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Many people have gained significant insights and benefits from their therapy sessions.
However, these sessions typically occur only once a week, which makes it hard for some individuals to remember and apply their learnings. A collaborative self-care plan ensures that your therapeutic work is extended into day-to-day activities. This plan is created with guidance from a mental health professional and can be used to manage your stress and anxiety in real time.
Understand what a self-care plan is
Over one in five American adults, or around 59.3 million American adults, suffer from mental disorders. Only a percentage of this population will seek help, while a smaller portion will implement a self-care plan to proactively manage their days. Simply put, a self-care plan is a personalized and flexible document that lists down activities and mindsets to help you restore your energy. Your therapist can suggest items in this document based on your therapeutic goals, such as reducing anxiety, navigating challenging emotions and improving relationships. It transforms what you learn in therapy into an actionable plan. You pick and choose a specific strategy to alleviate stress in specific situations to improve your well- being when needed.
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Reasons to make your therapist your co-pilot
On your own, you can do simple initiatives for your mental health, such as going for a walk, writing a journal or sending a message to a loved one. These lifestyle activities significantly lift people’s moods. What a therapist can do is co-create a plan that specifically targets your needs and stressors through a professional and objective manner. They ensure that your solutions address the root causes of the situation and not just the surface-level symptoms.
For example, a common piece of mental health advice is to build a healthy sleep habit. However, this can feel vague and not really solve the issues at hand. A therapist will make general self-care advice more specific to you. For example, if you have trouble sleeping because of anxiety, you and your therapist can collaborate on making a wind-down routine to prevent a racing mind at night. If you sleep for long hours but still wake up tired, your therapist may suggest a sleep study.
Overall, the medical professionals are there to refine the process and serve as accountability partners to ensure you apply it during the week.
Steps to prepare for the conversation
Approaching psychotherapy as a partnership in which you actively participate and contribute to decision-making enhances the treatment’s effectiveness. As such, it’s important to gather as much data about yourself so you come into the session with insights you and your therapist can use.
The most important information you can contribute is your energy levels. For one week, track when you feel most drained and energized. This information helps the therapist offer valuable strategies to help you manage stressors.
Another important piece of data is how stress manifests itself. Are you exhausted after social interactions or anxious before big events? Do you find it difficult to start everyday tasks? Your therapist can suggest specific management strategies depending on the environment and context.
Additionally, list activities you find restorative or joyful. It can be anything, from sipping your morning coffee or re-watching a favorite show to a weekend-long camping excursion. No entry is irrelevant or meaningless.
5 self-care tips to bring to your therapist
Individuals with mental illness have 2 times greater risk of cardiometabolic diseases, such as heart attack, type 2 diabetes and fatty liver disease. That is why it’s important to create routines that improve your well-being before your mental health affects your physical health.
Here are some useful and practical self-care tips you can discuss in your session.
1. Practice mindful movement
Mindful movement is about calm movement that reconnects your mind with your body. Examples of these are walking in the morning, gentle stretching or dancing to a favorite song.
2. Create a wind-down sensory routine
This is the perfect solution for sleeplessness during the evening. What a wind-down routine does is signal to your brain that it’s time to rest. You can incorporate different sensory activities into the routine, such as:
- Brew a caffeine-free tea and take in its warmth and aroma.
- Dim the lights and light a warm candle, appreciating its aroma wafting in the room.
- Play calming, lyric-free music as you tidy up your space.
3. Set a small digital boundary
It’s overwhelming and intimidating to start a full digital detox, especially in this day and age. Make sure to start smaller so you can actually incorporate the boundary. An example would be not checking emails after dinner or putting your phone away once you start your bedtime routine. This allows you to carve out meaningful, uninterrupted time to take care of yourself or spend time with loved ones.
4. Schedule 30 minutes of unstructured time
In a fast-paced world, doing nothing can feel unnatural. However, it’s important to give your brain some downtime where it doesn’t need to consume, analyze or process things. You can use this time to simply lie down in bed without a phone, daydream or simply be present in the moment.
5. Reconnect with a forgotten hobby
Hobbies, such as doodling, playing an instrument and photography, can bring immense joy and satisfaction. Consider getting back into an old hobby and rediscovering its magic. You don’t need to be good at it — as long as you find it an engaging way to spend your time and reconnect with yourself outside of daily obligations.
Putting your collaborative plan into action
Building a self-care plan with your therapist can significantly improve your mental health journey and make it more proactive. It ensures you can apply the learnings from your sessions to your day-to-day life. Your therapist can act as a guide or co-creator, providing accountability and helping refine self-care activities so they address your root challenges. These efforts add up, resulting in long-lasting positive change in your everyday life.
The goal of the plan isn’t a list of actions that must be done perfectly each time. You can choose what feels most helpful in the moment and environment. For your next session, start a conversation with your therapist on how you can create intentional steps for self-care.
