Six Practical Self-Care Suggestions for the New School Year

Welcome to the start of a new school year. This year it is important to be intentional about taking care of yourself while you are charting the course to quality, equity and access as a school counselor. The goal is to keep focused on your own needs first as a person, so you can be available to your students, families and school community to provide quality school counseling programming that is equitable and accessible to all students.

Here are a few practical self-care tips from Therapist Aid and Psych Central:

1. Schedule time for your own self-care. Put it on your work day schedule, even for 10 minutes to stretch or go for a walk at work.
2. Self-care means the value of learning to say no. You cannot always say yes to everyone and take care of yourself.
3. Self-care means taking time to do things you enjoy. These activities could be as simple as reading a book, or as big as taking a vacation.
4. Self-care also means taking care of yourself. This means eating regular meals, getting enough sleep, caring for personal hygiene and anything else that maintains good health.
5. Make self-care a priority. There will always be other things to do, but don’t let these interrupt the time you set aside for self-care. Self-care should be given the same importance as other responsibilities.
6. Make self-care a habit. Just like eating one apple doesn’t eliminate health problems, using self-care just once won’t have much effect on reducing stress. Choose activities that you can do often, and that you will stick with.

As you navigate and lead a path to quality, equity and access for all students this year, taking practical steps to care for yourself is essential.
 
Contact Nikki Poindexter Ham, Ed.D., MSCA president and assistant professor in school counseling at Bowie State University, at president@mscaonline.org.