Self Care is Not Selfish

By: Emma Montgomery

In a society where self care is becoming more prominent, five aspects must come together to create a working system.

In return, mental health well-being is reliant on self-care practices.

The key components of maintaining self care or seeking clinical mental health help are accessibility, availability, accommodation, affordability and acceptability.

“I believe everything that lives, gives. So, if you give a lot, it’s really easy to over give,” Mikey Littau, executive director of the Wesley Foundation at West Texas A&M, said. “It’s really important to take care of yourself.”

Littau said he has a personal relationship with self care and practices self care through establishing sleep habits, journaling, and scheduling.

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, self care means taking time to do activities that make an individual live well, such as exercise, healthy eating, sleep, positivity and staying connected.

Littau said the ‘why’ behind self care is the principle of it, and has become self aware through emotional intelligence and establishing boundaries.

“You can’t be spiritually mature without being emotionally mature as well,” Littau said. “Understand the boundaries of where your giving ends and where you need to pull in and take care of the fundamental features of yourself so that you can be healthy.”

Littau said when recognizing the signs of mental-health issues, referring someone to counseling is important. He said recognizing cues and taking the time to check in on friends who might be struggling with their mental health is vital.

“You really just can’t compare yourself,” Littau said. “Comparison is the thief of joy.”

Littau said his experience with clinical mental health help has been positive.

“I’ve been to a lot of counseling,” Littau said, “I highly suggest it.”

Unfortunately, Littau said practicing self care is not easy for all. Burdens of accessibility, availability, accommodation, affordability and acceptability impact different populations.

According to a study titled, “Access to Care: Remembering Old Lessons,” the issue of accessibility refers to geographic location and is determined by how easily the client can physically reach a provider.

Melanie Richburg, CEO of Lynn County Healthcare System, said she is passionate about mental healthcare in rural communities, where accessibility to self-care practices is not easy for all residents.

“I believe we are all created in an image to care and love for one another,” Richburg said, “and part of that is being socially connected.”

Richburg said she defines self care as the internal support of small groups that have a common interest, such as churches and small groups focusing on agriculture.

Unfortunately, Richburg said rural communities often face lack of transportation services to access clinical mental health services.

“There is a high propensity of suicide in farmers,” Richburg said, “especially small farmers that have a huge debt.”

According to the Rural Health Information Hub, rural residents travel long distances to access services, but are less likely to be insured and or recognized for a mental illness.

The National Council for Mental Wellbeing reported 46% of Americans know someone or personally had to travel more than an hour total to seek treatment for mental well-being.

The council reported that in addition to accessibility, the availability of some services is limited.

The National Council for Mental Wellbeing reported 38% of Americans having to wait longer than one week for mental health treatments, if available.

Kaysen Queener, a senior psychology major at Texas Tech from Texico, New Mexico, said her work and educational experiences have called attention to availability issues.

“Being accepted can sometimes be a major difficulty in finding the right therapist or counselor,” Queener said.

Queener also said her professional experience has shown accommodation issues.

While working for a counselor who does not accept a wide variety of people, Queener said she has witnessed availability and accommodation issues firsthand, in addition to the issue of affordability for college students.

Queener said there are not enough resources on campus to help every student who needs to be seen, especially at a school as large as Tech.

“Students are on a waitlist,” Queener said shaking her head, “and they can’t go anywhere else because they can’t afford it.”

Brittany Todd, director of Tech’s Risk Intervention and Safety Education, said she has a positive outlook on the affordability of self care and clinical mental health services for students.

“Self care can be free,” Todd said, “and I think that there are certainly some socioeconomic factors that contribute to well-being.”

Todd said Tech offers online modules that offer help to students to improve their mental well-being for free.

Todd said seeking help through therapy in a variety of treatment modalities is an effective method at improving self care.

“Individual therapy is great, but group therapy is also great too,” Todd said.

RISE has launched a campaign entitled Beyond Okay, an initiative for students struggling with mental health and well- being.

“[Beyond Okay is] an initiative to respond to some of those requests from students, parents, faculty and staff to create additional supports for students and communicate those support programs to students more effectively,” Todd said.

Beyond Okay is helping students recognize early signs and symptoms of mental health challenges, Todd said.

The Beyond Okay website includes a guide and resource sheet including wellness promotion and prevention, counseling service levels of care, crisis and consultation services and student self-care resources. Resources to help students with funds are also available on the Beyond Okay website.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reported that affordability was the most frequent reason for not receiving mental health services at over 50%. The same source found nearly 28% of individuals reported not seeking help due to issues related to stigma.

The same source reported shame and stigma contribute to acceptability, another burden faced by those seeking self care or mental-health help.

Lee Turner, chief mission officer at Covenant Health System, said he practices self care within his professional and personal life.

“I subscribe to the idea of having good self care,” Turner said. “I realize that that’s important for me.”

While Turner said he takes walks, eats healthy, practices a positive outlook and listens to music to practice self care, he said he recognizes the stigma around seeking mental health help.

‘Pulling yourself up by the bootstraps’ is a common stigma rather than seeking clinical mental health services because of shame, Turner said.

The online source for the American Psychiatric Association identified three types of stigmas affecting individuals and loved ones. Public, self and institutional stigma deter individuals who need help practicing self care or seeking clinical services.

“I don’t know the answer to getting over shame, but we’ve got to do it as a society because we’re losing too many good people,” Turner said. “In my mind, that’s just not acceptable.”

Turner said self care and mental well-being extends to several populations, including rural residents, students and healthcare workers.

“I’ve seen ranchers, I’ve seen cotton farmers and I’ve seen peanut farmers,” Turner said. “I’ve seen a whole host of people who have become overwhelmed.”

“Five people, adults between the ages of 18 and 25, who appeared in our [emergency department] and said, ‘I’m having thoughts of suicide ideation, I’m thinking of killing myself,’” Turner said, regarding young people’s struggles.

“When we noticed one of our fellow caregivers really struggling, we developed this policy and this activity called code lavender,” Turner said in response to the mental well-being of healthcare workers. “Code lavender was a compassion code.”

According to the study titled, “Access to Care: Remembering Old Lessons,” accessibility, availability, accommodation, affordability and acceptability is a system only as strong as its weakest link.

The same study found improving affordability by offering larger acceptance of health insurance policies will not significantly improve utilization or acquiring of the other four factors if they are not addressed.

Queener, the senior psychology major at Tech from Texico, New Mexico, said self care starts with self awareness.

“I think that’s important to recognize mental illnesses or the downfalls you may have to be able to control them and to work on them,” Queener said. “People that have mental illness are struggling with a whole bunch of things.”

Queener said despite seeing faults in the system through her work experience, after becoming self aware, making the choice to seek help if needed is the next step.

Most patients do not want to seek help at first, Queener said, but find after their first visit they enjoyed the experience.

“Somebody won’t admit they want [help], but it is actually very beneficial,” Queener said. “I think when people start doing it, they can help in trying to change a stigma and help others understand it’s not tearing down your [strength] to accept help.”

Queener also said caring for the five aspects of mental well-being is important for individuals.

“There are five aspects to your mental well-being: emotional, physical, social, spiritual and intellectual,” Queener said.

Like self care, each aspect of overall well-being looks different for everyone, Queener said with a smile.

“You have to be nice to yourself, you have to give yourself a break,” Queener said. “Recognize yourself as a piece of work that still needs work done every day.”