Emotional Self-Awareness, Self-Care, and Occupational Stress in Mental Health Professionals

Abstract

This chapter is focused on examining the relationship between emotional self-awareness, engagement in personal and professional self-care practices, and occupational stress among workers in mental health professions. The issues of poor decision-making, compassion fatigue, and exhaustion caused by chronic stress have been a significant topic of research for decades, yet the vulnerability of the workers in these professions continues to rise. Much literature on this topic shows that higher emotional self-awareness leads to purposeful stress reduction through developing adaptive coping skills, cultivating positive emotional experiences, and engaging in social support networks. Given that workers in helping professions must often manage unpredictable, diverse, and highly stressful client situations, increasing their emotional self-awareness that leads to proactive self-care practices should be a priority in their training, supervision, and performance.