Staying on Top of your Game – Why Self-Care is Important as a Social Worker

As a social worker you spend the majority of your time helping others and it can be easy to forget to look after yourself in the midst of it all. A social work career is a challenging one and can often be incredibly consuming, but if you don’t look after your wellbeing and maintain a self-care routine, other parts of both your professional and personal life could be negatively affected. We have looked at a few things below that you can do to take care of yourself and make sure that you’re at the top of your game.

Avoid burnout

It is easy to allow yourself to be consumed by your social work career – even when your diary is full and you are pushed to your maximum, it can still be hard to say ‘no’ when you are given something extra which will be a strain to achieve. It is important to recognise that you are only capable of achieving a finite amount, as overworking yourself can quickly lead to burnout and leave you mentally, and perhaps even physically, exhausted. Learning to sense your limit and developing the discipline to avoid passing that limit is something that will help your mental wellbeing and enjoyment of your job in the long-term.

Establish a support network

Whether you work mainly on your own or as part of a team, it is important for self-care to have a support network both inside and outside of your work environment; having people that you can turn to when you are having a rough day can help boost your spirits and get rid of feelings of isolation. Draw upon this network of people that you trust to lift your spirits whenever you feel that you need it.

Balancing your work and personal life

Balancing your work and personal life is something that can seem hard to implement at best of times, but it is as simple as making sure that you take time for yourself. Understandably, in a social worker career, it can feel like you always have a duty of care, but it is important to check in with yourself and assess your needs. After all, if you help yourself to feel good, then those positive feelings will boost the moods of those around you.

These three methods are essential for self-care and ensuring that you’re feeling and performing as well as you can. At the end of the day, in order to help those that need it the most, you need to feel good and enjoy what you’re doing.

If helping others and enjoying yourself whilst you do it sounds appealing, consider taking a look at the University of Bolton’s Social Work courses based in Greater Manchester, rated highest for Student Satisfaction in the North West*, where you’ll be equipped the skills you need to take care of yourself and others.

*The Complete University Guide, North West Region 2021, 2020, 2019