ListenSelf-care has long been considered an important practice and its importance is often discussed in academic settings. In fact, self-care has been so widely adopted and accepted as necessary that the term itself feels overused and superficial. Self-care is spoken about as something YOU need to do, perhaps, even ‘over there’. This article asks the reader to explore the notion that self-care is not practicable without others, and collective care is necessary to be our truest, most holistic selves and practitioners.
In Child and Youth Care (CYC), where relational practice sits at the centre of the work, care cannot be understood as an isolated or individual act. Reflection, debriefing, connection, and collective support become essential components of ethical and sustainable practice. Rather than positioning self-care as something separate from practice, this article explores how reflection, debriefing, and practicum seminar become relational forms of care that support both practitioner well-being and ethical professional practice.
To dig deeper and further explore self-care, this article connects practicum seminars as a widely practiced form of collective care and therefore, self-care. In the field of CYC, where care is not only something we practice, but it’s in our name and who we are, we must look at the basic and most imperative ways that self-care is practiced and do everything we can to ensure its longevity and sustainability. We explore many of the ways that practicum seminar is not just a checklist or a mandatory class, but rather a space for knowing, being, doing, reflecting and ultimately an ethical responsibility to ourselves and to the vulnerable populations we serve.
History
Before debriefing was understood as a practice within CYC, the roots of this work were being explored in other helping professions. The work of Michael Balint, a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst at the Tavistock Clinic in London, focused on understanding the relationship between practitioners and those they support (Otten, 2017). Alongside this, Enid Balint, Michael’s wife, had begun group work with social workers to support reflection on their interactions with clients (Otten, 2017).
At the centre of this work was an important question: if the practitioner is responsible for caring for others, who is caring for the practitioner? This begins to shift how we think about care, not just as something we give, but something we must also engage in ourselves, as well as what might be the repercussions to ourselves and those we serve if we are not in fact engaging in care for ourselves.
Balint group work created space for practitioners to come together and reflect on their experiences in practice. This kind of space is not unfamiliar nor a foreign concept in Child and Youth Care. Practitioners would bring forward real interactions, and the group would sit with them, ask questions, and explore different perspectives to better understand both the client and themselves within the work (Otten, 2017). There is an understanding within this work that nothing replaces the process of group reflection (Otten, 2017).
Over time, this approach extended to students and emerging practitioners. In the 1960s, student groups were created to allow space for those still learning to speak openly about their experiences, their uncertainty, and the reality of stepping into a helping role (Otten, 2017). Many of the themes that emerged continue to show up today, including navigating identity within the role, confronting expectations versus reality, and the need for self-reflection in practice.
Students spoke about the complexity of being in a role that felt in between. Not yet fully practitioners, but no longer outside of the work. There was a sense of emotional closeness in their interactions, and at times, difficulty with boundaries. Expectations were not always clear, and many were aware that they still had a great deal to learn. Within this, the group created space to reflect, to share experiences, and to make sense of what they were navigating in practice (Otten, 2017). There is something here that feels familiar to CYC practice, particularly in the ways we come together to speak about our work, our uncertainty, and what we are learning in it.
This kind of space continues to matter in the work. The opportunity to pause, to speak openly about what we are holding, and to be met by others who understand the realities of the field is not separate from practice. It becomes part of how we stay present, how we make sense of our experiences, and how we continue to show up in the work in a way that is thoughtful and intentional.
What began as a space for reflection in other helping professions is something we can already recognize within CYC. Debriefing is not separate from the work; it is part of how we come to understand ourselves within it. As we begin to look more closely at our role, it becomes clear that this kind of reflection is not just helpful, it is an ethical responsibility tied directly to how we care for ourselves and others. Reflection in a meaningful and intentional way is essential.
This history reminds us that reflective spaces were never intended to be optional supports for practitioners. Rather, they emerged from an understanding that caring for others ethically requires intentional care for ourselves and one another.
Self-care as an ethical and professional responsibility
We do not often imagine self-care and ethics belonging in the same sentence, however the two go hand in hand, especially for CYCs and caring professionals. While ethics is often perceived as dry and business-focused, self-care has become an overused and, at times, diluted term that has lost some of its meaning and significance. So let us return to the basics for a moment. According to the Government of Canada (2024), “... self-care is taking intentional action to preserve and enhance your physical, mental, and emotional well-being.” A holistic approach that puts the focus on the person, ensuring they are healthy in all facets. Shifting to ethics, which navigates one’s responsibilities, beliefs about right and wrong, fairness, and who they are as a person. We are beginning to see how ethics is a responsibility to be reflective, think critically, and remain person-centred. To tie it all together and connect the two, as CYCs, it is our ethical responsibility to care for ourselves holistically to ensure the care we give to others is provided by someone who is whole and healthy. It is time to reclaim our ethical responsibility to care for ourselves as a professional duty. We need to move beyond a surface-level understanding of self-care and look deeper at the intentional action of supporting, healing, and enhancing ourselves, both personally and professionally.
