How not to burn out as a child psychologist Quite often I have to observe how child psychologists burn out and become disillusioned with their profession. Work no longer brings them pleasure, they have no energy for consultations and communication, and in general it all begins to seem meaningless... We are all living people, with our own emotions and experiences, and the psychologist most of all faces the various emotional manifestations of his clients, and they are not always joyful. To be effective and sustainable, a psychologist needs to create comfortable working conditions for himself and be sure to take care of his mental health. This includes: Therapeutic agreement with parents. The more competently you conclude an agreement with the child’s parents, the greater the chance that all conditions in the work will be met. This is an important stage in the work of all parties, because both parents and the psychologist will understand their areas of responsibility and capabilities. The therapeutic agreement regulates the work of the psychologist and consultant and protects against unnecessary stress and burnout. Personal therapy. How often do you undergo personal therapy? Working with adults, the specialist responds to the client’s feelings, they touch him and raise his personal experiences. Then the specialist goes to personal therapy to work through them. For some reason, child psychologists are in no hurry to visit a personal therapist, downplaying the importance of this process. When working with children, a psychologist and consultant becomes no less, if not more, involved in the child’s feelings and experiences. And this is normal, feelings help us to be alive, but only if it does not go beyond the bounds of reason. A psychologist may develop hatred or aggression towards the child’s parents if he mentions some terrible and traumatic things. Then pity and a desire to console and save the child from such parents may arise. And if a psychologist has a busy schedule, these feelings accumulate and flood him, this is reflected in the psychologist’s well-being and his life outside of work. If you catch yourself thinking that after the session you not only continue to think about your little client, but worry and cannot switch to another job - this is a signal that personal therapy or supervision is needed. Of course, there is a time when you need to analyze the meeting and record important points. But this definitely shouldn’t occupy all your thoughts and go with you into your personal life. Take care of yourself and find a personal therapist or supervision group where you can discuss your concerns with clients. This format will provide you with support and help you not lose strength. Such emotional flooding and immersion in the client’s feelings harms your professionalism. If these feelings are not processed, then you will lose your instincts, the effectiveness of meetings will decline, and work will no longer be enjoyable. Advanced training. Psychology requires constant study together with practice. I see how some of my colleagues study endlessly and are in no hurry to implement the acquired skills in their work. And also those who do not update their knowledge in any way and do not improve their competence. I am a big believer in choosing training and courses based on who you are working with at the moment. There is no point in studying ahead of time and thinking that it will come in handy someday. Choose something that you can implement immediately. It makes no sense to buy webinars and courses that will come in handy someday later. As a rule, you forget to watch them, and if you watch them after a while, you no longer understand what the speaker is talking about, because the context is lost. You are not a rescuer, but a specialist who can provide assistance. This is very important for a child psychologist to understand. It is important to define your work hours and set boundaries with your clients. Remember that you are providing professional support at set times. Continuing to consult parents on the phone in the evenings or outside of set times is not helping them. You are violating the therapeutic contract. Parents have the illusion that things are getting easier and the problem is being solved. But this is far from true. This will certainly reduce