Therapist Self-Care Checklist

If you’re seeking therapist self-care ideas and information, we’ve got you covered.

Self-care for therapists is absolutely essential. 

Here’s a list of self-care ideas for those of us in the helping professions.

The importance of self-care for therapists

First, let’s define self-care. 

Self-care is not limited to bubble baths, manicures, and spa days.

Self-care is practicing self-compassion, self-forgiveness, self-growth, and self-nourishment. 

Self-care is taking care of the whole you.

As practitioners, we can all benefit from creating our own therapist self-care routines. 

Many of us teach our clients healthy habits like boundary setting, emotional regulation, and how to take care of our physical bodies. 

Our clients are always observing us, and because of this, we need to set a good example by practicing what we preach. 

When we do not listen to our own advice and take care of ourselves, we do additional harm—not just to us, but also to our clients. 

A helper who is mentally, physically, or emotionally depleted is not effective. 

Self-care allows our body, mind, and soul to rest, which gives us the energy to operate at our full capacity.

Self-Care for therapists to prevent compassion fatigue and burnout

First, let’s define compassion fatigue and burnout as they are often used interchangeably, but they are not the same.

What is compassion fatigue?

Charles Figley, a traumatologist, defines compassion fatigue as “the deep physical, emotional, and spiritual exhaustion that can result from working day to day in an intense caregiving environment.” 

Signs of compassion fatigue include: 

• Chronically thinking about clients, even outside the job.
• Experiencing ongoing anxiety or depression. 
• Avoidance or isolation. 
• Nightmares which may or may not be about work. 
• Not being fully present at work or with your clients. 
• Substance misuse or abuse. 

What is burnout?

Burnout is when we become mentally and physically drained due to our jobs, though it may not be in direct relation to working with our clients. A person in any profession can experience burnout. 

Signs of burnout include:

• Headaches, body aches, and other physical symptoms of stress.
• Not sleeping.
• Fatigue that you cannot shake off. 
• Losing satisfaction with your job.
• Being less productive. 
• Struggling with time management. 

Compassion fatigue can lead to burnout. 

When we start noticing signs of compassion fatigue and burnout, we must seek support as soon as possible. The sooner we’re able to recognize the signs, the sooner intervention can happen. Recognition leads to prevention. 

This is why it’s so important to practice self-care for therapists to prevent compassion fatigue and burnout.

Simple self-care for therapists

Use these self-care for therapists tips when you need to replenish your energy or reinvest in your well-being. 

Feel free to pass these tips on to your clients and colleagues as well.    

Here are ways to take care of your mind, body, and soul: 

Mind

• Learn a new skill: For example,read a book that’s not related to work, take a class, or learn a new hobby.
• Therapy: Receive your own counseling or massage.
• Emails: Schedule a time during the day to check your emails, and stick to that time and that time only. 
• Leave work at work: Reserve your home as place to relax. If you do work from home, have a designated workspace, and keep it separate from the rest of the house. Learn more about how to create work-life balance as a virtual therapist. 

Body

• Sleep: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that adults sleep for seven hours or more per night. Ryder Turbyfill, a Licensed Massage Therapist from Reno, NV, likes to use a weighted blanket to help regulate their nervous system. Other ideas include not using your phone before bed. Dalisa Jimenez, a Licensed Professional Counselor in Phoenix, AZ, shared that they prefer to read before they go to bed.
• Limit caffeine: Drink only 1-2 cups per day and avoid caffeine in the afternoon.
• Limit alcohol: Consider seeking support if alcohol is needed to get through the day or night.
• Healthy diet: Eat a balanced meal, limit sugar, and increase your fruit and vegetable intake. Dalisa also shared that she likes to cook her own dinner to decompress after a long day. 
• Take a break: Take that lunch break, and when you do, fully disconnect from work for that hour. If you don’t have an hour, use whatever time you have to take a break—even if it’s just 10 minutes. 
• Move your body: You don’t need to run a marathon to experience the benefits of a little movement—exercise in any form can help.  

