The Ethics of Self Care in a Professional and Clinical Setting
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The Ethics of Self Care in a Professional and Clinical Setting
October 23, 2010 @ 9:00 am - 12:00 pm
The Ethical Issue of Being too Busy
Vicarious trauma, burn out, and exhaustion are potentially a part of any practice. Is it an ethical issue for clinicians to know how to monitor their own symptoms when they are pushing themselves to the edge their limits? Living on the edge puts us in more danger of accidents and mistakes, we are more likely to contract illness, we become more susceptible to being traumatized by our client’s traumas (vicarious trauma),or develop a sense of helplessness or the perception of our clients as “all the same” (compassion fatigue). This workshop discusses the ethical issues of being too busy for “life.”
In this workshop we will talk together about how to put the right amount of energy into our practices and at the same time live a happy and balanced life (with practical illustrations).We will consider the importance of issues like: vicarious trauma, burnout, accident, illness, unplanned relationship challenges, and the down-turning economy. If our practice is one that is running on exhaustion and is always having to promote itself, it can become overwhelming and can cause us to be less effective care providers. This of course can also lead us to be out of integrity and to potentially compromise our values.
What does a person do when they feel like they are always on? How do we take off the “professional” hat. Where is there a safe place to do this? Is there a safe place to do this? What about the acceptance of gifts or favors? These are the ethical issues we will discuss. Come join our discussion.
The ethics of living a healthy and balanced practice.
1. It is unethical to run on exhaustion
2. How do you take off your “professional hat”?
3. How important is living the practice? Is it an ethical issue to be balanced?
4. What are the ethics of accepting gifts or favors for our services?
5. Increased anxiety and depression, fatigue, lowered emotional control, increased alcohol and drug use – are these ways to distract us from empathic connections.
6. Sense of helplessness, perception of clients as all the same. (Compassion Fatigue)
7. Cynicism, loss of a sense of meaning in life.
8. Decreased personal care.
9. Diminished ability to engage in intimate relationships. Increased sensitivity to violence.
10. Increased compulsive behavior (substance use, gambling, shopping, sex, eating).
