6.5: Developing a Self-Care Treatment Plan

As with any client, once you have assessed them and determined their wellness needs you will want to create a treatment plan. Because you are dealing with wellness, the client may have little knowledge or expertise in this area, so consider the use of psychoeducation to inform the client of what wellness is, why it is important, and how self-care interventions can help them meet their wellness goals.

Directly discussing their feelings about changing behavior including what their experience with change has been in the past can be useful. Using one of the change models to understand how the client responds to change might increase their chances of being successful at meeting their goals.

Working from a wellness perspective, develop a set of goals that are comprised of small, measurable, and achievable steps and process progress with the client during meetings. Clients may want to set larger, unrealistic goals. This should be discouraged to avoid disappointment and setting themselves up for failure (Granello, 2013).

Work on one or two areas at a time while helping the client see how the areas affect and interconnect with each other. A client experiencing better eating habits and gradual weight loss might feel like exercising more and might feel more optimistic and confident (Granello, 2013).

Change of any kind can be difficult, but self-care goals are often more difficult because they feel indulgent and selfish. Implementing a treatment plan that consists of four components consisting of plan, act, assess, and adjust can be simple and effective.

Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): It is important to create a plan for self-care. (Photo by Nataliya Vaitkevich from Pexels.)

Creating a self-care practice does require some planning. The first part of planning is to create time and space for self-care. This might involve setting boundaries between work and personal time. Having distinct, scheduled time for a self-care activity, such as “Meditation at 7:00 pm” on your calendar is much more likely to lead to success than just having it as a thought. Deciding what the self-care activity will be is also an important part of the planning stage. This will relate to what you or your client needs, and it could change from day to day. Some people have found success with setting aside a specific time for self-care and then filling in the activity the day-of.

When the plan has been established, it is time for action. Following through on the plan is critical to its success. This requires motivation, determination, and dedication to the importance and rewards of self-care. The planner has to believe there is something to be gained by the practice or they will not possess the motivation, determination, or dedication necessary to follow through on their plan. In counseling there is much you can do with your client to explore reasons they might be hesitant to commit to a self-care plan. Reasons can extend from believing they don’t deserve to feel well, to beliefs that self-care is selfish, to being unwilling to make the time commitment to a self-care practice. These beliefs must be worked through in session if they prohibit the client from moving forward with their plan.

Once an individual has committed to action, assessing how things are going is the next step. Consider these questions: How did it go? Did I do the activities I planned to do? Did I enjoy doing the activities I planned? Did I experience any benefit from what I did? Was the time allotted long and/or short enough? Do I want to replace or alter any of the activities I did? Do I want to change the time of day I planned to do the activities? All of these questions can help fine-tune a self-care plan that is much more likely to be implemented over time.

From here on it becomes a process of reassessing and adjusting the routine to fit into the individual’s life. Most people find after realizing the tremendous benefits of practicing self-care that it is worth the effort to plan and implement a routine.

Reflection Moment \(\PageIndex{1}\)

Using the following scenarios, develop a treatment plan for each client:

1. Thomas, a 35-year-old African American male, has come to see you complaining of feeling burnt-out at work. He has a conflictual relationship with his boss and doesn’t really like the job, but it pays the bills. He also states he doesn’t have anyone he feels he can talk to about how he feels. Do you see any opportunities for self-care interventions that might help Thomas reduce his stress and feelings of burn-out?
2. Samantha, a 65-year-old Caucasian female, has recently retired from her job of 35 years. She reports she has lost her purpose in life and loneliness as she no longer sees the people she socialized and worked with daily. This creates feelings of sadness and anxiety that she is struggling with managing. Do you see opportunities for self-care interventions that might help Samantha?

These reflection questions are also available as a PDF download: Developing a treatment plan