342: Micro Self-Care For Helping Professionals with Ashley Davis Bush

Welcome back to Therapy Chat! This week, host Laura Reagan, LCSW-C revisits an episode from 2016 on a very important subject - self care for helping professionals! Ashley Davis Bush, LICSW is a psychotherapist in private practice in southern New Hampshire with over 30 years’ experience. 

Ashley has written several self-help books, including Transcending Loss and Simple Self-Care for Therapists. She is a regular contributor to the Huffington Post and has some great tips to share with us today about improving our relationships to self-care. Join us!

What you’ll hear in this episode:

• Ashley loves her work and counts it a privilege to be part of peoples’ lives. Her private practice is in her home, and it’s “a fun job, watching life unfold in front of you.”
• Even the simple choice of working from home can be a self-care choice.
• Ashley’s work focuses on grief, couples, and anxiety, but self-care is a common thread that is woven into her work with all clients.
• Ashley says that much of her practice patterns itself after her books.
• Her most recent book introduces the idea of “micro self-care.”
• “Macro self-care”practices are the big things that we normally think of regarding self-care, but micro practices are short, simple things that can be done in 1-2 minutes.
• Ashley focuses on self-care to avoid burnout, which she categorizes as “little b” and “BIG B” types of burnout.
• • “little b” burnout is when you are exhausted at the end of the day or week. You may need a good night’s rest or a few days off to regenerate and recover.
  • “BIG B” burnout is when you need to leave the field because you can’t take it anymore.
• Ashley addresses “vicarious trauma,” in that ALL therapists do some sort of trauma work.
• Personal and professional experience can cloud the lens with which we see the world, but life’s pains are a constant trauma.
• Ashley explains self-care vs. self-violence: when you don’t take care of yourself, then you’re doing harm (violence) to yourself.
• Mindfulness leads to grounding, bringing us into this moment right now.
• Ashley shares her Tibetan bell practice to help bring clients into mindfulness.
• She recommends using micro self-care practices at the beginning, middle, and end of your day.
• Ashley’s book lists 40-50 suggestions as to how to scale down macro self-care practices into small micro practices.
• Making the transformation from macro to micro self-care practices requires thinking creatively, but shouldn’t be overwhelming.
• Neuroplasticity is the science that show the brain can change in response to repetitive behaviors. You can rewire your brain to be more peaceful!
• When your brain is rewired, then your default setting comes to a place of gratitude and feeling good.
• Ashley’s three takeaways:
• • Have a basic plan for 3 micro self-care practices each day.
  • Sleep 8-9 hours each night so you aren’t tired during the day.
  • Prioritize self-care, and you’ll soon realize that you can’t live without it!
  • Be aware of the seasons of life, but regardless of the season, you can fit in micro self-care every da
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  • Find Ashley at www.ashleydavisbush.com.