No matter the season, stress levels for many behavioral health professionals have steadily risen over the past few years with seemingly no end in sight. We’ve all seen the monotonous listicles and memes about “taking a shower” and “putting scented lotion on,” but what effectively manages stress in the long run? How can our industry better practice what we preach?
Boundaries for Me, Boundaries for You, Boundaries for Everyone!
If you have a client who makes doorknob confessions, do not book another challenging session immediately after. Honor the limitations of your emotional and spiritual bandwidth. If you have a family member constantly pushing your boundaries, give yourself permission to take a break from them and limit contact.
Boundaries may seem like they will add to stress in certain relationships. However, people who don’t respect our boundaries don’t benefit from their existence. According to Brene Brown, “Daring to set boundaries is about having the courage to love ourselves, even when we risk disappointing others.”
Setting expectations with others positions you to have the freedom to prioritize your needs and responsibilities effectively. Utilize focus mode on your phone if you feel obligated to too many people on a regular basis. Set working hours in your email signature. Block off time for commuting, grocery shopping, laundry, or other time-sensitive tasks that pile up quickly.
Combat Stress With Self-Care
According to the International Journal of Nursing Sciences, self-care is “the ability to care for oneself through awareness, self-control, and self-reliance to achieve, maintain, or promote optimal health and well-being.” Self-care is a practice that looks different for everyone. Customizing your routine in a way that actually rewards you will encourage you to stick to it!
Using Skills to Ride Out Stress
Self-awareness is the first step toward effective self-care, self-compassion, and self-love. Awareness of when stress levels are elevating somatically and psychologically allows you to notice the wave of emotion you’re feeling. Once aware of the underlying emotion, you can practice riding it out using the necessary skills to cope with or process the emotion appropriately. Some examples of this are keeping ice-cold water on hand to regulate your system, using the same mindfulness or dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) skills like TIP or STOP we tell our clients to use, and pausing to pray or meditate.
Writing Affirmations
Self-care can be a daunting practice to start; many people think, “Why do I have to put a label on stuff I should do anyway?” If managing stress were automatic, we wouldn’t need to focus on it with intention.
Start small by writing affirmations on post-it notes and place them around your living space. Ask friends and family to provide affirmations if you find it challenging to choose your own. Consider starting simple; affirmations can be one-liners such as “My friends think I’m funny,” “I am brave,” and “I work hard.”
According to a study by the Annual Review of Psychology, self-affirmation is an intervention for a negative narrative, which can hamper the integrity of self, performance, and growth. It’s not woo-woo magic; it works.
Participating in Physical Activity
Carve out time weekly for your own enrichment, and practice mindfulness when looking at your calendar. Take up martial arts or a sport, join a meetup group that does an activity you enjoy, or set a goal of doing a 5k. Exercise releases endorphins, which can lead to improved mental clarity and a sense of serenity for many individuals. While you’ll get the largest benefit from consistency, even just the occasional ten-minute walk can improve your short-term stress levels.
Discovering Creativity
Creative pursuits are not to be balked at either. Reading, writing, drawing, painting, sculpting, making jewelry and making candles, soaps, or lotions are all ways to scratch the creative itch.
The thing about creative time, though, is that you don’t need to achieve anything. The point is joy. The point is fun; the point is to play. Allow yourself the gift of imperfection. Try to make your creative outlets something distinctly different from your work or source of stress.
For instance, our team of recovery writers often get outside and away from their computers to take photographs. It’s still a form of media they love, but it places them in a completely different environment and gives them a fresh perspective. Remember, you want to find joy, do that by separating from the repetition you’re accustomed to.
Finding the Help You Need
Delegation is self-care. It’s okay to ask your teammates or employees for help. It is also okay to hire outside firms to handle the work you need to do but simply don’t have time to complete it. If website management isn’t your thing, hire a webmaster. If you don’t know how to do “SEO” for your website, start interviewing marketing agencies.
If writing is not relaxing, don’t forget your friends here at Addiction Recovery. We have a team of passionate, informed recovery writers that craft custom Alumni Articles, Industry Professional Content, Q&A Pieces, and Long-Form Blogs, as well as Web Pages specifically tailored to your facility’s voice, mission, and goals.
