Self care - why it matters, and how to start

Jane Keep is a British colleague currently completing a PhD on self-care at work, using her role as an individual and organisational coach to present some wonderful insights into - and practical tips on - self-care and why it matters.

Jane challenges us to question whether we can offer true service to others (our clients, our staff) if we are unable to first truly care for ourselves, a question with great relevance for those of us in the nonprofit sector who are deeply engaged in supporting - and modelling behaviours to - others.  

Here's an excerpt from a paper she recently presented on her research, based on the work of Serge Benhayon, College of Universal Medicine, describing what she and her co-participants learnt:

"One of the first things we all did was to deliberately deepen our self-observation, and observe when we did or didn't feel we were offering ourselves care, and also to continue to observe the effect we had on the services we offered. Over a period of time, this deepened our self-awareness. This for me enabled me to realise a number of patterns of behaviours (not just symptoms), that were occurring, and, gave me the opportunity to look at why the patterns of behaviour were occurring. For example, practically speaking if I was eating handfuls of nuts, or consuming larger amounts of fruit, (in other words craving sugar), I realised on those days I was tired, and hence my need for sugar was raised. I then tracked back to make sense of why on some days I was more tired than others. I then realised for instance how much I put my client 'first', and, how much I had been looking for recognition or acceptance from the client and this was draining me. I also realised that there were times when I did not go to bed in the evenings when I was tired, or, I tried to fit too much into some days which left me exhausted the following day. All of this continued to deepen my self-awareness, and heightened my need to deepen my self-care."

Jane's paper is certainly worth reading. If you'd like the full version, email Jane or contact Nonprofit Assist.

And if you'd like to learn more about self-care in the workplace, Nonprofit Assist will be hosting a one day workshop on said topic with colleagues from NSW and Victoria on Friday, 23 March 2012 in Logan, Brisbane. The workshop will include sessions on body awareness (the key to developing and monitoring self-care), self-care in the context of your organisation's structure and culture (how is it possible?) and more, including a delicious and nourishing morning tea and lunch. Anyone wanting advance details can contact us.