December Professional Learning: Radical Self-Care for Helpers, Healers, and Changemakers

We love being social workers, or we wouldn't be here.  But/And we have to be honest about the challenges of stress and vicarious trauma in our profession. The focus of this workshop is to tell the truth about the work we do as social workers, the real weight of it, and how we can create space to hold it. While learning the ways our work can lead us to burnout, participants will also gain understanding of the deeply rooted practices (radical self-care) we can engage in daily to protect ourselves and our wellbeing.

Nicole Steward is a social worker (MSW, PPSC), homeless/foster youth liaison, former CASA & foster parent, certified yoga instructor, and trauma-informed sound healer with a focus on child welfare, public education, and social justice. With more than two decades of social work practice in non-profits and accountability work in K-12 education, Nicole has noticed the need for a trauma-informed lens in the worlds of social services and education to better help us understand the needs of those we serve.  Nicole also believes self-care is a radical tendency we must adopt if we are to discharge the toxic stress we absorb through our work and sustain ourselves as service providers, educators, and human beings.  In addition to her day job, Nicole teaches yoga, mindfulness, and offers trauma-informed workshops and retreats. She is currently working on a book tentatively titled: Radical Self-Care for Helpers, Healers and Changemakers, out in 2023/24.  A quote that drives her forward in her work is by Lilla Watson, “If you have come to help me, you are wasting your time.  But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.”