Tool: Self Care Maintenance Plan
A ‘Self Care Maintenance Plan’ refers to the activities that you have identified as
important to your well-being and that you have committed to engage in on a regular
basis to take care of yourself. There is no “one-size-fits-all” self-care plan, but there
are some general principles that will help you manage your self-care:
1. Take care of your physical health
2. Manage your stress and reduce it where possible
3. Honour your emotional and spiritual needs
4. Nurture your relationships
5. Find balance in your personal and work life
There are some straightforward steps to guide us in this
process.
now
1. How do you cope now? Identify what you do
to manage stress in your life
and assess if they are working for you.
2. What would you like to do? Complete the Self-Care Assessment Tool. What
ideas did you get from the tool…what would you like to add to your routine?
3. Outlining your plan. Use the Self-Care Maintenance Plan Worksheet to
complete what you currently do, and a preferred alternative across each domain.
4. Obstacles to implementation. Once you have identified these practices, it is
useful to identify possible barriers or obstacles that could get in the way of
implementing and/or maintaining them.
5. Make a commitment to yourself. Preparing a plan is important; it identifies your
goals and the strategies to achieve them. However your success in implementing
your plan is ultimately based on the level of genuine commitment you make to your
own self-care.
6. Share your intentions. Once you have developed your plan and made your
share it with others.
commitment,
7. Follow your plan. Once you have completed the assessment and worksheet you
will have identified the core elements of your personal Self-Care Maintenance
Plan. The final step is to implement your plan and keep track of how you are doing.
(Adapted from: Lisa D. Butler, PhD, based in part on materials provided by Sandra A. Lopez, LCSW, ACSW,
University of Houston, Graduate School of Social Work)