WELLNESS PLAN 1
Wellness Plan
Charity Morton
School of Behavioral Sciences, Liberty University
Wellness Plan
As a counselor in training, self-care is essential to ensure that I remain ethical and
practice effectively. Excessive amounts of unaddressed stress can lead to burnout, vicarious
trauma, and compassion fatigue (Brooks, 2017). Counselors engage in self-care practices to
ensure their emotional, physical, mental, and spiritual health is taken care of so they can
operate as effective counselors (American Counseling Association [ACA], 2014, Section C.2.g).
This paper examines the categories of self-care, including mental, physical, emotional, social,
and spiritual, and identifies goals to enhance self-care in each of these dimensions.
WELLNESS PLAN 2
Wellness Assessments
As a future counselor, I must engage in self-care to ensure that I can be the best possible
counselor for my clients. By identifying strengths and weaknesses in self-care, I can identify
areas of improvement. Utilizing the self-care wheel and self-care assessment, I was able to
identify my strengths and weaknesses across the following five domains: physical, psychological,
social, spiritual, and professional, and formulate a personalized treatment plan.
Physical
With the self-care assessment, focusing on physical self-care, I identified taking care of
personal hygiene and eating healthy foods as my top priorities. The other areas, such as
exercise, eating regularly, engaging in fun activities, and getting enough sleep, were ranked the
lowest, with a score of one, indicating that I need to improve in these areas to enhance my
overall functioning. Exercising and wearing clothes that make me feel good were scored with a
two. With this scoring, it is evident that I need to work on engaging in physical self-care and
improve in the areas of eating regularly, getting enough sleep, and resting when sick. This area
came as no surprise to me, as I work 80 hours a week between two jobs and schoolwork, and I
must improve my physical self-care now before it is too late and I experience burnout.
Psychological
Psychological and emotional care has been an area I have been focusing on regarding
self-care in recent weeks, so I was pleasantly surprised that my scores were higher; however,
there is always room for improvement. In this area, I ranked finding reasons to laugh, discussing
my problems, and doing comforting things as higher than the other areas. The areas I ranked
lower in all include having some extra time, such as participating in hobbies, learning new
things, and going on vacations. These are areas I have been working on to improve by managing
my time more effectively, allowing me to engage in enjoyable activities outside of work and
homework. I am proud that I have been able to increase my self-care in this area over the past
couple of weeks; however, I know there is still room for improvement.
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Social
As an introvert, I often say that I do not need to be out all the time and spend excessive
time with others. While that is true, I find it refreshing to spend time with friends I am closer to
and strengthen my connection with individuals in my life who pour into me, and I can pour into
them. This is an area where I surprisingly scored high. This is a section where all the rankings
were either two or three, such as having stimulating conversations, engaging in enjoyable
activities, spending time with my partner, and spending time with people I like. When I engage
with people I enjoy being around, I am not as exhausted after the social activity. I had never
considered social self-care, so this was a new area for me that I am excited to continue
developing. Instead of continuing to label myself as an introvert and avoiding social situations, I
recognize that this is an area where I can continue to grow as part of my self-care.
Spiritual
Spiritual self-care is an area that I was not surprised was ranked lower, as I have noticed
this is an aspect of self-care that I overlook. While I pray, read my Bible, and attend church, I
have come to realize that there are other aspects of spiritual self-care that I had not previously
considered, which have altered my view of spiritual self-care. These include setting aside time
for thought and reflection, participating in a cause that is important to me, and taking nature
walks. Knowing that spiritual self-care is more than attending church, praying, and reading the
Bible, I am excited to explore this dimension of self-care further and engage in spiritual self-care
in ways such as spending time in nature, appreciating art, and taking time to reflect.
Professional
Professional self-care is a category that I expected to score high in, given that I spend a
significant portion of my week working instead of having rest time. I am constantly trying to
improve my skills, learn new things, build relationships, and achieve professional success.
However, I noticed that in this category, I scored lower on aspects of professional self-care
related to rest, such as saying no to new responsibilities, taking breaks, and managing a balance
WELLNESS PLAN 4
between my professional and personal life. Examining this pattern highlights the importance of
rest, both professionally and personally. While I may be successful in improving my skills and
learning new things, maintaining a balance between my professional and personal life is
imperative, and it is an area I need to work on.
Personal Reflection
Before starting this course, I struggled with creating treatment plans, and my internship
supervisor wanted me to strengthen my ability to develop them. Although I was nervous about
this aspect of the course, I was excited about the opportunity to improve an area where I was
weak. Because of this course and the numerous times I had the opportunity to practice creating
treatment plans and setting goals, I believe I strengthened this skill. Additionally, I wanted to get
better at responding to crises, especially suicidal individuals, and I was grateful I took this course
to learn about that, so I can incorporate it at my job as a substance use counselor. Learning
about crises will be very useful as I continue to develop my skills as a counselor.
