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Dear Social worker, Welcome to 
the world #1 Personal 

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Development podcast for social 
workers. 

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I can't solve your caseload, but
I can help you level up your 

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mindset, mental health and 
resilience, real talk, practical

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tools, and empowering growth. 
Because thriving in social work 

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starts with you. 
Settle in. 

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Make yourself at home. 
You're exactly where you need to

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be. 
Let's talk. 

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We are back. 
We've had an extended summer 

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break. 
Thank you for your patience. 

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But we are back. 
And today's episode is entitled 

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Self Refer Yourself. 
Yeah, I'm saying it like it is 

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self refer yourself, addressing 
mental health in social work, 

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because we know that as social 
workers, we give way more than 

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what we get back sometimes. 
And as a result of that, we're 

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the ones left running on empty. 
In this episode, we'll dive deep

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into three critical mental 
health challenges that you as 

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social workers face, including 
denial of personal needs, 

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overriding feelings and bodily 
cues, and long lasting impact of

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trauma. 
We know as professionals in this

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field, we prioritise others over
ourselves and that can lead to 

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burnout and emotional 
exhaustion. 

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And today we're going to explore
how recognising these 

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challenges, these issues and 
committing to personal 

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development, like being here 
every week, can not only enhance

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your well-being, but improve the
quality of the care that you 

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provide to others. 
Getting straight into this 

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number one is the denial of 
personal needs. 

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I've definitely done this. 
If you don't know my story, let 

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me remind you. 
Let me remind you I have been 

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burnt out several times. 
I've attempted to step away from

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social work several times and 
I've tried my very best each 

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time I go back. 
Not to deny my personal needs, 

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but the truth is I simply did 
not have the right boundaries in

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order to look after myself 
properly and to deal with the 

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trauma that I was being exposed 
to every day in social work. 

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It's all good and well having 
boundaries in other areas of 

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your life, but having boundaries
for yourself, your health, and 

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your well-being is also 
paramount. 

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I can't stress that enough. 
So my first question to you is, 

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what are your boundaries for 
maintaining good well-being? 

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How often do you keep to those 
boundaries? 

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How often are those boundaries 
challenged or you're put in a 

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position of compromise? 
Now I know the everyday work of 

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social work creates high pace 
stress, high cortisol levels, 

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snacking of biscuits. 
Now that's my confession, not 

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yours. 
But essentially, as we are 

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natural caregivers, it often 
leads to denying your own needs 

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because your number one focus is
caring for someone else, fixing,

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changing, problem solving, 
firefighting. 

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So whether it's pushing through 
with long hours or not, taking 

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breaks or avoiding seeking help,
often many social workers 

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struggle with self-care. 
I got to a point where I didn't 

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even know what I could do for 
fun anymore. 

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I literally had to write a list 
and go, what do I enjoy? 

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I was so disconnected with my 
own self, with my own body, that

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I wasn't sure what I wanted to 
do to relax anymore. 

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And although I've been out of 
frontline practice for nearly 

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two years now with the Social 
Work Coaching Hub, as you know, 

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which offers coaching resources,
this podcast and events, and 

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we're expanding. 
If you're thinking about 

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starting a business, check out 
the show notes. 

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I've got some new training 
coming up for that. 

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But it's key to recognise the 
patterns of this denial of 

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personal needs. 
The only time I recognise the 

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pattern pattern is when I 
stepped out of social work and I

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was off with work stress. 
You realise it on your way to 

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that point, but often it's too 
late. 

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And what I want to invite you to
consider here is how the job 

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naturally, naturally puts you in
a position where prioritising 

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yourself, care is a necessity. 
This isn't something you can put

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last. 
It isn't something that you can 

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deny because the denial can lead
to feelings of resentment and 

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exhaustion and ultimately 
burnout. 

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And I've experienced that 
multiple times because my focus 

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was just making sure I got my 
working on time. 

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I was doing the best for the 
children and families and I was 

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keeping the people that were 
under my watch, so to speak, 

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safe. 
And that required more of me. 

