Self-care is a critical component of professional practice because avoiding burnout benefits both the clinician as well as their clients. In this training, we will explore the challenges that mental health workers face in their field that make self-care difficult. We will examine how professionals can recognize symptoms of burnout, and then engage in preventative and restorative measures to avoid becoming impaired. This course will include journaling and small group discussions, as you design a roadmap to becoming the best version of your professional self.
Upon completion of this training, participants will be able to:
- Identify the signs of burnout
- Describe at least five causes of burnout
- Identify at least five barriers to self-care
- Describe at least five strategies for preventing burnout
- Design a personal strategy for incorporating self-care in their lives
Syllabus:
Objective #1: Understanding Burnout and Its Ethical Implications
- Define burnout as mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual exhaustion from accumulated stress
- Recognize burnout as a threat to clinical effectiveness and ethical responsibility
- Identify symptoms of burnout including empathy depletion, dread, distraction, and physical discomfort
- Discuss why self-care is considered an ethical imperative in clinical practice
Objective #2: Causes of Clinician Burnout
- Examine secondary trauma and compassion fatigue as core contributors
- Identify systemic and administrative stressors including insurance issues and documentation
- Address social and political factors including pandemic-related grief and uncertainty
- Explore internal pressures like impostor syndrome and perfectionism
Objective #3: Barriers to Effective Self-Care
- Lack of time between clients for basic human needs
- Financial pressures and overwork
- Difficulty maintaining boundaries and saying no
- Role strain from managing work, home, and personal mental health
- Internalization of the “helper” identity and people-pleasing tendencies
Objective #4: Strategies for Preventing Burnout
- Increase self-awareness and track sources of energy and depletion
- Implement structure and boundaries using tools like calendars and policies
- Create sustainable systems for managing documentation, cancellations, and communication
- Develop support systems through peer consultation and regular supervision
- Integrate spiritual meaning-making and align professional activities with personal values
- Utilize time management techniques including the Pomodoro method and the Eisenhower Matrix
Objective #5: Designing a Personalized Self-Care Plan
- Reflect on intuitive needs: what to start, stop, do more of, or do less of
- Separate professional and personal domains to target specific changes
- Create a staged timeline for implementing change over days, months, and years
- Foster self-compassion and patience while making lifestyle shifts
- Embrace “selfish” acts of care as necessary for sustained clinical presence
Social workers completing this course receive 3 Ethics asynchronous continuing education credits.
For other board approvals, this course qualifies for 3 Ethics continuing education training.
Instructor: Dreya Blume, LCSW
Recording Date: 11/15/2024
CEUS On-Demand, LLC, provider #2274, is approved as an ACE provider to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE provider approval period: 08/7/2026 - 08/6/2027. Social workers completing this course receive 3hrs Ethics continuing education credits.
CEUs On-Demand, LLC has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7091. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. CEUs On-Demand, LLC is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.
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Request for Special Accommodations: Learners can request special accommodations by contacting the administrative team at admin@ceus-ondemand.com