The professional practice column in our previous issue was on the importance of self-care. Here we expand on strategies for self-care across all areas of psychological work, particularly in the current context of changes to workloads and methods of working.
Impact of COVID-19 on psychology professionals
Psychologists and other psychology-trained professionals have been navigating unprecedented change to their professional and personal lives as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Through our member surveys, you have told us of some of the challenges the pandemic has brought1-2. Across sectors there have been significant changes to ways of working, not to mention needing to manage one’s own fears of COVID-19 infection – as well as the fears of clients, colleagues or students.
For psychology academics, educators and researchers, pressures and stressors have included job uncertainty, increased workload demands and challenges in maintaining teaching quality, offering student placements, and collecting research data1. For clinicians, there has been an increased need to adapt to remote delivery of services, higher demand for services and increased unpaid hours1-2.
Among psychologists participating in an APS webinar on the challenges of COVID-19, more than half of the respondents who provided feedback reported lack of energy/fatigue and cognitive and emotional symptoms of stress, while 45 per cent reported physical and behavioural symptoms1. Nevertheless, psychology-trained professionals have also demonstrated resilience and ability to cope with stress through the adoption of positive coping strategies, preparedness to adapt to changes and plans to incorporate positive solutions related to the pandemic (such as more telehealth, remote consultancies and/or online teaching) into psychological work1.
Some of the constructive self-care strategies that APS psychologists have reported they use include:
• focusing on what is within one’s control
• maintaining healthy levels of sleep, exercise and diet
• maintaining social and family connections
• prioritising and problem-solving
• adopting new structures and routines
• accepting and normalising emotions, and
• limiting exposure to media and information regarding the pandemic1.
Monitoring risks of burnout
Burnout has been an ongoing occupational health hazard for psychologists, particularly those working in direct client care3. However, the COVID-19 pandemic presents some additional considerations in the prevention of professional burnout.
For psychologists in clinical practice, risk factors for burnout include emotional contagion, compassion fatigue, vicarious trauma, perceived change in therapeutic effectiveness and longer duration of therapy4. For psychology academics, risk factors include less control over workload and being of a more junior status within a faculty5.
Psychologists and other professionals may also be at risk of personal burnout due to increased stress and demands outside of work. There is also the risk of “societal burnout”, which is the potential for increasing societal problems to cause overburdening and distress6. While different factors can lead to personal, professional or societal burnout, these three states can compound and interact with each other. Therefore, all three need to be part of a psychology professional’s self-care and management plan.
Key steps to developing a self-care plan
• Make an inventory of your individual risk factors related to professional burnout, personal burnout and societal burnout.
• Identify any ways by which these factors may interact with, or compound, the risk of professional burnout.
• Where possible, establish possible actions you can take to mitigate these risk factors. Where risk factors remain, use regular supervision and peer consultation to monitor any impact of these factors in order to maintain a preventative approach to burnout.
• Identify what your signs of burnout are and have a plan for how you will respond to these when noticing them.
• Engage regularly with your “competent community” for reflection and feedback on your competency levels in the context of increased professional, personal and societal stress7.
• Maintain regular supervision to monitor levels of workplace stress, capacity for coping and continued ethical practice.
Managing change and ambiguity
One of the marked features of the COVID-19 pandemic has been rapidly changing restrictions and guidelines that in turn impact on psychological work. Below are some suggestions for managing this uncertainty. Know where to source the most up-to-date and accurate information. The APS devised a dedicated COVID-19 Hub that will help psychologists identify the most current guidelines on both on a federal level as well as for their state or territory. Ahpra also has specific information about the expectations of registered health practitioners in Australia in the context of COVID-19.
Prepare and plan for interruptions
Have a plan in place to ensure continuity of care and ethical practice in the case of illness or isolation, technical difficulties while using video and/or phone conferencing, or last-minute changes to guidelines and/or modes of working7.
Understand your own limits and boundaries
There may be some psychology professionals willing and able to continue some face-to-face work, whereas others may choose to work only remotely. Use supervision and peer review to assist you in enforcing and communicating these boundaries to others involved, e.g. clients, students, colleagues.
If in clinical practice, use a client-specific response and identify therapeutic opportunities
Identify and reflect on case-specific implications of rapid change and transition on certain clients or client groups you may be working with. You may find that for some clients, there is therapeutic opportunity around navigating change and uncertainty, whereas for others there may be significant therapeutic risk associated with the impact on treatment delivery and care. Exploring these issues in supervision will support you in navigating any changes safely and ethically.
For more on self-care specific to clinical practice, including in the context of telehealth practice, see our more detailed resource.
The impact of health-oriented leadership on self-care practices
In addition to the direct impact of self-care practices on wellbeing, research indicates health-oriented leadership, whereby workplace leaders adopt health-focused values, attitudes and behaviour8, can also encourage employee self-care and contribute to enhanced wellbeing. Manchin9 discussed the importance of leadership in academic workplaces that promotes a culture of wellness among academics and students.
For further information and support
• Self-care for psychologists – Free APS course for members
• COVID-19: Managing the challenges as a psychologist – APS webinar
• Self-care for psychologists in clinical practice during COVID-19 – APS resource
References online