ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the personal preparation for spiritually sensitive practice. Preparation for work in the health and human service fields is important for numerous reasons. In addition, the multifaceted problems of growing numbers of clients sometimes can have an overwhelming impact on the human service system and its caregivers, and pose major challenges to problem solving. Practitioners are also vulnerable to succumbing to vicarious trauma after continually witnessing clients and others who suffer from trauma, neglect, and basic social injustices. Self-care for social workers and other human service workers is becoming more of a necessity at a time when greater attention is called for in addressing problems like greater work stress, compassion fatigue, and burnout. Leung and associates suggest an exercise called a body scan. Cox and Steiner discuss both personal and organizational strategies for promoting self-care. Many of their strategies are spiritual in nature or have spiritual implications.
