Healing the Healer

When I was in graduate school it was highly recommended, by several of my professors, that anyone going into a helping profession become a patient or client themselves. This was a tremendously valuable experience. I learned what it was like to be vulnerable, to ask for help and to understand my strengths and weaknesses. There was a realization that we are all human! I keep a mirror in my work area still to remind me that whether I am the helper or the one being helped at the moment, we are all the same. Helping professionals are not gods that lack emotion, or the need for nutrition or immune to disease and life’s challenges.

There appears to be a growing disconnect from this fundamental understanding that helping professionals are most effective healers when they are healthy. The leadership in some organizations, licensing boards and agencies appear to minimize or ignore the importance of helping professionals caring for themselves physically, emotional, mentally and spiritually. In order to effectively and compassionately care for others, we must care for our own well-being. We are promoting health. Health starts with us. The wisdom of our leadership and organizations to support this healthy balance is essential for real healing and healthful communities.