M5: Provider Health Is Patient Health: A SELF CARE Framework for Sustainable Social Work Practice

Social workers often ask clients to build self-awareness, set boundaries, and practice self-care—while navigating chronic stress and trauma exposure themselves. This session offers a practical, conversational look at the SELF CARE framework as a shared clinical language and an ethical responsibility in social work practice. Participants will explore how provider health directly affects decision-making, boundaries, and client outcomes, and how misalignment between insight and application can contribute to burnout and codependent patterns. The framework integrates principles found across therapeutic models, helping clinicians reduce confusion while strengthening consistency in how self-care is understood, modeled, and practiced. Attendees will gain tools to recognize early signs of strain, deepen their own application of therapeutic principles, and engage in recovery-oriented work that supports sustainability—for themselves and alongside the clients they serve.