An aspect that I did not expect to learn about in this course is self-care; however, it was
an aspect I needed a reminder of. Learning to care for myself and engage in self-care, not just in
crisis counseling but throughout my entire counseling career, was a valuable reminder that I
needed. Even as a student, self-care is essential to ensure I am functioning properly. Self-care in
the counseling profession is essential, and it can be easy to advise clients to prioritize their
wellbeing without practicing it oneself. Looking at the self-care wheel, I discovered aspects of
selfcare that I had not previously considered, including turning off electronics, asking for help,
laughing, dancing, cooking, and even taking a lunch break during the workday. I learned about
self-care during my time in the master's program; however, I did not realize its importance until I
recently recognized that my work schedule and tendency to work constantly were
unsustainable. This was an important reminder I needed for this point in my life and for the rest
of my life. I need to practice mindfulness, slow down, and appreciate the present moment,
especially in everyday tasks such as cooking or taking a lunch break. Everyday tasks can be
WELLNESS PLAN 5
considered selfcare, especially if I change my attitude towards the activity to a more positive
one.
An area I struggled with in this course is grief and loss, and it is an area I want to improve
in and learn to help future clients as they process grief and know the best interventions to
utilize. I have some clients at my internship site who struggle with grief, and at times, I feel like
there is nothing I can do to help. Still, this course aided in providing me with more information
on how to counsel individuals struggling with grief. I am excited to gain more knowledge on how
to better assist these individuals.
Treatment Plan
Problem 1 (mental): I struggle with taking breaks and taking vacation time (Brooks, 2017; Young
et al., 1998).
Goal 1: I will increase my ability to take breaks and rest by scheduling at least one
nonwork-related activity break each week for the next seven weeks, as evidenced by
journal entries documenting my rest periods.
Objective 1: I will schedule one restful activity, such as reading, walking, or crafts,
to engage in for at least one hour per week and record it in a journal to track my
progress.
Intervention: I will utilize my calendar to schedule a one-hour block of
time each week to engage in this non-work-related activity and ensure
my devices are on silent to ensure I am resting and not working.
Problem 2 (physical): I am experiencing difficulties eating regularly.
Goal 1: I will improve my eating schedule by eating at least three meals a day, at least
five days a week, for the next six weeks, as evidenced by a journal log tracking how
many meals I had that day.
WELLNESS PLAN 6
Objective 1: I will prepare breakfast, lunch, and dinner ahead of time to make it
easier to eat food throughout the week, as well as set reminders on my phone to
take a break and eat each meal.
Intervention 1: I will plan my meals at the beginning of the week with my
journal and shop for necessary groceries to aid in the food preparation
process.
Problem 3 (emotional): I struggle to manage feelings of stress when overwhelmed.
Goal 1: I will reduce feelings of stress by practicing stress-lowering interventions at least
four times a week, as evidenced by journal tracking of frequency and use of
interventions.
Objective 1: I will practice deep breathing and progressive muscle relaxation at
least four times a week and track it in my journal.
Intervention 1: I will utilize guided relaxation videos or apps such as Calm
or Headspace to practice deep breathing and engage in muscle relaxation
exercises.
Problem 4 (social): I struggle to spend intentional time with my close friends.
Goal 1: I will increase my social activities by engaging in at least one planned social event
per week with a friend for the next six weeks, evidenced by reflections of the interaction
recorded in a journal.
Objective 1: I will schedule and attend my planned weekly social activity, such as
coffee, shopping, or a book club with a friend, and assess its impact on my
mood.
Intervention 1: I will identify my supportive friends and family whom I
can reach out to each Sunday to plan a social event for the week.
Problem 5 (spiritual): I have not consistently engaged in spiritual practices.
Goal 1: I will strengthen my spiritual health by practicing two spiritual activities, such as
prayer, meditation, nature walks, appreciating art, and spending time reflecting, at least
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four times a week, for the next six weeks, as evidenced by recording these activities in a
journal each week.
Objective 1: I will plan to have four 20-minute blocks of time each week for me
to engage in spiritual activities and journal my reflection of the activity.
Intervention 1: I will utilize my Bible app to aid with spiritual reflection,
identify a Scripture to focus on for the week, and identify trails or
pathways for me to walk on.
WELLNESS PLAN 8
References
American Counseling Association. (2014). 2014 ACA code of ethics.
https://www.counseling.org/docs/default-source/default-document-library/ethics/
2014aca-code-of-ethics.pdf
Brooks, J. (2017). Crisis intervention: The neurobiology of crisis. Createspace Independent
Publishing Platform.
Young, B. H., Ford, J. D., Ruzek, J. I., Friedman, M. J., & Gusman, F. D. (1998). Disaster mental
health services: A guidebook for clinicians and administrators. The National Center for
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Education and Clinical Laboratory.
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