“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation”
Professor Audre Lorde
Course Overview
Social Service Professionals who work as social workers, teachers (whether mainstream or special needs), nurses, and other allied health professionals shoulder the heavy responsibilities of caring for their clients. They invest their time and energy, often at their own expense, in order to help the clients. Over time, the feeling of being overwhelmed and unappreciated lead to disillusion, low energy, mental distresses and physical pains in their bodies. The quality of care deteriorates; the helping professional suffers emotional, psychological, physical distresses and impaired competence. The helping organisation, too, fails in its social service mission.
Many workshops train on technical skills and competencies of social service professionals; but very few are about empowering them to care and plan for themselves. Self-Care is the focus of this workshop. Self-Care is not a luxury, but a necessity for maintaining a healthy mind and body. It is not selfishness or a waste of time that could be better spent working. Instead, Self-Care is important for building personal resilience and a cornerstone in practice excellence.
The objectives of this workshop is twofold:
- Participants will learn and experience Self-Care
- Participants will develop their personalised self-care plan to sustain their personal and professional lives.
Participants will be led on a self-discovery journey through assessment tools, introspective exercises and experiential activities. Modalities from Emotional Release Counselling (ERC) such as Bioenergetics Exercises, Self-Awareness and Body Exercises, Drawing and Visualisation Exercises, and Meditation Exercises will be used throughout the workshop to facilitate the experience of being in touch with one’s emotions and a greater consciousness to work towards personal self-care.
Participants will also be guided to create a Self-Care Vision Board. A vision board is a visual representation of a particular concept using images, illustrations, and/or words. The exercise aims to help participants increase self-care and self-compassion in a creative way. It involves a playful and intuitive search for potential self-care activities that, when completed, can serve as a visual reminder and motivator.
Target Audience
This workshop is suitable for social service professionals and allied health professionals:
- Mainstream school educators, AEDs and Welfare Officers
- Special Needs school educators
- Social Workers working with children
- Early education teachers in Childcare Centre
- Medical Social Workers working in hospitals and medical institutions
- School Counsellors
- Occupational Therapists
- Psychologists and Counsellors in private practice
Duration
1.5 day