How Mental Health Professionals Manage Their Own Stress

Have you ever wondered how Mental Health Professionals manage their own stress personally? Well, Brain & Body Integration’s President and Clinical Psychologist, Dr. Ryan Cole, answers this question for us! We know expert psychologists, like Ryan, devote their professional lives to helping their clients manage stress on a daily basis, but what about the stress they hold individually, especially during a pandemic. They are still human too and not immune to life’s stressors, so is it true that mental health professionals sometimes need help too? Dr. Cole divulges his how he personally relieves or manages his own stress below:

How do Mental Health Professionals Manage Stress?

“I love this question because most people believe that psychologists naturally have better mental health than the average person because of our training in psychology.  In my experience, mental health professionals experience stress, anxiety, depression, and other issues with mental health at the same rate as the non-psychologist population.  Although we are trained to facilitate therapeutic experiences for other people, we still struggle to cope with day to day issues like everyone else! I think different mental health professionals’ practice different forms of self-care, but I like to include at least one activity per day in the following areas: physical, emotional, and relational.  Physically, I am a big fan of exercise and strength training given the vast amount of literature that links exercise to improved mental health.  Emotionally, I practice meditation and mindfulness at least 20 minutes each day.  Relationally, I try to spend at least one hour of quality time per day with my son and/or my wife.  Trying to include each of these three areas of self-cares has been essential to improving and maintaining my mental health as a person, psychologist, and survivor of 2020.”

It’s safe to say that Professional Mental Health experts do still personally feel internal stress from their everyday lives as well, so learning how they manage everything is quite helpful. You’re not alone, so don’t ever be embarrassed or ashamed to ask for help. Give Dr. Cole and his Colorado Springs and Denver staff a call today to get the most effective evaluation possible. It’s always a good time to get the answers you’ve been looking for, so contact our team today. Let’s start 2021 off on a positive note!

About Ryan Cole