Question

• Describe ethical boundaries in clinical psychology and explain why they are important to the profession.
• Explain the importance of self-care for professional psychologists and professional psychology students.
• Develop a plan of self-care that you will utilize while completing this professional psychology program.

Answer 1

• Explain the importance of self-care for professional psychologists and professional psychology students.
• Self-care is obviously needed but often ignored. Balance drives a healthy self-care regime. Balancing a healthy mind and body enhances our personal and professional lives. Psychologists are not immune to the effects of a busy career and life’s demands.
• Working as a psychologist often entails exposure to potentially traumatic and distressing material, including clients’ stories. Regular exposure means that there is a significant risk of vicarious trauma and burnout.The cumulative effect of being exposed to traumatic or distressing material can take its toll, making helpers such as psychologists more at risk than the general population.
• Recognising this and taking personal responsibility for self-care is essential for every psychologist. This is important not just for psychologists’ own wellbeing but also so that they are able to perform well in their role.
• As psychologists, they often talk to clients about the importance of a healthy lifestyle for overall wellbeing, such as getting enough sleep, exercising, eating well, drinking water, making time for the things you enjoy and practising relaxation and mindfulness. These factors are often neglected in the psychologist’s own life. They need to listen to their own emotional and physical needs and consider any changes they might need to make to allow room for these.
• Another essential part of self-care is being willing to seek help when in crisis, affected by personal life events, feeling overwhelmed, or experiencing suicidal thoughts.Connecting with colleagues on a regular basis can lessen the isolation often experienced in independent practice. Peer mentoring provides reciprocal support and time to discuss and share vulnerabilities and successes.
• Many trainee psychologists are aware of the need to maintain healthy levels of self-care yet often experience difficulties putting this into practise. Postgraduate professional psychology degrees involve a demanding workload.
• Trainee psychologists are often concurrently designing and writing a thesis, staying on top of course material and assignments, applying for placements, attending supervision, and have a client load. All of these activities require the trainee psychologist to constantly switch roles, often numerous times a day.
• The course material may include self-care psychoeducation with a discussion of the consequences of poor self-care, perhaps with examples of psychologists who have struggled to achieve this. In addition, trainees could be encouraged to develop a personal self-care plan, implement new self-care strategies, and reflect over the semester as an assessment requirement.
• Due to time limit,remaining questions can be asked as another question,they will be answered,thankyou for your cooperation