Prioritising Self-Care: A Framework for Career Development Specialists

06/03/2025

Katherine Foster, the founder of Blu Ripples (formerly HR Aspects), is a nationally registered career development specialist (CDAA), counsellor (ACA), and published self-care Author.  Her Self-Care Awareness, Action and Planning Workbook and Card Set received a peer review, published recently in the Australian Counselling Magazine, Digital Edition 1.3. With over 20 years in private practice, Katherine has provided personal, workplace and career counselling services to individuals and organisations. 

An extensive amount of literature exists globally on self-care, covering definitions, practices, benefits and specific information related to various life cycle stages, as well as different industries and professions. However, upon conducting a brief review of academic literature, I found there is a scarcity of literature focusing on self-care for career development practitioners, career development clients, and self-care frameworks within the context of career development.

As career development specialists, we are in a unique and honoured position to help, guide, support, advocate and empower clients from diverse backgrounds through periods of change, growth, development and transition. As a career development specialist and counsellor, I commonly hear client narratives that may include singular or multiple incidents such as trauma, intergenerational trauma, abuse, bullying, conflict, co-existing conditions, pressure to follow in familial occupations, disruptive shifts,  workplace, familial or intimate partner violence or discord. Clients often express feelings of anxiety, depression, stress, inadequacy, failure, burnout and more.  

Listening to our clients narratives coupled with our own personal and professional experiences and thoughts, feelings and emotions, can significantly impact our workload, wellbeing and in turn create a highly challenging environment. This may lead to trigger activation, vicarious trauma, stress, emotional exhaustion and burnout, particularly if we do not prioritise and practice our own self-care and professional supervision.

Therefore I argue that there is a strong need for self-care informed practices to facilitate and serve our client base and to maintain our own optimal mental and emotional health as career development specialists. To fulfil this need, I have developed a Self-Care Workbook and Card Set that explore three key components - Awareness, Action and Planning. These principles can be applied in both a personal and professional context and are explained in the summarised framework below.

Summary of my Self-Care Awareness, Action and Planning Framework

The first component is prioritising our own self-care, which starts with Awareness. That is becoming consciously aware that one or more elements of our life are out of alignment and possibly causing our heightened stress, feelings of overwhelm or crisis.  Secondly, becoming consciously aware of what self-care strategies work and do not work for us at any given point in time.

The second component is taking Action Steps. The first action step I recommend is establishing baselines. Within this stage, experiment with self-care activities, particularly new strategies that you have not tried before. For as we grow and evolve over time so do our interests.

It is important to have an array of self-care strategies up our sleeve because there may come a time when a particular strategy does not work or that it is not as effective as it normally is or once was. By trying out new self-care strategies, you equip yourself with multiple options to turn to when you are feeling stressed, anxious, depressed, burnt out or a myriad of other emotions. 

The final aspect of this section involves the assessment of feelings before and after each strategy's implementation. To evaluate effectiveness, use a sliding scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being the best and 10 being the worst. Additionally, you can journal your thoughts, feelings and emotions before, during and after each strategy. This provides you with a valuable baseline and reference information from which action strategies can be implemented, including self-care plans and toolkits to facilitate in the regulation of emotions, cognitions, and behaviours during periods of stress, crisis and overwhelm.

The third component is the Planning Stage. This stage involves drawing your attention to the accumulation, review, documentation and implementation of outcomes into a tailored self-care plan and self-care toolkit based on your learnings throughout the process. The benefit of your personalised toolkit is that it is a ready-to-go resource filled with effective strategies that have previously worked for you. Thus, minimising additional tension and frustration of sourcing resources during periods of stress, crisis and overwhelm. 

Additionally, the self-care plan provides a visible and easy to access plan of action that you can blu tack it to your wall or save in your mobile phone, serving as a quick go-to reference when other self-care resources may not be readily available for example in the middle of the night.

So Why Prioritise Self-Care?

As career development specialists, we are entrusted to help, guide, support, advocate and empower our clients and as such it is imperative that we take accountability and nurture our own mental and emotional well-being to be as effective and productive as possible. By following a framework like I've developed, you can create a foundation of meaningful self-care resources for yourself and your clients that you can access now and in the future.   

For clients, the framework can help them identify and implement meaningful self-care strategies that are tailored to their unique needs and circumstances. This method enhances their well-being and resilience, supports their career life cycle stages, including career exploration and decision-making, career development, career management, career transition and retirement planning.

Finally, as stated in a blog post I wrote, The Importance of Self-Care in Your Career and Life, "self-care promotes self-nurturing, empowerment, self-efficacy, and resilience through cognitive, physical, psychological, and non-material aspects". These elements, in turn, build confidence and resilience, helping you and your clients transition through life's challenges -  be it personal or professional, thereby ultimately reducing the emotional lows and fostering a quicker return to emotional equilibrium.