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But whilst that required more of
me, on the other hand, I was 

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denying some of my personal 
needs. 

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I'm waiting too long to 
prioritize them. 

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So the importance of 
self-awareness, knowing 

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yourself, knowing the way your 
mind and your body works is 

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going to help you acknowledge 
your personal needs because it's

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crucial for the long term 
sustainability in the profession

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#2 overriding feelings and body 
signals. 

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I talked about how this happened
for me, but I'll give you 

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another example of the biscuit 
tin. 

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If someone came in the office 
with a biscuit tin, those 

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biscuits are gone like that, 
right? 

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Those cakes are gone like that. 
And often it's a response to 

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stress. 
So all of us Sydney Saphis were 

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denying the feeling of stress 
and instead of taking 10 minutes

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away from the desk, we would 
stuff our faces with biscuits 

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and cakes or whatever was on the
snack table, right? 

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Override the feeling of stress 
or a response to trauma and feed

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it with something else. 
So in the rush to meet deadlines

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and support children and 
families, those with mental 

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health, whatever group you're 
working with, children or 

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families, we as social workers 
can often override our own 

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emotions and physical signals 
and ignoring stress, anxiety or 

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even physical pain, it can 
become second nature. 

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This powering through approach, 
it comes at a high cost, let me 

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tell you. 
Even though I step back from 

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social work frontline practice 
for the past two years, I am 

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still on my journey of lowering 
stress levels. 

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Although my coaching business is
full time, I speak for different

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companies. 
Ioffer training, I do online 

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training, online coaching, I 
host events, there's an array of

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different things that make up 
the social work coaching hub and

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this is what I do everyday full 
time now. 

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But what I have noticed is 
sometimes my to do lists are a 

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little bit longer than they 
should be. 

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And I was having a conversation 
with someone the other day and I

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was thinking about am I 
recreating the level of stress 

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that I was on there when I was 
in front line practice. 

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It's taken time. 
I remember when I first stepped 

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back, it really took time to 
calm down what I describe as 

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coming down often high, that I 
didn't have to wake up and go to

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work for a certain time. 
I could choose the hours in 

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which I start my coaching 
sessions. 

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I can choose if I want to travel
to London or travel abroad to do

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a public speaking engagement or 
host a workshop. 

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But often I would find myself 
creating a space where I can't 

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say the same level of stress 
because obviously I'm not in a 

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place where I'm offering a 
crisis intervention service. 

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But I found some similarities 
between the stress I was under 

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when I was in practice to the 
stress that I was arguably 

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creating whilst running my own 
business. 

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Now we know that comes with its 
own stresses, absolutely no 

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denying that. 
But I was noticing some patterns

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and I'm still working on 
eradicating some of those 

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patterns where that ignoring 
stress and ignoring high levels 

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of or high volume of work 
becoming second nature. 

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And the fact that I'm aware of 
it in a space where I'm not in 

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frontline practice demonstrates 
to me there is some growth 

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there. 
I do. 

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I would like to make some more 
progress, but the awareness is 

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the place where it starts. 
So examining how the habit of 

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being disconnected from your 
well-being and looking at 

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strategies to tune back into 
your emotions and your body will

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pay off for you way more than 
the high cost of powering 

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through. 
I just mentioned that I am going

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to be launching a social care 
business course. 

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I'm so excited because I get 
asked lots of questions about my

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exit plan. 
How did you do it? 

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Why did you do it? 
How have you started your 

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business? 
How are you still in business? 

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So I will help you to start, 
structure and showcase your 

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business offer. 
If you're thinking about exiting

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social work or it may be that 
you want to do it as a side 

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hustle. 
I started as a coach as a side 

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hustle. 
I was coaching in my lunch hours

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and after work four years before
I decided to take the leap and 

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step into full time 
entrepreneurial mode. 

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So if you want to learn how to 
do that, the link will be in the

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show notes to join the wait 
list. 

