{"id":3384,"date":"2026-08-09T09:22:37","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T13:22:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/daniellerousseau\/?p=3384"},"modified":"2026-08-09T09:22:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T13:22:37","slug":"who-is-helping-the-helpers-importance-in-self-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/daniellerousseau\/2026\/08\/09\/who-is-helping-the-helpers-importance-in-self-care\/","title":{"rendered":"Who is helping the helpers? Importance in Self Care"},"content":{"rendered":"

When we think about trauma, we often focus on the people directly experiencing it. We think about victims of violence, abuse, or disasters, but we don’t always stop to consider the professionals who witness these experiences every day. Social workers, police officers, behavioral specialists, teachers, counselors, and other helping professionals spend their careers supporting individuals through some of the most difficult moments of their lives. While helping others is incredibly rewarding, it also comes with an emotional cost. One of the biggest lessons I have learned throughout my professional experiences is that helping others begins with taking care of yourself!<\/span><\/p>\n

As a former social worker, I worked closely with individuals and families experiencing abuse, crisis, and other traumatic life events. Although I wasn’t directly experiencing the trauma, I used to listen to heartbreaking stories every day and worked alongside clients during some of the most challenging periods of their lives. Over time, I realized that constantly absorbing other people’s pain could become emotionally exhausting if I didn’t make time to care for my own mental health. Maintaining healthy boundaries, relying on supportive colleagues, and finding time to disconnect after work became essential rather than optional.<\/span><\/p>\n

My perspective on trauma continued to grow during my internship conducting research with local law enforcement. While I was not responding to emergencies myself, I had the opportunity to work alongside officers and gain insight into the realities of policing. The course readings describe critical incidents as events that can overwhelm an individual’s normal coping abilities, and law enforcement officers often experience these incidents throughout their careers (Rousseau, 2026). Seeing the emotional demands placed on officers reinforced how important it is for agencies to support their employees through wellness initiatives and programs such as Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM). Too often, officers feel pressure to hide their struggles because of the stigma surrounding mental health or fear that seeking help could negatively affect their careers. However, ignoring trauma does not make it disappear- it often allows it to grow.<\/span><\/p>\n

Today, I work as a Behavioral Specialist in a school district, where I continue to see the effects of trauma every day. Many students arrive at school carrying emotional burdens that affect their ability to learn, build relationships, and regulate their behavior. This experience has taught me an important lesson: behavior is often a form of communication. Instead of immediately asking, “What’s wrong with this student?” I find myself asking, “What has this student experienced?” Taking a trauma-informed approach has allowed me to better support students while also reminding me that professionals must protect their own emotional well-being if they want to continue helping others effectively.<\/span><\/p>\n

One concept that has stood out to me throughout this course is that recovery and resilience are not just important for trauma survivors; they are equally important for the professionals who care for them. Compassion fatigue, secondary traumatic stress, and burnout are real challenges across helping professions. Without intentional self-care, these challenges can impact decision-making, relationships, job performance, and overall mental health!<\/span><\/p>\n

Organizations have an important role to play in supporting employee wellness. Providing confidential counseling services, peer support programs, regular wellness check-ins, and training that reduces the stigma surrounding mental health can make a meaningful difference. Equally important is creating workplace cultures where asking for help is viewed as a sign of professionalism rather than weakness. When organizations invest in the well-being of their employees, they are also investing in better outcomes for the individuals and communities those professionals serve.<\/span><\/p>\n

At the end of the day, I have learned that self-care is not selfish… it is necessary. Whether working in social work, law enforcement, education, or another helping profession, we cannot continue pouring into others if our own cup is empty. Taking time to recover emotionally and physically allows us to remain compassionate, effective, and resilient in careers that ask so much of us. If we truly value helping others heal from trauma, we must also remember to care for the people doing the helping.<\/span><\/p>\n

Reference<\/h2>\n

Rousseau, D. (2026). <\/span>Module 6: Trauma and the Criminal Justice System<\/span><\/em>. Boston University. Blackboard.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When we think about trauma, we often focus on the people directly experiencing it. We think about victims of violence, abuse, or disasters, but we don’t always stop to consider the professionals who witness these experiences every day. Social workers, police officers, behavioral specialists, teachers, counselors, and other helping professionals spend their careers supporting individuals […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26269,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[47,44,6,17,59,7,30],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/daniellerousseau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3384"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/daniellerousseau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/daniellerousseau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/daniellerousseau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26269"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/daniellerousseau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3384"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/daniellerousseau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3384\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3390,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/daniellerousseau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3384\/revisions\/3390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/daniellerousseau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/daniellerousseau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/daniellerousseau\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}