March is Social Work Month, and no matter what type of mental healthcare provider you are, this newsletter is your reminder that taking some time just for you – especially right now – is okay.
Lily Cunningham, LPCC-S, owns her own practice in Dublin, Ohio and is one of our Pro Bono Counseling Program volunteers. Lily has recently recognized that with everything going on right now, she needs to devote a little more time to caring for herself.
“To be a professional in this field, through a pandemic, through social and racial uprisings, through war, whether it’s impacting us or not, we have to be aware of how we are doing,” she says. “We have to know our limits.”
Lily explains that as a therapist, she understands the struggle many in the mental health field may have when it comes to self-care. Often therapists and counselors are thought to have mastered both the skill of helping others andtheir own mental health.
However, Lily says, “Like anyone else we can get exhausted, too, but because of this pressure we often think we can just power through. It’s harder to take a mental health day. It’s very uncomfortable. But I think mental health professionals need to be okay with being uncomfortable. Sometimes this can even be a healthy boundary that we can set with our clients.”
Lily employs a strategy to prioritize her mental health that she calls “frontloading joy,” which means making time to be intentionally unproductive. The practice has helped her make time and space for doing things she loves, whether it’s body movement, deep breathing, or a spiritual practice, without thinking about the outcome.
“It’s about finding and knowing what works for you. Is it mindfulness in the way of yoga? Is it mindfulness in the way of knowing you need to intentionally plan ahead? I tell my clients to do these things. So, I want to make sure I’m doing them, too.”
Lily concludes by pointing out that if you’re a mental healthcare worker and experiencing burnout or other signs of stress, seeing your own counselor or therapist can be a huge help.
“We’re all in this field for a reason,” she says. “And a lot of those reasons are probably things that we might need to unpack, even though we’re working with other people who are unpacking. Sometimes, even we may need help, too. You don’t need to have a mental illness to have a therapist.”
We thank Lily for her time in sharing this guidance and wisdom and for volunteering with the Pro Bono Counseling Program. Learn more about the PBCP.