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By the time this airs, it might 
actually be out. 

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I need to think of the the time 
for that. 

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But either way, it'll either be 
a wait list or you can access 

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that course straight away. 
And by joining that course you 

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also join a thriving community 
of social care business owners 

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wanting to do the same thing. 
Networking is a massive part of 

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social care business and it's 
important that you are 

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connected. 
If you're interested in that, go

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straight to the show notes as I 
lead you straight into #3 trauma

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and its lingering effects. 
We've talked about trauma many 

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times over the past year or so, 
but this is not just workplace 

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trauma. 
This is also trauma you've 

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experienced yourself. 
Everyone has some form of trauma

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they've experienced in their 
life, and when you go into a 

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profession where workplace 
trauma, you could argue is the 

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norm because you're exposed to 
it, you've then got the primary 

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trauma and then you've got the 
vicarious secondary trauma 

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through the vulnerable 
communities you are serving. 

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When that is left unaddressed, 
it can resurface in damaging 

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ways and it can show up in your 
personal life and it can show up

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in your professional life. 
It may show up in your 

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professional life, for example, 
by procrastinating, holding 

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yourself back, not being able to
build rapport or connect with 

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your vulnerable communities in 
your personal life. 

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It can show up in many ways in 
the relationships that you have,

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the way that you communicate, 
the way that you attach or 

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detach as the case may be. 
So how trauma manifests, it's 

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important knowing that that what
the consequence could be and a 

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lot of you are working with the 
consequences of unprocessed 

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trauma. 
You'd now you understand the 

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importance of processing it and 
how investing in your personal 

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development, whether it's 
through this podcast, whether 

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it's through counselling, 
coaching, therapy, art therapy, 

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whatever it may be, whatever 
suits you. 

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But investing in your personal 
development can help you build 

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emotional resilience and support
long term mental health. 

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You're in a profession where 
trauma occurs on an everyday 

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basis. 
You have got to decide how you 

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are going to protect yourself 
and your well-being whilst you 

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are still helping others. 
So the key takeaways here is 

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recognising and addressing 
personal needs. 

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It's not selfish, it's essential
and it's essential for you as a 

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social worker to thrive. 
Overriding feelings and body 

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signals can lead to 
disconnection and burnout. 

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I've been there, it's not a 
great place to be. 

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You've got an opportunity to 
prevent it, just like we do 

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preventative measures when we 
work with our children and 

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families. 
You've got an opportunity to do 

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that for yourself. 
It's vital to listen to your 

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feelings and your body signals 
and most importantly, respond to

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them #3 we know that trauma, 
both direct and vicarious, is a 

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reality in social work, so 
processing it through personal 

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development is key to your 
healing, key to your growth, key

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to sustainability and social 
work, key to your mental health.

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I cannot stress that enough. 
Invest in coaching. 

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Book a free consultation with 
me. 

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Invest in counselling. 
If you know there's something in

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your past that's still following
you now, which you feel is a 

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wait for you. 
Invest in art therapy. 

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You have to take responsibility 
for your own well-being. 

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The employer can only do so much
and there are offers there that 

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I would encourage you to access 
and where you feel comfortable, 

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access those services in a way 
that serves you. 

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Just cherry pick what's going to
suit you, but do something. 

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You're exposed to it every day. 
Let's not normalize that. 

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Let's not normalize that. 
So I want to know, send me an 

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Instagram message at Dear Social
Worker Podcast, send me a 

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LinkedIn message, Lisa Anne 
Edwards, and send me an e-mail 

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info@socialworkcoachinghub.com. 
I want to know what stands out 

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for you from this particular 
episode. 

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And if you have any questions 
for me, I'll be more than happy 

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to answer them here on this 
podcast. 

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So thank you for listening to 
the world #1 Personal 

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Development Podcast for Social 
workers. 

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You've made yourself at home. 
You're exactly where you need to

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be. 
We've talked, we've listened, 

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we've reflected. 
Have a blessed week.