Resilient Roots: Rethinking Wellness for Helping Professionals

Self-care, health, and wellness are topics that continue to receive considerable attention and are often at the forefront of many of our minds. In many ways the COVID-19 pandemic augmented and unveiled the need for a greater focus on these topics. Self-care is often a large focus in the work we do to support clients, patients, consumers, students, and the families we serve. As social workers, counselors, and mental health providers we provide support, guidance, and tailored treatment, programming, and services. Our support does not end with our professional roles-- the needs continue and support is provided in our own families, relationships, and communities.

The many types of support provided can be rewarding, complex, and at times exhausting. Balancing the many roles and responsibilities in the workplace and the unique needs our respective clients face can be daunting. To compound this, navigating our personal relationships and roles can spill into our work lives and vice versa. Outside of work, many professionals face unique responsibilities in their lives as parents, spouses, caregivers, and various other roles. While these roles, for some, often shape what we do and how we do it-- the juggle is certainly real. The juggling of our personal and professional roles can feel like a 24-7 commitment-- leaving many to wonder when there might even be a few minutes for personal wellness and self-care.

To better care for yourself, a recognition of the unique circumstances and stressors that accompany both one’s professional and personal lives. Helping professionals have been found to experience elevated levels of emotional exhaustion and burnout compared to those in other professions (Kim & Stoner, 2008). Some common reasons for impacting emotional exhaustion and burnout include:

• Emotional stress,
  Lack of organizational and/or other forms of support,
  Complexity in consumer needs,
  High caseload numbers,
  Perfectionism (Yalim et al., 2025),
  Workload and work-family conflict (Chaves-Montero et al., 2024),
  Time consuming documentation processes,
  Agency turnover,
  Shrinking workforce,
  Role ambiguity, and
  Organizational factors (Chaves-Montero et al., 2024; Lloyd et al., 2002; Ravalier et al., 2021).

While social workers and other mental health providers face challenges associated with high caseloads, limited resources, vicarious trauma, systemic challenges, and emotional exhaustion (Ballout, 2025; Carnes, 2023)-- there are unique opportunities to engage in self-care, recharge, and rejuvenate. As helping providers, we are often acutely aware of what self-care, coping, and wellness look like in our clients’ lives, yet struggle to recognize and address personal signs of exhaustion and burnout. Recognizing subtle and overt characteristics associated with emotional exhaustion and burnout is often a great starting point. While characteristics may vary from person to person, common symptoms of burnout may be physical, emotional, or have a physical-emotional interplay. Examples of physical symptoms, which are often identifiable, include headaches, cold and flu viruses, chest pain, sleep challenges, and exhaustion. Often less obvious or “hidden” are the emotions symptoms-- anxiety, cynicism, and irritability (Molnar et al., 2020).

Even when one might be able to recognize signs of exhaustion and burnout, making tweaks in one’s life to promote personal wellness may be associated with challenges-- whether it be a time or other factor. Starting with simple steps can build momentum and jumpstart a new self-care routine. As a general rule, starting with the basics and building up can often bring the best level of consistency and momentum. Below are some considerations and basic “shifts” that could be integrated into one’s daily routine.

• Hydrate,
  Follow a healthy diet,
  Maintain consistent and adequate sleep habits,
  Take breaks throughout the day,
  Keep moving - even small opportunities to take movement breaks can be helpful,
  Integrate consistent physical activity into your life,
  Put things in perspective,
  Laugh and plan things to look forward to, and
  Community and connection matters! - Foster connection and community with others.

In addition, stress can be managed by integrating stress by integrating relevant coping mechanisms or stress management techniques, such as mindfulness and yoga (Harker et al., 2016; Maddock et al., 2024).

In the workplace setting, many benefits have been found among those who use and seek out supportive supervision and peer support (Chiller & Crisp, 2012; Sutton et al., 2022). In fact, supervision has been linked with a reduction in burnout and a positive impact on workforce retention. In our organizations and settings, modeling boundaries and self-care can set a positive tone and provide great reminders for colleagues. Managing stress and implementing techniques to mitigate burnout can, in turn, augment productivity, positivity, and diminished turnover rates (Bryce et al., 2024; Shiri et al., 2023). Both personally and professionally there are ample benefits associated with reducing stress and risk of burnout.