Soul

• Increase your social support: Both Ryder and Dalisa shared that it was very important for them to spend time with family, friends, and pets. Your professional network can also be instrumental in alleviating the isolating effects of being a clinician, while also helping you expand your professional capabilities. 
• Spend time outside: Take a walk, hike, or relax in a park and experience the healing benefits of nature. 
• Practice mindfulness: Practice staying in the present moment and learn meditation. Ryder also shared that they practice deep breathing daily to lower stress. Here are some additional tips you can use to practice mindfulness.
• Connect with your community: Connecting to something larger than yourself can remind you that we are all connected and we’re not alone. Find out more about why it’s so important to rely on your community as a private practice owner
• Set boundaries: Robert Rhoton, PsyD, founder of Arizona Trauma Institute and Trauma Institute International, shares that therapists need to “learn to set boundaries, which is to say no.” Setting boundaries helps us navigate our lives and jobs more effectively. Knowing when to say no can reduce feelings of being overwhelmed and improve our lives overall. 
• Time management: Effective time management can make a job easier. Set reminders on your phone for meetings and deadlines or use a planner. Stick to your sessions’ start and end times.
• Keep up with continuing education requirements: Keep up with your continuing education requirements and stay up to date with the latest research. This is also an ethical requirement—and often, a state requirement—to maintain our licenses. 
• Get mentorship and supervision: Many of us in private practice work alone and can become isolated. Meet with a mentor, supervisor, or colleague monthly to gauge how you are doing in your career. Gaining support and guidance through mentorship can help you navigate your career, gain perspective, and avoid  burnout. 
• No “work” days: Have one or two days when you are not working at all. Focus on other activities you enjoy, such as hiking, creative activities, and connecting with friends and family. 

Self-care for trauma therapists

All helping professions are at risk for burnout and compassion fatigue, but those specializing in trauma therapy are more likely to experience them due to ongoing exposure. 

Rhoton views compassion fatigue and burnout as systemic issues that carry with them a “moral wound,” with a propensity for reinjury instead of healing—since “systems operate for the benefit of systems.” 

According to Rhoton, our healthcare system needs to be less profit-driven and more client and practitioner-focused. 

At a time when the need for mental health services far outweighs the number of available clinicians and clinicians reporting lower insurance reimbursement rates, it may feel like a rat race for care providers trying to make a difference while making a living. 

Finding time for yourself and creating a  therapist self-care routine, in the midst of these environmental factors, can be daunting and feel out of your control. 

However, there are things we can do to care for ourselves daily:

• Lower your caseloads: We are doing no one any favors if we are seeing 40 clients a week. Also, consider how many years you can work effectively seeing 40 clients a week.
• Manage your caseload: Balance your caseload with less high-risk clients. Schedule only one or two trauma cases a day and fill up the other slots with lower need clients. 
• Take breaks: Schedule 30 minutes between sessions to decompress, especially after a hard session. Here are some more ideas to use breaks between sessions to relax or re-energize yourself. 
• Seek out consultation groups: Again, having supervision and/or consultation is necessary for any therapist, but more so for trauma therapists. Check-in with someone after a hard case so you can notice any signs of burnout and compassion fatigue. 

Self-care for massage therapists 

While mental health practitioners treat the mind, massage therapists treat the body. Many people often hold stress in their shoulders and backs, and they may have ridged muscles as a learned stress response. 

Ryder shared that their motivation to practice self-care is because “we use our bodies in a unique and often draining way” and “our bodies deserve our regular, purposeful attention.” 

Because massage therapy is so physical, it is one of the fields that can quickly lead to burnout. 

Here are some suggestions of self-care for massage therapists:  

• Adjust your schedule so you can take breaks throughout the day to rest your body. 
• Practice good body mechanics as you massage your clients to minimize the risk of injury. 
• Listen to your body and take care of any physical injuries right away.
• Since you use your body for your job, make sure to exercise and stretch. 

All the therapist self-care strategies shared in this article are inexpensive or free and easy to implement. Start looking at each domain—mind, body, and soul—and make one change at a time. 

Slowly start habits that promote self-care for therapists and seek accountability and support to make sure you’re employing sustainable self-care practices.. 

Small steps over time can create scalable and substantial change. 

Check out the other articles, courses, and resources that SimplePractice created to support clinicians experiencing burnout this World Mental Health Day.

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