen self-awareness; Solve the unsolved problems in life; Keep a diary; Ask for supervision.
Third, psychologists take care of themselves.
Louise Hay tells you 10 ways to take care of yourself in the book "Starting the Power of the Heart":
1, stop blaming yourself. Stop blaming and attacking yourself, tell yourself that you are fine, and our strength can adjust our lives. )
Stop being afraid (please imagine beautiful things instead of negative thoughts and tell yourself: no, I don't want these negative and useless things, I want to think about things that can create positive power for my life. )
Take care of yourself patiently (patience is an important factor. Learning anything takes time. At first, I usually feel bad. Please take a moment to do the following exercises:
Anyway, please hold your hands together. Observe that the thumb of that hand is on it, then release the hand and press it, and the thumb of the other hand is on it. At first, we may feel a little strange and even do something wrong. Now let's try again, with the first one, and then with the second one ... How do you feel? It's not that weird. Do you feel good? We are used to it. Maybe we can learn both methods. Similarly, when we do things in a new way, we are not used to it at first, and then we begin to draw conclusions. Please wait patiently, and everything will become natural and normal.
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4. Pay attention to your mentality (take some time to relax every day. At any time, we can take a deep breath, close our eyes and release our tension. When you exhale, please say to yourself easily: "I love you, everything will be fine")
5, praise praise yourself (blame will destroy the inner soul, praise can shape a beautiful soul, don't underestimate yourself, start from small things, tell yourself: you are great. If you want to save yourself, you need to praise yourself more.
6. To help yourself is to love yourself. Looking for friends who can help us. When encountering problems, if possible, we'd better join a group that suits us. )
7. Accept our imperfections (imperfections are part of us, no matter how bad our situation is, there is always a reason. Please accept the facts objectively and face up to these reasons. )
8. Take care of your body (find a way you like to take care of your body, and keep full of energy and a stable heart through exercise with a positive attitude. For a consultant, a stable state is an important guarantee for competence. )
9. yourself in the mirror (have you ever looked at yourself carefully through the mirror? How do you feel when you look into your eyes? This is a good way to look at yourself through the mirror. We can find ways to love ourselves by looking in the mirror. Say to yourself in the mirror: I love you. What can I do for you today? What can I do to make you happier?
If something unpleasant happens, please say to yourself in the mirror: I still love you no matter what happens. )
10, love yourself from now on (the best way to help us solve all problems is to love ourselves and love everything about ourselves).
Fourth, distinguish between self-care, self-care and self-indulgence.
Self-care requires strict self-discipline, and self-care requires the ability to cheer up.
Self-care teachers' habit consciousness of what they need;
The core of self-care is concern for one's own health;
People who care about themselves are self-motivated.
Self-care index is to achieve the balance of work, life and self-care;
Whether to take care of yourself, there are three indicators:
How much you have done, how much you have paid for your family, and how much time you have arranged for yourself to enjoy;
If we balance these three things, we will really start our journey of self-care. 、