Preliminary Self-Care Plan and Rationale

For reference, the course is titled: Professional Self-Care in Integrative Social Work Practice.

I will attach the instructions for the assignment, the template for the assignment, and previous assignments that can be useful for completing this assignment. I will also list readings below to use as well. Please follow the instructions carefully and if you have any questions, please let me know.

This assignment has two parts: (1) a personalized professional self-care plan and (2) a 24 page APA-formatted rationale paper explaining and justifying the plan.

The self-care plan must be informed by Assignment 1 Professional Wellness & Resilience Self-Assessment (attached) and Assignment 2 Agency Social Worker Interview & Reflection (attached), identifying key risk and protective factors related to personal and professional well-being.

The plan must use SAMHSAs Eight Dimensions of Wellness (social, environmental, physical, emotional, spiritual, occupational, intellectual, financial) and focus on at least four domains that best fit current wellness needs.

For each selected domain, the plan must include: current strengths and challenges, SMART goals, specific objectives, potential barriers, and strategies to address those barriers, using the provided Self-Care Plan template.

Goals must be realistic for one semester, measurable, and clearly time-bound; students are graded on planning and critical reflection, not on whether all goals are achieved.

The rationale paper (24 pages, APA style) must critically analyze the self-care plan, discuss strengths and areas for growth, demonstrate understanding of all eight wellness domains, and explain how they are interconnected.

The paper must integrate course materials, discussions, best practices, and empirical research, using at least four scholarly references.

The rationale must also address how external systems (organizations, educational institutions, communities, or society) function as risk and/or protective factors for professional well-being.

This assignment has two parts. The first part is a personalized self-care plan. The second part is a rational paper to discuss your reasoning and rationale for what is in your self-care plan.

The assignment is evaluated based on understanding of wellness domains, quality of justification, completeness of the self-care plan, awareness of external factors, and overall writing quality and APA adherence.

Please do not use AI and if you have any questions, let me know.

READINGS:

Cox, K., & Steiner, S. (2013). Self-care in social work: A guide for practitioners, supervisors, and administrators. Washington, DC: NASW Press.

Davis, M., Eshelman, E. R., & McKay, M. (2008). The relaxation and stress reduction workbook. New Harbinger Publications.

Frankl, V. (2006). Mans search for meaning. Beacon Press.

Grise-Owens, G., Miller, J., & Eaves, M. (Eds.). (2016). The A-to-Z self-care handbook for social workers and other helping professionals. The New Social Worker Press.

Hinz, L.D. (2018). Beyond Self-Care for Helping Professionals: The Expressive Therapies Continuum and the Life Enrichment Model. 1st Edition. New York, NY: Routledge

Introduction to Resilience: Building Our Internal Resources (Downloadable Interactive PDF):

Mathieu, F. (2012). The compassion fatigue workbook: Creative tools for transforming compassion fatigue and vicarious traumatization. Routledge.

Sapolsky, R. M. (2004). Why zebras don’t get ulcers: The acclaimed guide to stress, stress-related diseases, and coping. Holt paperbacks.

Skovholt, T., & Trotter-Mathison, M. (2016). The resilient practitioner: burnout and compassion fatigue prevention and self-care strategies for helping professionals. New York, NY: Allyn & Bacon.

Berkowitz, A, (2022). We need to talk about self-care (but not in the way you think). Aotearoa New Zealand Social Work Review, 34(3), 130-135.

DeMarchis, J., Friedman, L., & Eyrich, G, K. (2022). An ethical responsibility to instill, cultivate and reinforce self-care skills. Social Work Education,58(2), 308-316.

Josal D., Wooksoo K. & Elze, D. (2018). Perceptions of self-care among MSW students: Implications for Social Work Education, Social Work Education, 54 (4). 657-667. DOI: 10.1080/10437797.2018.1486255

Alegra, M., NeMoyer, A., Falgs Bagu, I., Wang, Y., & Alvarez, K. (2018). Social determinants of mental health: Where we are and where we need to go. Current Psychiatry Reports, 20(11), 95.

Apgar, D., & Parada, M. (2022). Missing the mark? Reframing NASW’s ethical mandate for self- care as a social justice issue. Advances in Social Work, 22(3), 876-899.

Gamby, K., Burns, D., & Forristal, K. (2021). Wellness decolonized: The history of wellness and recommendations for the counseling field. Mental Health Counseling, 43(3), 228-245. doi:10. l7744/mehc.43.3.05

Miller, J. J., & Grise-Owens, E. (2020). Self-care: An imperative. Social Work, 65(1), 5-9.

Oliver, M. D., Baldwin, D. R., & Datta, S. (2018). Health to wellness: A review of wellness models and transitioning back to health. International Journal of Health, Wellness and Society, 9(1), 41.

Smullens, S. (2021). Chapter 1: Burnout: Backdrop, definition, andthe four attendant syndromes. In Burnout and self-care in social work. Pp. 7-26. NASW Press.

Smullens, S. (2021). Chapter 2: Arenas of burnout. In Burnout and self-care in social work. Pp 27-46. NASW Press.

Smullens, S. (2021). Chapter 3: From compassion fatigue to compassion satisfaction. In Burnout and self-care in social work. Pp 47- 62. NASW Press.

Smullens, S. (2021). Chapter 4: Introducing self-care: An overview. In Burnout and self-care in social work. Pp 27-46. NASW Press.

Bloomquist, K. R., Wood, L., Friedmeyer-Trainor, K., & Kim, H. W. (2015). Self-care and professional quality of life: Predictive factors among MSW practitioners. Advances in Social Work, 16(2), 292-311.

Butlsaer, L. D., Mercer, K. L., McClain-Meeder, K., Horne, D. M., & Dudley, M. (2018). Six Domains of Self-Care: Attending to the whole person. Human Behavior in the Social Environment 29(1), 107-124.

Smullens, S. (2021). Chapter 5: Professional Self-Care Introducing Self-Care: In Burnout and self-care in social work. pp 81-95.. NASW Press.

Chamberlain, L. (2020). From Self- care to Collective Care. International Journal on Human Rights, 17(30), 215-225

Martino. J., Pegg, J., Frates, E.P. (2017).The connection prescription: Using the power of social interactions and the deep desire for connectedness to empower health and wellness. American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine. 11(6):466-475.

Smullens, S. (2021). Chapter 6: Burnout: Backdrop, definition, and the four attendant syndromes. In Burnout and self-care in social work. Pp 97-119. NASW Press.

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