Nurses understand the need for self-care, but may need encouragement and tools to prioritize their mental well-being.<\/p>\n
Think about your approach to maintaining your mental health. Do you have one? Or has your mental health, perhaps along with your physical health, dropped far down the list of priorities?<\/p>\n
\u201cIn my experience, nurses are very slow and sometimes even reluctant to attend to their own mental health needs,\u201d said psychologist James Jackson, PsyD, director of long-term outcomes for the ICU Recovery Center at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville.<\/p>\n
Nurses are so centered on others\u2014and so highly adept at caring for others\u2014that they often don\u2019t even have a framework for caring for themselves. This type of self-neglect can be dangerous, though. Self-care for nurses is so important that the American Nurses Association has once again devoted an entire week, May 1-9, to focusing on it during\u00a0Nurses Month in 2021<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n So, if you are starting to feel the effects of neglecting your own needs in the name of caring for others, consider this a wake-up call.<\/p>\n 6 self-care strategies for nurses to support their mental health<\/p>\n It is so easy to put yourself last. In fact, many nurses do. It\u2019s also easy to bristle when someone tells you that you need to prioritize your mental health.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you have reached your limit and are feeling overwhelmed, you will not appreciate someone telling you to do more–or what sounds like more,\u201d said Nancy Brook, MSN, RN, CFNP, a nurse practitioner and career mentor. \u201cIn some respects, \u2018self-care\u2019 has become a catch phrase for massages and manicures and doing more than you are already doing.\u201d<\/p>\n But real self-care really can make a difference. You can improve your own health, and it can help you be a better nurse.<\/p>\n \u201cTaking care of yourself needs to start with prevention: prioritizing your own well-being, setting boundaries, sleeping, eating well and just feeling connected with friends, colleagues or family,\u201d said Brook.<\/p>\n Often, we are harder on ourselves than anyone else is.<\/p>\n \u201cWe would never know it just by looking at nurses, but their inner critic is often running rampant,\u201d said Brittain. \u201cRumination over small mistakes, frequent comparisons to others, unresolved anger or grief and toxic workplace environments all contribute to negative self-talk and self-shaming.\u201d<\/p>\n Give yourself permission to accept difficult experiences for what they\u2019ve helped you learn, and move forward.<\/p>\n You may have heard of mindfulness, and even tried some mindfulness-based stress reduction techniques. But if you\u2019re not using them regularly, you are missing out on the benefits for your mental wellness.<\/p>\n \u201cNursing is a high-stress profession that may be taking a toll on our nurses,\u201d wrote Sue Penque, PhD, RN, ANP-BC, NC-BC, NE-BC, in a 2019\u00a0article<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0in\u00a0Nursing Management<\/em>. \u201cMindfulness-based programs can help nurses develop skills to manage clinical stress and improve their health; increase overall attention, empathy, and presence with patients and families; and experience work satisfaction, serenity, decreased incidental overtime, and reduced job burnout.\u201d<\/p>\n Mindfulness exercises don\u2019t take much time, and you can practice them just about anywhere. Start by sitting quietly and taking four or five long, slow, deep breaths and paying close attention to how you feel while you inhale and exhale.<\/p>\n What works for your nursing colleague may not work for you. So it is important to find one or more methods of self-care that work for you and help you feel calmer and more resilient. As a\u00a02016 article<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0titled \u201cSelf-Healing and Self-Care for Nurses\u201d in the\u00a0AORN Journal<\/em>\u00a0noted, you should experiment until you find a combination that works for you.<\/p>\n A few possibilities:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Experts caution that some people adopt coping strategies that can be harmful to their health.<\/p>\n For example,\u00a0research<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0indicates that many people began drinking more alcohol–or drinking alcohol more frequently–as the coronavirus pandemic unfolded in 2020. And some eating disorder treatment centers logged an uptick in healthcare providers seeking treatment.<\/p>\n \u201cNurses and others in care professions must pay attention to their own needs, mentally and physically, the way they would for a patient,\u201d said Krista Hovde, RN, nurse manager at the ACUTE Center for Eating Disorders and Severe Malnutrition at Denver Health. \u201cThere are many options for support and treatment, which tend to be more successful when eating disorders are addressed early.\u201d<\/p>\n Indeed, it\u2019s important to be aware of any behaviors that might actually undermine your attempt to get and stay healthy.<\/p>\n A trained mental health professional can help you assess your mental health status and chart a course forward. Counseling sessions, anti-anxiety or antidepressant medications, group therapy, online support groups\u2026there are numerous options for people who may be struggling with mental health issues.<\/p>\n \u201cI have personally hopped around from counselors to licensed psychiatrists and currently have been seeing a life coach for two years,\u201d said Haleigh Sullivan, BSN, RN, a nurse in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n You could also contact the employee assistance program, or EAP, at your place of employment or\u00a0travel nursing agency<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0for a confidential consult, said Jackson.<\/p>\n \u201cLet the EAP tell you whether your issues are concerning or not,\u201d he said. \u201cDon\u2019t conclude on your own that they\u2019re not because they might be. Let a professional tell you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
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