Self-care can be simple—all it means is taking time to do things that make you feel good and promote your well-being. What’s not that simple is following through with self-care consistently.

When life gets busy, the time we take for ourselves is often the first thing to go. While this can be true for anyone, it seems to be especially true for caregivers such as parents, nurses, therapists, and countless others.

Used consistently, self-care has been found to protect against stress, improve well-being, reduce feelings of burnout, and even improve physical health. Clearly, self-care matters.

Our Self-Care Tips worksheet includes six tips for turning self-care into a beloved habit. Some of the tips are:

• Setting specific self-care goals
• Making self-care a priority
• Limiting unhealthy self-care
• Making self-care a habit

Use this handout as a starting point for discussing self-care. Pay special attention to barriers that have prevented your client from practicing self-care in the past.

If your client isn’t sure where to begin, try using the Self-Care Assessment to help them explore areas in need of attention.