Dear ISSTD Community,
What a month it’s been! Owing to that, this is going to a shorter message than you’ve been accustomed to seeing from me.
I mentioned last month that one of the antidotes to the sense of isolation that might be evoked by the heightened stress and strain of life these days is connection and coalition in service of a common cause or shared purpose. Since then, I have reflected on how isolating our work can feel, even in the most favorable of conditions. And then I wondered how you – yes, you, dear reader – are coping.
I can recall in graduate school, some twenty years ago, discussing with my baby social worker peers how it made no sense that our program gave no attention at all to self-care. I’ve since learned that this is the norm. In fact, it’s nigh on impossible, even as a working professional, to access accredited continuing education focused on practitioner self-care. I am a clinical social worker in the US. The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) only added language focused on self-care to its Code of Ethics in 2021. Here is the new language that was added to the Code of Ethics:
Professional self-care is paramount for competent and ethical social work practice. Professional demands, challenging workplace climates, and exposure to trauma warrant that social workers maintain personal and professional health, safety, and integrity. Social work organizations, agencies, and educational institutions are encouraged to promote organizational policies, practices, and materials to support social workers’ self-care.
I am uncertain what it means for our organizations, agencies, and educational institutions to be ‘encouraged’ to take care of us as practitioners when so many institutions throughout the world seem to be in survival mode, existing on limited financial, material, and emotional resources. It’s hard to take care of someone else when one’s own existence is at risk.
Don’t get me wrong. I am not pessimistic. That said, it is always difficult to strike a balance when we are compelled to care both for oneself and others at the same time—particularly when it seems that taking care of others may mean drawing upon an emotional bank account with insufficient funds. Then there is the uncertainty that accompanies the turbulence related to both the disappearance of educational grants and equitable student loan availability access and repayment schemes. And what of the struggle of many researchers based in hospital systems and universities dealing with massive cuts in funding, which impacts their important work, not to mention, in some cases, their livelihood? When care is in short supply, where are we to find it?
Well, you may not realize that ISSTD hosts a Special Interest Group (SIG) focused on helping all of us Society members build up our emotional funds, regardless of whether we are a clinician, student, or researcher. It’s called the Vicarious Trauma & Resilience SIG, and they happen to have a meeting coming up Monday, July 14, 2025, at 7:00pm Eastern US time. The focus of that get-together will be Taking Care in a Traumatized World: Sharing Self-Regulation Strategies and Rituals. It’s like a ray of sunlight peeking through on a dreary day! To join the SIG (and their next meeting), make your way to the information on this page under Member Resources.
I’ll be back next month with more to share. In the meantime, just know you’re not alone.
Warmly (or coolly, if it’s warm where you are) yours,
Michael