The Resilient Practitioner: Burnout Prevention and Self-Care Strategies for Counselors, Therapists, Teachers, and Health Professionals, Second Edition

by Skovholt; Thomas M.

• ISBN13: 9780415989398
• ISBN10: 0415989396
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2010-12-16
• Publisher: ROUTLEDGE

Summary

Therapists and other helping professionals, such as teachers, doctors and nurses, social workers, and clergy, work in highly demanding fields and can suffer from burnout, compassion fatigue, and secondary stress. This happens when they give more attention to their clients’ well being than their own.

Both students and practitioners in these fields will find this book an essential guide to striking an optimal balance between self-care and other-care. The authors describe the joys and hazards of the work, the long road from novice to senior practitioner, the essence of burnout, ways to maintain the professional and personal self, methods experts use to maintain vitality, and a self-care action plan.

Vivid real-life examples and self-reflection questions will engage and motivate readers to think about their own work and ways to enhance their own resilience. Eloquently written and supported by extensive research, helping professionals will find this a valuable resource both when a novice and when an experienced practitioner.

"The authors explicitly state the case for help-giving as an extremely complex, dialectical, and demanding occupation. I have no doubt that students, novices, and professionals in the helping occupations will find this to be a major contribution to their professionalism and well-being." - Moshe Israelashvili, PhD, Tel Aviv University, Israel

"I welcome this book, as a psychotherapist, with my whole heart. The authors have left no stone unturned in identifying the pitfalls which can lead to burnout in practitioners in the business of "other care." - Ursula Somerville, MEAP, MIAHIP, European Psychotherapist and Clinical Supervisor based in Ireland

"Skovholt and Trotter-Mathison have offered well written observations of profound truth, informed largely by the superlative body of research on counselor development by Skovholt and colleagues. A stimulating and validating read for practitioners across the professional lifespan." - Camille DeBell, PhD, Associate Professor of Counseling, Regis University

"The second edition of the Resilient Practitioner is packed with insight and practical tools for mental health professionals. This is a great book for teaching and training, and for periodic self-assessment for the mature professional." - Arnold Spokane, PhD, ABPP, Professor of Counseling Psychology, Lehigh University

Author Biography

Thomas M. Skovholt, PhD, ABPP is professor of counseling and student personnel psychology at the University of Minnesota, and is a licensed psychologist. He has many years of experience as both a practitioner and teacher. Michelle Trotter-Mathison, PhD, is a therapist at Boynton Health Service at the University of Minnesota and teaches within the Counseling and Psychological Services Program at Saint Mary's University of Minnesota.

Table of Contents

Series Editor's Foreword	p. xiii
Preface	p. xv
Acknowledgments	p. xvii
About the Authors	p. xix
Skovholt Practitioner Professional Resiliency and Self-Care Inventory	p. xxi
Caring for Others Versus Self-Care: The Great Human Drama	p. 3
Self-Reflection Exercises	p. 7
Joys, Rewards, and Gifts of Practice	p. 9
Joys of Practice	p. 10
Rewards of Practice	p. 12
Gifts of Practice	p. 14
Self-Reflection Exercises	p. 15
The Cycle of Caring as the Practice Essential	p. 17
Caring as Central in Counseling, Therapy, Teaching, and Health Careers	p. 17
The Cycle of Caring	p. 20
The Cycle in Summary	p. 35
Self-ReflectionExercises	p. 36
The Long, Textured Path From Novice to Senior Practitioner	p. 39
Themes in Professional Development	p. 40
Phases of Practitioner Development	p. 55
The Elevated Stressors of the Novice Practitioner	p. 79
The Ambiguity of Human Interaction	p. 79
Trekking With a Crude Map	p. 80
Acute Need for Positive Mentoring	p. 87
Glamorized Expectations	p. 91
Intense Evaluation and Illuminated Scrutiny by Professional Gatekeepers	p. 95
Porous Emotional Boundaries	p. 97
Ethical and Legal Confusion	p. 99
Acute Performance Anxiety and Fear	p. 100
The Fragile and Incomplete Practitioner Self	p. 101
Summary	p. 103
Self-Reflection Exercises	p. 103
Hazards of Practice	p. 105
The Difficult Nature of the Work With Clients, Students, and Patients	p. 106
Managing Major Professional Stressors	p. 114
Hazards Summary	p. 138
Self-Reflection Exercises	p. 139
Burnout: A Hemorrhaging of the Self	p. 145
Compassion Fatigue	p. 146
Lack of Clarity	p. 147
Work of Maslach	p. 148
Seven Sources of Burnout	p. 149
Meaning and Caring Burnout	p. 152
Self-Reflection Exercises	p. 154
Balancing Caring for Others and Caring for Self	p. 159
Losing One's Innocence About the Assertive Need for Self-Care	p. 159
The Need for More Self-Care at Times of Personal Crisis or Excessive Stress	p. 162
Codependency and Self-Care	p. 164
Psychological Wellness as an Ethical Imperative	p. 166
Self-Reflection Exercises	p. 166
Sustaining the Professional Self	p. 169
Sustained by Meaningful Work	p. 169
Maximizing the Experience of Professional Success	p. 171
Avoid the Grandiosity Impulse and Relish Small I Made a Difference" Victories	p. 175
Think Long Term	p. 176
Creating and Sustaining an Active, Individually Designed Development Method	p. 176
Professional Self-Understanding	p. 178
Creating a Professional Greenhouse at Work	p. 181
Using Professional Venting and Expressive Writing to Release Distress Emotions	p. 184
The "Good Enough Practitioner"	p. 185
Understanding the Reality of Pervasive Early Professional Anxiety	p. 187
Increasing Intellectual Excitement and Decreasing Boredom by Reinventing Oneself	p. 188
Minimizing Ambiguous Professional Loss	p. 190
Learning to Set Boundaries, Create Limits, and Say No to Unreasonable Helping Requests	p. 191
Summary	p. 191
Self-Reflection Exercises	p. 191
Sustaining the Personal Self	p. 195
Constant Investment in a Personal Renewal Process	p. 196
Awareness of the Danger of One-Way Caring Relationships in OneÆs Personal Life	p. 196
Nurturing One's Self	p. 196
Summary: Keeping in Focus One's Own Need for Balanced WellnessùPhysical, Spiritual, Emotional, and Social	p. 215
Self-Reflection Exercises	p. 216
Burnout Prevention and Self-Care Strategies of Expert Practitioners	p. 219
Professional Stressors	p. 220
Emergence of the Expert Practitioner	p. 225
Creating a Positive Work Structure	p. 229
Protective Factors	p. 234
Nurturing Self Through Solitude and Relationships	p. 237
Conclusion	p. 241
Self-Reflection Exercises	p. 242
Epilogue	p. 245
magery Exercise	p. 245
Self-Reflection Exercises	p. 246
Self-Care Action Plan	p. 249
Assess Your Own Other-Care vs. Self-Care Balance	p. 249
Action Plan for Change	p. 258
References	p. 261
Index	p. 275
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