The Resilient Practitioner ─ Burnout Prevention and Self-care Strategies for Counselors, Therapists, Teachers and Health Professionals, Second Edition

Therapists and other helping professionals, such as teachers, doctors and nurses, social workers, and clergy, work in highly demanding fields and can suffer from burnout, compassion fatigue, and secondary stress. This happens when they give more attention to their clients’ well being than their own. Both students and practitioners in these fields will find this book an essential guide to striking an optimal balance between self-care and other-care. The authors describe the joys and hazards of the work, the long road from novice to senior practitioner, the essence of burnout, ways to maintain the professional and personal self, methods experts use to maintain vitality, and a self-care action plan. Vivid real-life examples and self-reflection questions will engage and motivate readers to think about their own work and ways to enhance their own resilience. Eloquently written and supported by extensive research, helping professionals will find this a valuable resource both when a novice and when an experienced practitioner.

Thomas M. Skovholt, PhD, ABPP is Professor of Counseling and Student Personnel Psychology at the University of Minnesota, and is a Licensed Psychologist. He has many years of experience as both a practitioner and teacher.

Michelle Trotter-Mathison, PhD, is a Therapist at Boynton Health Center and Lecturer at the University of Minnesota.

Caring for Others versus Self-preservation. Joys, Rewards, and Gifts of Practice. The Cycle of Caring as the Practice Essential. Skovholt, Ronnestad, The Long, Textured Path from Novice to Senior Practitioner. The Elevated Stressors of the Novice Practitioner. Hazards of Practice. Burnout: A Hemorrhaging of the Self. Balancing Caring for Others and Caring for Self. Sustaining the Professional Self. Sustaining the Personal Self. Mullenbach, Skovholt, Burnout Prevention and Self-Care Strategies of Expert Practitioners. Epilogue. Self-Care Action Plan.