Our role as CYCs is unique from other professions. We are the vessel that supports children, youth, and families. The tool we use is our character, our traits, our empathy, and the way we take theory and strategies and turn them into practice. We are trained and skilled; however, we are still human. Many of us are in this field because of lived experience or a deep sense of empathy and responsibility to others. We feel things for others; however, that does not mean we can support others in the absence of supporting ourselves. All the pieces that make us so inherently good at what we do are the same pieces that can also lead to burnout when ignored.
Think of truck drivers, for example. They must, by law and with ethical responsibility, inspect, repair, and clean their trucks as a form of care to ensure safety and the ability to properly carry out their professional tasks. CYCs also have an ethical responsibility to ensure they are holistically sound. While truck drivers have their truck as the vessel, CYCs have themselves, their mind, and their body. We are the tool that navigates through the field, supporting, listening, collaborating, and intervening. It is our ethical responsibility to maintain ourselves so as not to cause further harm. Self-care goes beyond deep breaths, which, of course, are a valuable tool. It becomes a way to maintain our most valuable tool in the field: ourselves.
While self-care still needs to encompass task-focused items such as walking, deep breathing, exercising, or watching TV, it must also exist beyond that. Let us shift and look briefly at what happens when we do not utilize self-care as CYC workers. We may become impulsive, quick to judge, short-tempered, or complacent in our decisions. We may misuse our position of power, lack empathy, and be inconsistent in our decisions. We are more likely to lose focus on the practices, interventions, and trauma-informed care that are rooted in our field. If we take a closer look at what a lack of self-care can lead to for CYCs, it becomes clear that practicing authentic, holistic self-care is an ethical responsibility to ensure we do not cause further harm to the children, youth, and families we work alongside. We lose professional consistency when we neglect self-care practices from an ethical standpoint. That alone highlights the profound importance of this concept.
Dr. Jody Carrington speaks about how we are wired for connection and how many of us have entered a place of burnout, loneliness, and disconnection. She highlights the importance of togetherness and how we were never meant to navigate life alone. (Webb, 2026). If we are wired for connection, and we work in a field built on relationships, listening, and community, then it makes sense that debriefing becomes an important part of ethical self-care practice. In Child and Youth Care, we encourage others to reach out, talk things through, and seek support when needed. We must be willing to do the same ourselves. Debriefing creates space for connection, reflection, collaboration, and support within the realities of the work.
While navigating the field, we found that simply talking about some of the situations we experienced helped continue carrying the emotional weight of the work. However, we also realized that not everyone could hold the realities of CYC work. Often, we were met with comments such as, “I don’t know how you do it.” Those friends and family were incredibly important to our overall well-being and self-care; however, connecting with other CYCs who understood the work in a deeper way supported us differently. Debriefing with CYCs became a sounding board, a place to vent, reflect, process, and sometimes just feel understood. Conversations shifted from “I don’t know how you do it” to “I’ve been there too.”
It is time to move beyond dismissing self-care as overused or superficial. It is not “just” a deep breath, “just” a walk, or “just” time with friends. These practices matter. In this field, they become part of how we sustain ourselves, remain reflective, and continue showing up ethically within the work. Self-care is not a performance or a checklist. It is part of how we stay connected to ourselves, to others, and to the profession over time.
Seminar as Relational Vastness and Pedagogy
Practicum seminar is not an add-on to field education, it is inseparable from it. Without seminar, practicum can quickly become a process of completing hours rather than developing as a practitioner. Seminar creates protected and intentional time where experience can be slowed down, reflected upon, and transformed into learning. It is where students bring placement experiences back into relationship with peers, instructors, theory, and their own developing sense of self within practice. This ongoing integration is what allows practicum to move beyond task completion and into meaningful professional growth. Seminar is what allows students to begin seeing themselves as practitioners.
Seminar follows the rhythm of knowing, being, doing, reflecting, and returning to practice, a process deeply connected to relational and reflective approaches within Child and Youth Care education (Cragg, 2020; Budd, 2019). Students arrive carrying real moments from the field, including uncertainty, discomfort, connection, tension, and growth. The seminar space creates an intentional pause where these experiences can be explored, questioned, and understood more deeply. Reflection becomes something that happens collectively through listening to peers, hearing multiple perspectives, and recognizing shared experiences within the work. Through this process, students begin to see beyond the limits of their own placement and develop a broader understanding of practice and professional identity.
