ABSTRACT
The student affairs profession, like most helping professions, can be demanding, challenging, and emotionally taxing. Richard Lazarus described stress as a condition or feeling experienced when a person perceives that 'demands exceed the personal and social resources the individual is able to mobilize'. Student affairs professionals, as helping professionals, are susceptible to burnout because of the heavy time and emotional demands, responsibilities, and uncertainties encounter by working with others. Personal wellness involves self-care, described as 'an integral part of multiple aspects of a person's life, including health and wellness which can assist a helping professional with coping with daily stressors. Corey and Corey recommend that helping professionals avoid or reduce stressors, alter stress-inducing behavior patterns, and develop coping resources. A self-care plan can strengthen people's ability to do their work in a healthy and balanced way. By engaging in self-care, student affairs professionals can assist students and the campus community as 'the ultimate obligation of a profession is to self'.
