Caring for Yourself Fighting the Dragons of Stress

By Sarah Crawford-Browne

You’re a hero --

saving lives and caring for others…

but how are you doing???

Are you tired, irritable, depressed and feeling

demoralized?

The dragons of stress, burnout and

vicarious trauma may be attacking…

Take Dragon Fighting Lessons!!

… or get fried.

Stress management lessons

Lesson 1: Identify your dragons – what type of stress or trauma

Lesson 2: Understand how they attack – the

environment

Lesson 3: Know the dents in your armor -

your issues

Lesson 4: Plan strategies

If you don’t take care…

they will get you!!

LESSON 1

Identifying your dragons ??

– what type of stress, burnout, compassion

fatigue or trauma is attacking

Identify your dragon – stressed green???, cowardly yellow??? Or

RED HOT??

Three dragons circle around us…

The Green Dragon of Stress

The jealous green dragon of stress

appears when the demands are

greater than our resources

Stress

• When our personal, emotional, physical, social,

financial or temporal resources are stretched

• We may first experience Eustress

• And then Distress

• Psychological interpretation of our challenges

The Yellow Dragon of Burnout / Carer fatigue

The yellow dragon flies in

when you’ve given too

much of yourself….

He’s fat and satisfied…

Burnout • A state of physical, emotional and mental

exhaustion caused by long term involvement in emotionally demanding situation

• the total psychic energy of a person is used in

trying to maintain existence – energy crisis • Tiredness, emotional depletion, too much

caring and too little self caring

• Reduces our capacity or interest in the suffering of others.

The Red Dragon of Trauma

When the work gets too hot to handle - the

vicarious trauma dragon moves in…

Vicarious trauma • Become traumatised by clients’ stories • You feel changed, world view challenged,

intrusive imagery, avoidance, hyperarousal • Confusion, tearfulness, isolation, anger,

irritability, sense of powerlessness, hopelessness, intellectualise, resistance to change, burdened, rigidity, believe client’s problem are insurmountable or insignificant

• Psychosomatic symptoms, personal

vulnerability and survivor guilt

Client’s feelings that particularly draw us in

• Trust

• Client anger

• Avoidance

• Identification

Draw your dragons!!

Take 5 minutes to draw your current

challenges.

LESSON 2

Understand how they attack – the

environment – what makes

YOUR dragon strong

The environment

• Workload

• Control issues

• Lack of reward

• Absence of support or community

• Lack of fairness

• Discordant values

• The stories James2008

Your work

• Make realistic demands on yourself & others

• Match your expectations with your resources

• Vary your job and activities

• Define your job, your role & your goals

clearly

Balance the wheels of life

1. I invite you to take an A4 paper

2. Draw a dot in the centre, representing the centre of your energy

3. Now think of the key things that you invest energy in…your significant relationship, work, children, studies, faith, friends, hobby, sport…etc

4. Draw a line from the dot with the length of the line representing the energy that you invest in each of these areas

5. Connect the ends of the line – does your wheel roll?

LESSON 3

Know the dents in your armor

- YOUR OWN issues

• Non-anxious presence – Calm enough

• Self-validated care giving – Good enough

• Connection with others – Supported enough

• Self-care & self management – Loved enough

• Skills acquisition – Skilled enough

• Resolution of primary trauma – Sorted enough

• Gentle self-supervision – Gentle enough

• Internal locus of control – Wise enough – Problems are seen as challenges

• Positive mental attitude – Strong enough

• Non-reactivity to emotions or other people’s reactivity – Chilled enough

Are you???

What are your issues?

• What needs are you meeting through counseling?

• What are the emotions and feelings that hold you?

– Shame

– Guilt

– Anger

– Self-esteem

• Your own trauma stories?

Write your own mission statement

• Purpose of your work

• Your objectives

• Your ideal process

LESSON 4

Develop strategies – that work for you

– SUPERVISION and Peer support

– Keep learning

– Keep your files up to date

– Monitor your feelings

– Relaxation

– Exercise, sleep & nutrition – reduce caffeine

– Social support

– Take a break – lunch, holidays

– Distancing techniques

– JOURNAL – know yourself

Your strategies for the next month?

• For support

• For managing work load

• For self awareness

• For unwinding

• For relaxation

• For growth

• For self-care

Sleep Hygiene

• Relax for ½ hour between leaving work and going to sleep - eg. watch tv, walk, chat, do laundry -- wind down

• Make sure your room is dark and comfortable

• Avoid caffeine products an hour before bedtime -- eg. tea, coffee, chocolate, colas -- as well as cigarettes

• Go to bed at the same time every night if possible, and create a routine around it

• Avoid sleeping tablets because 1) with time it becomes harder to sleep without them, and 2) your dream cycle will be interrupted and right now you need your dreams to make sense of your experiences

• If you can’t sleep after 30 minutes, get up, do something routine eg. making herbal tea or having a short walk around the house, then go back to bed

• If you have a bad dream, add an ending that you want

• If there’s a lot on your mind, schedule time to write it down, then take time to wind down

• Don’t nap during the day

• Know that this is a stressful time, and gradually things will come back to normal

There are rewards….

“The reward of engagement life is a sense of an

enriched life. Therapists who work with survivors

report appreciating life more fully, taking life more

seriously, having a greater scope of understanding of

others and themselves, forming new friendships and

deeper intimate relationships and feeling inspired by

the daily examples of their patients’ courage,

determination and hope” - Judith Herman

Trauma and Recovery 2001 pg 153.