The seminar space is co-created over time through relationships, trust, vulnerability, and dialogue. Students and instructors build a learning environment where it becomes possible to speak honestly about practice, ask difficult questions, and sit with uncertainty. This shared space mirrors the relational work that sits at the heart of CYC. Students are not passive learners within seminar spaces. They contribute to the learning of the group while also beginning to recognize themselves as emerging practitioners within a professional community. Although this process can feel intimidating at times, it also becomes one of the first spaces where students experience what it means to think, reflect, and grow collectively within the field.
Across the term, specifically in yearlong practicum placements, a shift occurs. Students move from speaking as classmates to speaking as practitioners. Seminar offers space to bring forward dilemmas, reflect openly about field experiences, and think critically about decisions being made in practice. Often, peers provide fresh perspectives that expand how students understand both themselves and their work. Reflective dialogue and shared processing have long been recognized as essential components of CYC practicum learning and professional development (Cragg, 2020; Budd, 2019). These conversations become part of learning how to advocate, question systems, raise curiosity, and sit with the complexity that exists within CYC practice.
Mandatory and protected seminar time is pedagogy. Without it, practicum risks becoming exposure without integration. Seminar ensures that students are not only present in the field but are supported as they learn how to make meaning of their experiences. There is truly a magical opportunity in seminar where students reflect ethically and sustain themselves within relational practice.
Identity Formation
Professional identity in CYC develops through experience, ongoing reflection, and relationship over time. Practicum seminar is often one of the first places where this process becomes visible. Students frequently begin practicum with an idea of who they hope to be within the field; however, real moments in practice quickly challenge, deepen, and complicate those expectations. Seminar creates space to slow these experiences down and reflect on them collectively. Through dialogue, debriefing, and shared reflection, students begin connecting theory to practice while also beginning to understand themselves within the work (Cragg, 2020; Budd, 2019).
Self-care is often framed as something personal that happens outside of practicum or work. Faculty, supervisors, and peers may remind students to “make sure you are doing your self-care,” as though it exists as an individual and separate activity. Within practicum seminar, however, students begin to experience self-care differently. They begin to understand it as part of professional responsibility and collective care. Students bring forward difficult moments from placement and hear similar experiences reflected by peers. Debriefing becomes normalized as part of practice rather than something reserved only for crisis or burnout. Seminar becomes one of the first spaces where students experience self-care not as isolation, but as connection.
Students also begin noticing how instructors respond when conversations become difficult, emotional, or uncertain. Modelling matters. Instructors who engage reflectively, sit with uncertainty, and remain open to dialogue demonstrate that reflection is not only something we do when things go wrong. Rather, ongoing reflection and debriefing can support stronger decision-making, relational practice, and ethical care before situations escalate. Students begin to understand that uncertainty is not failure within CYC practice, but rather part of relational and reflective work. We are sure that many readers will be familiar with the notion that in CYC work you must get comfortable with feeling uncomfortable.
Conversations about self-care can often become focused on individual strategies or surface-level wellness practices. While these forms of care still matter, Child and Youth Care is fundamentally relational, and the ways practitioners sustain themselves must also include connection, dialogue, and community. Seminar introduces students to the idea of shared responsibility for well-being within professional spaces. Seminar becomes a place where we gather weekly and discomfort along with vulnerability can be spoken out loud. Trust and confidentiality become essential to this process and are often established early through community agreements that shape how the group intends to show up for one another. Students begin to understand that what they are carrying is not something they must navigate alone, but something that can be processed through relational learning within a professional community (Cragg, 2020; Budd, 2019).
Early practicum experiences often shape how students approach reflection and debriefing throughout their careers. Seminar introduces the practice of bringing forward dilemmas, exploring multiple perspectives, and learning to sit with complexity rather than rushing toward immediate answers. Whether through group discussion or later within professional supervision, CYC practitioners are continually required to think critically and reflect within relationship. Seminar creates a safer environment where students can begin developing these skills before entering the field more fully. In many ways, seminar becomes one of the first places where students experience collective care as an essential part of ethical self-care practice. Through this process, reflection becomes not only something students do, but part of how they begin understanding themselves as practitioners.
Throwing Out the Script: Rewriting Self-Care in Child and Youth Care
Navigating the field of CYC is an evolutionary process, both professionally and personally. Those two realms need to connect, as our personal lives and the forms of care we embrace for ourselves influence our ability to perform professionally and ethically at work. We must be self-aware individuals, taking pause and self-assessment daily, keeping note of how we are coping, feeling as we do with those we work with.
