Layers Of Self Care
I work as a therapist, and I work as a school social worker. As education has become more fraught and the needs become larger and more overwhelming, the standard line is that teachers and those in the system need self-care. At this point, the idea of self-care in that system has become weaponized. Educators are told they can self-care their way out of the abusive nature of the profession instead of requiring the system to become more humane. It’s the same for those in the medical profession, women who work in and outside of the home, and others who work in arenas where the value of being human is superseded by the needs of the organization or the system.
The pyramid below shows the layers of authentic self-care that we need to offer ourselves. After the first layer of self-care which are basic human needs- the pyramid expands to include boundary setting, community, honoring your own needs, self-compassion, and rest.
If you were to consider yourself and what needs you have that are being met, where are you on this pyramid? What ways could you offer yourself true self-care. The self-care that Brianna Weist describes as, “. . . building a life you don’t need to take a vacation from.”
Therapy is a place to explore those ideas and beliefs that almost imprison us within systems that require us to live a life separated from knowing who we are and what we really need.
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