Self care

Through the years, immersed in working with clients living through stages of alcohol and drug addiction, it left me feeling at times as powerless on a different level. What can we do more as a service? What can I bring to my clients, community service providers, and caregivers? On a good day: hope and connection. On a bad day: many words and advise. We all experience sometimes helplessness and despair when connected to addiction and dependencies. As a clinician, self-care maintains a healthy foundation which can seem futile when facing overwhelming networks of necessary support throughout all facets of living, housing, financial, personal loss and grief. Those are high mountains to climb. Self-care and self appreciation are important to get a fighting chance. With all the education, harm reduction tools, support phone lines, nursing and rehabilitation and recovery spaces, human successes and recovery remains unpredictable. A missing piece in our treatment offerings is trauma-informed care which can re-affirm our worth and sensitivity and the importance and value of of self-care.