Remember-- self-care and the strategies one uses is personal. What works for one, might not for another. As you take time to reflect, reset, and recharge-- find strategies that resonate with you and your life.

When we care for ourselves, we can better care for others. Check out the resource list below on self-care, health, and wellness.

• Resource List
  Free Social Work Tools and Resources: socialworkerstoolbox.com - https://www.socialworkerstoolb...
  NASW: Self-Care for Social Workers - https://www.socialworkers.org/...
  Rutgers University – School of Social Work (Self-Care Toolkit) - https://socialwork.rutgers.edu...
  Social Work License Map (info & resources) - https://socialworklicensemap.c...

Reference List

Ballout, S. (2025). Trauma, Mental Health Workforce Shortages, and Health Equity: A Crisis in Public Health. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 22(4), 620-637. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph22040620

Bryce, C., Povey, R., Oliver, M., & Cooke, R. (2024). Effective interventions to reduce burnout in social workers: A systematic review. The British Journal of Social Work, 54(8), 3794-3819. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcae115

Carnes, S. L. (2023). “Overworked and stretched thin”: Burnout and systemic failure in school social work. Children & Schools, 45(3), 151-159. https://doi.org/10.1093/cs/cdad015

Chaves-Montero, A., Blanco-Miguel, P., & Ríos-Vizcaíno, B. (2025, March). Analysis of the predictors and consequential factors of emotional exhaustion among social workers: A systematic review. Healthcare, 13(5), 552-576. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare13050552  

Chiller, P., & Crisp, B. R. (2012). Professional supervision: A workforce retention strategy for social work?. Australian Social Work, 65(2), 232-242. https://doi.org/10.1080/0312407X.2011.625036

Harker, R., Pidgeon, A. M., Klaassen, F., & King, S. (2016). Exploring resilience and mindfulness as preventative factors for psychological distress burnout and secondary traumatic stress among human service professionals. Work, 54(3), 631-637. https://doi.org/10.3233/WOR-162311

Kim, H., & Stoner, M. (2008). Burnout and turnover intention among social workers: Effects of role stress, job autonomy and social support. Administration in Social Work, 32(3), 5-25. https://doi.org/10.1080/03643100801922357

Lloyd, C., King, R., & Chenoweth, L. (2002). Social work, stress and burnout: A review. Journal of Mental Health, 11(3), 255-265. https://doi.org/10.1080/09638230020023642

Maddock, A., McGuigan, K., & McCusker, P. (2024). Mindfulness-based social work and self-care with social work professionals: Replication and expansion of a randomised controlled trial. The British Journal of Social Work, 54(3), 1319-1339. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcae011

Molnar, B. E., Meeker, S. A., Manners, K., Tieszen, L., Kalergis, K., Fine, J. E., ... & Wells, M. K. (2020). Vicarious traumatization among child welfare and child protection professionals: A systematic review. Child Abuse & Neglect, 110, 104679. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2020.104679

Ravalier, J. M., McFadden, P., Boichat, C., Clabburn, O., & Moriarty, J. (2021). Social worker well-being: A large mixed-methods study. The British Journal of Social Work, 51(1), 297-317. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcaa078

Shiri, R., Nikunlaakso, R., & Laitinen, J. (2023). Effectiveness of workplace interventions to improve health and well-being of health and social service workers: A narrative review of randomised controlled trials. Healthcare, 11(12), 1792. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11121792

Sutton, L., Rowe, S., Hammerton, G., & Billings, J. (2022). The contribution of organisational factors to vicarious trauma in mental health professionals: A systematic review and narrative synthesis. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 13(1), 2022278. https://doi.org/10.1080/20008198.2021.2022278

Yalim, A. C., Daly, K., Bailey, M., Kay, D., Zhu, X., Patel, M., ... & Pasarica, M. (2025). Wellness and stress management practices among healthcare professionals and health professional students. American Journal of Health Promotion, 39(2), 204-214. https://doi.org/10.1177/08901171241275868