Providing treatment services is stressful enough. However, quality content is necessary for your website to be helpful to potential clients or patients. Organic content drives web traffic and is the altruistic backbone of the digital ecosystem.
Shameless plugs aside, it’s vital to realize how much you can and how much you should not handle on your own. There are plenty of resources available to help you find a better balance and manage your stress while still accomplishing all of your goals.
Safeguard Against Burnout
Moving goalposts, not taking enough breaks or getting adequate nutrition, and poor sleep hygiene are all factors in burnout. How do we protect against it? Optimizing your workflow is a great first step.
One of our writers, Gabby A., says she plans ahead to stay on track. “Typically, the first two weeks of the month, I divide the bulk of my writing out to know how many articles I need to complete each day.” Dedicating a small amount of time to organizing and prioritizing your tasks frees you up to execute effectively.
Our Founder and CEO, West Jones, likes Paul Graham’s “Makers Schedule, Managers Schedule,” which entails scheduling days for deep work or creative tasks and scheduling separate days for meetings.
Taking Breaks
Schedule and take breaks, no matter what. If your workflow needs improvement immediately, try the Pomodoro Technique. Now, do what with an Italian tomato? Make a to-do list and grab a timer – set it for 25 minutes, and take a five-minute break when the timer is up. After four intervals of 25-minute work sprints with five-minute breaks, take a longer 15 to 30-minute break to nourish and recharge. Many of our recovery writers have been using this technique for years and cannot recommend it enough to our new hires.
Prioritizing Nutrition
Eating regularly and nutritiously is necessary for maintaining stable blood sugar. Prioritize protein with every meal and snack to ensure long-burning brain fuel. The following are some additional nutrients that support brain power:
- B vitamins are essential for brain function, and methylfolate specifically has even been linked to effective depression management. In addition to providing cognitive support, vitamin B-6 is also known for its cancer-fighting properties and for decreasing the risk of cardiovascular disease. Vitamin B-12 has been proven to lower blood homocysteine levels, which are linked to lower cases of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. However, studies have yet to produce definitive data showing the slow of cognitive decline when using vitamin B supplements.
- Omega-3 Fatty Acids are crucial for cognition. One study found that consuming foods high in omegas or taking a supplement “increases learning, memory, cognitive well-being, and blood flow in the brain.”
- Vitamin D is known as the depression vitamin. Many studies have linked low vitamin D levels to different types of depression. Spending 10-20 minutes outside under the sun (with UV protection, of course) per day can lift spirits when the weather permits. However, oral supplementation and artificial light therapy can also help maintain steady levels throughout the year.
Getting Good Sleep
Good sleep hygiene means reducing blue light exposure (yes, that means putting your phone down), consistent bedtimes and wake-up times, and a balance of REM, deep, and light sleep. Cell turnover occurs at night when we sleep. Our body works hard during our slumbering hours to repair damage and dispatches new cells. Apps like Headspace and Shine offer guided sleep meditations to wind you down into a quality rest.
Don’t Forget to Breathe!
Breathwork is a practice many of our facilities offer clients, but how many times a day do you catch yourself holding your breath? One study found that yogic breathing improved stress and cardiac metrics of undergraduate and graduate students, noting that participants self-reported improvements in “perceived stress, sleep, social connectedness, distress, anxiety, depression, conscientiousness, self-esteem, and life satisfaction.” Don’t be afraid to get out your crystals and prepare to be rocketed into the fourth dimension!
Inhaling twice through the nose and exhaling once through the mouth is one of the simplest breathing techniques taught by many. Taking three deep breaths in moments of distress can also help calm your nervous system.
Seeking Help for Stress When Needed
There’s no one “right” way to manage stress; it is a highly-individualized process. Even as a behavioral health professional, there’s nothing wrong with seeking a higher level of care if stress feels unmanageable and overwhelming. Many therapeutic modalities help us professionals manage day-to-day stressors and significant life changes. We are an industry of helpers, don’t forget to take the steps necessary to help yourself.
Whether it’s a bike ride or a book, dealing with stress can look different for everyone. Practicing self-care and good sleep hygiene, setting boundaries for healthy relationships, and avoiding burnout are solid first steps toward effective stress management. Don’t let your digital content be another stressor! Our passionate team writers in recovery would love to customize blogs, webpages, and media placements for you. For more information on creative content solutions, call us today at (855) 923-0020.
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