A note on empowering yourself while empowering others
Recently, I have been thinking a lot about how there is such a balancing act between supporting the needs of ourselves as healthcare clinicians and the needs of our clients.
It always feels like there's one person that loses out. That can be a heavy burden to carry when we tip the scale one way or another.
To explain a little further, picture this. It's Friday afternoon at 3 PM. It is your final client of the day and the documentation of the other 9 clients already seen looms over your head to complete in 15 minutes before your official work shift ends.
Then, this client asks if you could reach out to another professional to collaborate on their care because they feel you sharing what you have learned during therapy would allow for smoother coordination of services after they are done with therapy.
What do you do?
Do you spend an additional 30 minutes after you complete all your notes sending an email to this provider or trying to get them on the phone, and then following up with them later, knowing that you will have no time to do it the following week,
or do you go home to cook dinner for you family, be with your pets, or spend time with a loved one?
Here’s another example. Imagine the family of the child you are working with is having a challenging time getting to appointments due to the price of gas and lack of reliable transportation but they also do not have a computer or working phone to complete telehealth sessions. You decide to come in early one morning to research organizations that support getting transportation access to healthcare appointments in your area to be able to share with your client that day. This is an important step to receiving healthcare and combating the injustices for those that are poor and marginalized which is important to you. You get home to realize your family really needed your support during that morning hour you left early and you feel like you just can’t win.
What is the right answer here?
It is definitely not an "either or" and there are many tips and tricks on how to navigate situations like this but often it is a balance of "how much of myself do I have left in my cup to give" and how do I also get the tasks of my job done while also getting this extra item done that will immensely improve this client's quality of care?
As healthcare professionals, we have to put our well-being on the line and make these kinds of sacrifices daily. Not only that but also sacrificing time, mental and physical energy, and patience with families, friends, and loved ones in order to care for others. This is why we entered the profession, to help others, and we let that passion and purpose lead us. There is a lot of information out there about work-life balance but I think as healthcare professionals we have a unique challenge. If we do not do our work, someone else suffers or their care is compromised. We simply cannot “slam the laptop until Monday” most times. We need to finish it before we leave.
I have heard a lot of stories of healthcare professionals developing mental health difficulties, autoimmune conditions, chronic conditions, and work-related injuries preventing them from being able to continue doing their job and ultimately leaving the profession.
I wish this did not have to be the case. I wish we felt we had the space and support to care for ourselves while caring for others and that we could find that work-life balance to do our passions. This situation and solution is not simple. It is embedded is a dysfunctional system of payors putting a price on healthcare and a serious amount of injustice towards the marginalized populations. But how do we handle the day-to-day?
What if there was another way of thinking about this? What if we flipped the script.
If we do not care for our own basic needs, we literally cannot care for others.
I do not have all the answers but I do know that a few important small steps include being ok with taking that time for yourself, because in the long run it will help the people you are working with. It also looks like setting boundaries or referring to other people that may be able to help the situation with more expertise and have enough in their cup to share.
So if this resonates with you and you feel like you are carrying the burden in this balance just know, you are not alone. There are ways to care for yourself that go beyond a vacation or a bubble bath. Ask yourself this question:
What are some things that I can do to care for myself daily that are in my control?
Do your ADLs well - rest, sleep, eating, showering
Write down 3 things you are grateful for at the end of the day.
Practice self-compassion.
Make a list of items that are energizing vs. depleting for you.
I have a Pinterest board with this to help remind me.
Cultivate a mindfulness practice
This seriously is a game changer and is researched to have a lot of benefits besides supporting your well-being, and its free!
Have an outlet for those challenging therapy stories you are holding onto
Write the experience down, draw a picture, or some other way to process those challenges stories. Those can build up over time so it’s important to release them in some creative way.
And remember there are things that are out of your control that may be causing stress. Focusing on what we can control is so important to helping ourselves remain empowered occupational therapists and healthcare professionals and also helps us provide the best quality care.