Why attending to our personal basic needs is a professional care practice.

We all have basic needs as human beings ranging from physical needs to psychological needs. Many theories of need exist from Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs ( Maslow, 1943) Glassers Basic Needs theory (1998) to Basic Psychological Needs theory (Ryan, 1995). Many of us as practitioners are working with people supporting them around meeting these needs in one way or another  and have a professional understanding of this.

However in reality, our own needs can be ignored at times, demoted and pushed further out to accommodate those around us both personally and professionally. It’s common to have blind spots in this area where we have no idea that such is the case and awareness of and attending to these basic fundamentals just doesn’t happen. As human beings this is problematic for wellbeing and balance. But as practitioners working with people, it’s even more fundamental to have a conscious awareness of this for the following reasons -

• When our own basic needs are not met we easily become depleted, overwhelmed and exhausted.
• When our basic needs are not met, we can covertly seek the meeting of these needs through our work and clients. Although this is not conscious, it can lead to poor boundaries, unhealthy dynamics and pressures which in turn further feeds the cycle of depletion, overwhelm and exhaustion.
• When we fail to attend to our own basic needs, regardless of how educated and experienced we may be, out client outcomes are limited as we are not walking our talk and this impacts our work.

Taking care of our own personal needs and energy is the foundation on which our professional lives flourish. We as practitioners are the gold goose. No matter what the modality we work with, the common denominator is the practitioner. We are the delivery system and without ensuring we are well, we cannot ensure we are delivering the best service to our clients or that we can sustain our work.

Catering for our personal needs is a professional practice. The personal-professional interface is the intersection where we as people meet ourselves as practitioners. We cannot separate the two, we bring our whole selves into our work and ensuring that we are tending to our personal needs as best we can give a solid base to work with people from.

This is not a one and done situation, nor is a correctional exercise. This is not about getting the perfect balance. This is about intentionally bringing awareness to our own selves and needs as humans first and to honestly and courageously look , see and name where our needs are not being met. It’s not solely a solution focused  exercise, although  we are looking to be responsive. It's also an exercise of noticing and being curious around the patterns and dynamics at play that leave our need base depleted. This level enquiry will not only inform us of our patterns that derail us but also highlight our possible Achilles heels in relation to our work and where we need to bring mindfulness and adjustment for sustainability.

Our meeting of needs change at different times in life. There is a natural ebb and flow and also the impact of external events and experiences that throws us curve balls. There are times when we are not in a position to meet certain needs and no matter our diligent efforts we can’t seem to fill our bucket. This is honest and real and once in conscious awareness can be managed as practitioners so as to minimise the impact to our work, and buffer against our work depleting us further. It’s not about the perfect picture but acknowledging that there is a picture and we need to be mindful of it on an ongoing basis. The reality is as practitioners working to support people, regardless of the modality or profession, our work draws on us in a particular way that is inextricably linked with our personal resources and our own needs and lives.

When we use this understanding as a foundation on which to build a solid and sustainable practitioner care plan, we are not trying to fix anything but bring awareness and empathy to ourselves just as we are and build in resources, supports and pathways to support ourselves in the light of our fluctuating reality of need.

If this is an area you feel you would benefit from support around exploring, keep an eye out for upcoming resources and reach out to find out more about the 1-1 practitioner-care program that addresses the needs base in more detail and tailored to the individual.