Being a social worker is hard work, even at the best of times. One minute you could be dealing with something as painful as a child abuse case. The next, you could be dealing with an individual who has dealt with a huge amount of trauma.
As a social worker, it’s essential that you remain professional, resilient and selfless. It’s becoming increasingly popular among social workers and health care professional to practice mindfulness meditation as a way of coping.
Molly Rose Zametkin was recently interviewed by the UK Guardian about her experiences. The 29-year-old is a primary therapist from Washington DC. She states that she regularly practices meditation, yoga, and mindfulness as it massively helps her to deal with the pressures of her job.
She went on to say that not only do these practices help her stay present throughout her days, it allows her to have time to herself. This is hugely positive as it, in turn, it helps her to give better care to her patients.
Mindfulness Costs Nothing
Molly is not alone and this practice is common across the industry. It’s important to remember that even a basic or beginner practice, such as ten minutes in the morning can be so beneficial. Yoga and meditation aren’t time-consuming, doesn’t cost anything and doesn’t need the invest of any kind of equipment. It can be practiced at home, at work or even in your local park.
One therapist stated that social workers are commonly underpaid for the work they do. In most cases, individual social workers are over-booked and regularly in contact with people who have suffered traumatic experiences. As a result of this, many social workers are at a high risk of ‘burning out’ or even suffering from ‘secondary trauma’.
Social Workers: Don’t Risk Burning Out
Secondary trauma, also known as STS, is a variant of post-traumatic stress. There’s a regular link of STS to social workers and other high-pressure jobs roles when the individual ‘burns out’. Kirsten Esposito Brendel, in the same Guardian article, expressed her views on mindfulness.
She states that meditation can help her to balance the risks involved in being a social worker and the practice is a way to ‘heal the healer’.
As mentioned above, meditation is a great way to divide work and private life. For a social worker, it’s incredibly easy to let work ponder on your mind, even if you’re in a private social situation. Living a life this way almost guarantees to increase stress and mental pressures and can even cause mental issues within anindividual.
Mindfulness is such an important part of life. No matter what job role you’re in, it’s important that you find balance. The work-life balance can be so hard to find but, through meditation, you’re proactively taking one step towards making it happen.
For advice, guidance, and information on meditation, check out some of the other blogs on our page. There’s also a tonne of information online so you can easily find a solution that works for you.
No matter what job you have, it’s vital, for your own health, that you find balance. Take a breather every once and while, become present and live the life that you want to live.
