SWK 451 Midterm- Self-Care Assignment

Importance of Self-Care

1. In your opinion, do you feel self-care is important for social workers to practice and why?

Yes, I believe that self-care is crucial for social workers for various reasons. Firstly, seeing as social workers deal with emotionally challenging situations, for example, cases of domestic abuse victims or physically and sexually abused children, self-care is important to help them recuperate from the emotional fatigue. These situations can be emotionally draining or overwhelming and, without self-care, can lead to depression or other mental health issues. Secondly, self-care is important to prevent burnout which is important to help social workers remain effective in their work. Thirdly, self-care is a regulatory and ethical obligation by the NASW Code of Ethics, which requires that this practice be part of professional conduct.

Description of the Self-Care Activity

1. Describe the activity including what you did, length of the activity, and day you completed it on.

My self-care activity is good sleep hygiene, whereby I started practicing healthy habits that help me sleep well at night. It is a practice that I do every day and includes several habits, for example, getting up at the same time every day, sleeping as soon as I feel tired at night, and getting up early, which is useful in setting my body clock and setting a sleep-wake cycle. Other habits include reading before bed, no caffeinated drinks at night, setting my bedroom at my preferred temperature, and lighting to make my sleep more comfortable. When I can’t sleep, I have learned about relaxation exercises to help me relax and soon fall asleep.

2. Is this a new activity for you or one you have done before?

This is a new activity for me, and I have only learned about it recently.

3. How often do you participate in this activity on a regular basis?

Practicing my sleep hygiene is now an everyday practice for me.

4. Is this an activity you do by yourself or with others?

I do this activity by myself.

Origins of the Activity

1. What led you to choose this activity?

I chose this activity because it is not only easy but also something that I can do every day. As opposed to having an activity that is only done once in a while, I thought an activity that fits into my everyday life is much more beneficial and opportune.

2. Is this something that was modeled to you growing up? Is it part of a family tradition?  Is it a result of going through a traumatic or stressful time in your life?  Is this an important part of your cultural identification?

Good sleep hygiene was something that my parents modeled to me growing up, but I never followed it and preferred watching movies or scrolling through my phone until late at night. However, as a social worker, I have now come to realize how important it is to me to maintain a self-care routine.

Results of the Activity

1. If this was the first time you have ever done this activity was it helpful? Will you use it again as part of your self-care routine?

Yes, good sleep hygiene is helpful to me because now I wake up feeling rested, my energy levels are up during the day, my mood has also improved, and my anxiety has decreased significantly. Seeing the benefits of this activity, I will definitely keep practicing as part of my self-care routine.

2. If this was an activity you already do on a regular basis did you find it helpful to do this week in reducing your stress?

Yes, I found my good sleep hygiene useful in reducing my stress.

3. Did you feel better, worse, or the same after having completed the activity?

I felt a lot better after completing my activity and went as far as making it an everyday routine.

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Self-care is vital to a social worker’s mental and physical health and helps to reduce burn-out and compassion fatigue.  For your midterm for this class you are to choose a self-care activity that you have previously identified as helpful to you to relieve stress and to refocus.  The activity needs to be at least one hour in duration and you need to complete it during midterm week as a way to take time for yourself.  Complete a one-two page, single-spaced, response to this activity using the outline below.  Please use the provided headings as a way to organize your response.  The response can be in first person but needs to be in paragraph form with complete sentences while answering the questions under each heading.  You can complete the majority of this prior to doing the activity and then fill in the rest once your activity is done.  This is worth 50 points. (This is not a formal paper. Use the format below, please remove the instructions above prior to submission)

SWK 451 Midterm- Self-Care Assignment

Importance of Self-Care

1. In your opinion, do you feel self-care is important for social workers to practice and why?

Description of the Self-Care Activity

1. Describe the activity including what you did, length of the activity, and day you completed it on.
2. Is this a new activity for you or one you have done before?
3. How often do you participate in this activity on a regular basis?
4. Is this an activity you do by yourself or with others?

Origins of the Activity

1. What led you to choose this activity?
2. Is this something that was modeled to you growing up? Is it part of a family tradition?  Is it a result of going through a traumatic or stressful time in your life?  Is this an important part of your cultural identification?

Results of the Activity

1. If this was the first time you have ever done this activity was it helpful? Will you use it again as part of your self-care routine?
2. If this was an activity you already do on a regular basis did you find it helpful to do this week in reducing your stress?
3. Did you feel better, worse, or the same after having completed the activity?