Baker, E. K. (2003). Tending to our self. In E. K. Baker, Caring for ourselves: A therapist's guide to personal and professional well-being (pp. 37-58). Washington, DC, US: American Psychological Association.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/10482-003
A fine, but critical, line exists between our personal and professional selves. That our personal life serves as the undergirding and infrastructure of our professional self is a fundamental assumption in advocating therapist self-care. Therefore, we must strive to understand the different aspects of and influences on our self as well as to continue developing self-awareness. Consciously becoming self-aware enables us to evolve from an unconscious, externally dependent, reactive mode to a more "mindful" means of caring for our physical, psychological, and spiritual being. By nurturing our self, we can then genuinely care about, and share with, others. This chapter guides therapists in examining aspects of our self, the influences of our formative and ongoing life experiences, and our motivations to become a therapist. A therapist self-care questionnaire is found in the appendix at the end of this chapter. Responding to this questionnaire and completing the journaling exercises in this chapter will offer you an opportunity to reflect on your own thoughts, feelings, and behaviors related to therapist self-care. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)