Our purpose in this line of work is to care. Care in itself is in the name of our entire field. We observe, reflect, plan, teach and program skills and strategies to support and help those we wrap around. We encourage community building and connection; however, what about us as professionals? If we see the profound importance of connection, discussion, and care, for our young people and their families, then we can no longer perpetuate the narrative that self-care is “fluffy”, not important, or that simply taking a deep breath when we can see that it is not only an ethical duty but also a humanistic need.
Over the years, as the field has shifted, so do one’s self-care strategies. However, the one piece that stays consistent is the need for discussion and connection. Not always to seek feedback or advice, but as a form of release from the emotional toll of carrying what we hear or see each day.
It is not up to anyone other than you to decide and embrace the forms of safe self-care that work for you. We have often heard “I take deep breaths …” or “I went for a walk”; however, our practicum students and working CYCs are still burning out and struggling to cope. It is time to throw out the script that self-care is an overused concept and reframe it to encompass debrief, connected care and our ethical responsibility to support our longevity in the field.
To do this, the self-care strategies you embrace must be relevant and practical to YOU. This takes trial and error, and we must let our self-care strategies evolve over time, as we will as practitioners.
While we navigate our work, critically examining those we support to ensure the best form of intervention, we also must do the same for ourselves. So, now it is your turn. Throw out the textbook definition of self-care and the critical narrative. Throw out the performative nature of what self-care has become and embrace it as competency; your lifeline to keeping you whole and healthy in your career.
Begin creating YOUR self-care and reflecting on what truly benefits you. Care is in our name. It is more than what we do; it’s who we are … As we move through this work, showing care for others, connecting on others’ behalf, let’s ensure we can continue to do that in a purposeful, effective and compassionate way for many years to come.
Returning to Ourselves: What Does Self-Care Truly Mean to You?
Navigating the field of CYC is an ongoing evolutionary process, both professionally and personally. These two realms cannot be separated. The ways we care for ourselves directly influence how we show up within our work, our relationships, and our ability to ethically support children, youth, and families. As practitioners, we are continually asked to remain reflective and self-aware, paying attention to how we are coping, responding, and carrying the emotional realities of the work alongside those we support.
Care sits at the centre of this profession. It is embedded not only in what we do, but in who we are. As CYC practitioners, we observe, reflect, advocate, teach, intervene, and build relationships rooted in connection and community. Yet, despite working within a field that emphasizes relational care, many practitioners continue to treat self-care as optional, superficial, or secondary to the work itself. We encourage young people and families to seek support, lean into relationships, and process difficult experiences with others. We must also be willing to extend that same care toward ourselves.
Over time, self-care has become reduced to checklists, trends, or performative acts of wellness. While practices such as walking, resting, exercising, connecting with others, or taking a deep breath still hold value and are deeply individual, self-care within CYC must move beyond these strategies alone. Sustainable self-care requires reflection, honesty, debriefing, connection, and community. It asks practitioners to remain aware of when they are overwhelmed, disconnected, emotionally exhausted, or carrying more than they can hold alone.
One of the pieces that continues to remain consistent throughout this work is the need for connection and discussion. Not always for solutions or advice, but simply for space to process, reflect, and release some of the emotional weight that can accompany this profession. We were never meant to hold this work entirely on our own. Debriefing, relational reflection, and collective care are not weaknesses within practice; they are part of how practitioners sustain themselves ethically and relationally over time.
There is no single formula for self-care within CYC. What feels restorative, grounded, and supportive for one practitioner may not feel the same for another. Self-care must remain personal, adaptable, and responsive to the realities of both the practitioner and the work. As we evolve throughout our careers, our forms of care will also evolve. What matters is our willingness to remain connected to ourselves, to others, and to the reflective practices that allow us to continue doing this work with intention and integrity.
We cannot preach the importance of care while removing ourselves from the narrative. If we truly believe in the value of connection, relational practice, and community for the children, youth, and families we support, then we must also create space for those same practices within our professional lives. Self-care is not simply a personal responsibility; within CYC, it becomes an ethical and relational commitment to sustaining ourselves within the work.
Care is in our name. It is more than what we do; it is part of who we are. As we continue showing up for others, building relationships, and carrying stories alongside children, youth, and families, we must also ensure we are caring for ourselves, and each other in ways that are intentional, sustainable, and human.
Returning to Ourselves: What Does Self-Care Truly Mean to You?
References
Budd, D. (2019). Reflective practice in child and youth care: A manual. Kendall Hunt.
Cragg, C. (2020). Child and youth care in the field: A practicum guidebook. Canadian Scholars.
Otten, H. (2017). The theory and practice of Balint group work: Analyzing professional relationships. Routledge.
Webb, D. (2026, February 5). An interview with Dr. Jody Carrington on trauma, connection, and feeling seen. All About Psychology.
