For instance, section II.12 of the Canadian Code of Ethics for Psychologists (Canadian Psychological Association 2017) states that, in accordance with the Principle of Responsible Caring, members are to “engage in self-care activities that help to avoid conditions (e.g., burnout, addictions) that could result in impaired judgment and interfere with their ability to benefit and not harm others”. To promote responsible caring, several regulating bodies have, therefore, included practitioner self-care in their code of ethics. In order to provide effective care to their clients, practitioners must first be well themselves (Norcross and Guy 2007). In fact, mental health practitioners have an ethical duty to provide responsible caring, maximizing benefits and minimizing harm for their clients. 2017 Stebnicki 2007), but also negative consequences for the clients they serve (Bearse et al. 204) in order to prevent not only practitioner ill-health (Butler et al. The practitioner is a “powerful but vulnerable tool in the caring process” that requires attention and care (Sansó et al. 2015) and this should be recognized as a fundamental part of functioning in a helping career (Guy 2000). Experienced therapists support including self-care as a primary objective for mental health practitioners (Jennings and Skovholt 1999 Thériault et al. Yet self-care, or attending to one’s own holistic well-being, can be a pathway towards preventing negative outcomes such as burnout (Barnett et al. As a result, engaging in self-care can often sit at the end of a practitioner’s to-do list, rather than being made a priority. 2007) and indeed may not have “learned how to take the time to care and to nourish, having been trained to believe that this would be selfish” (Sapienza and Bugental 2000, p. Ironically, while helping clients move toward well-being, practitioners often can overlook their own needs (Barnett et al.
2012), burnout (Wityk 2003), and professional impairment (Harrison and Westwood 2009). Establishing and maintaining these one-way working relationships takes significant effort and energy (Skovholt and Trotter-Mathison 2011) placing practitioners at increased risk for negative outcomes such as stress (El-Ghoroury et al.
To be effective in providing mental health services, practitioners must develop a professional alliance or working relationship with clients that maintains appropriate boundaries and levels of emotional or psychological involvement, and to do so consistently from one client to another (Skovholt and Trotter-Mathison 2011). Mental health practitioners (e.g., counselors psychotherapists) work in a culture of one-way caring (Guy 2000) in which they are required to demonstrate empathy, compassion and patience, without the expectation of receiving such care in return from their clients (Skovholt et al.
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