What it is: Self-care is a range of information, skills, and attitudes that careworkers can use to maintain mental and physical wellbeing.
Self-care can include understanding your strengths, weaknesses, thoughts, beliefs, motivation, and emotions. In palliative care, self-care can also include grief and bereavement support, and understanding how to recognise and prevent burnout.
Why it matters: Caring for others can be rewarding. However, staff working in aged care look after many people who die. As a result, they may experience repeated grief.
Grief over the death of residents or clients is not unusual and may contribute to stress or burnout. Self-care is important to maintain balance in life.
What I need to know: It is helpful to be a member of a team that provides support, reflection, and debriefing. A team may be your work colleagues or a network of people outside of work.
Team meetings, debriefing or regular supervision can provide support.
Do
Report to nursing/supervisory staff if you see signs that suggest a person is not coping. These can include:
- physical and emotional exhaustion
- poor sleep
- headaches
- negativity or feeling useless
- lack of enjoyment
- not working effectively
- absence from work.
Do
Acknowledge your grief and recognise that it is a normal reaction to loss.
Do
Talk to your supervisor and colleagues about what you are experiencing and request their help or support from a professional counsellor if needed.
Do
Develop a self-care plan and strategies that promote your physical and emotional wellbeing. Self-care strategies may be different for everyone; select ones that work for you.