You Are Worth Taking Care Of: Mental Health for Service Workers

There is a familiar internal struggle for many in helping professions: the guilt that comes with stepping away, even briefly, when clients seem to need them so completely. It can feel nearly impossible to justify taking a break or turning off your phone.

At a recent community meeting focused on the mental wellness of professionals in service roles, panelists Nick Keeter of The Forging Place and Nathan Otton of Olive Branch Counseling shared critical insights about the emotional toll of helping others—and how professionals can better care for themselves.

"You are worth taking care of," Otton assures the service professionals present at the meeting.

Otton pointed out a common phenomenon he has observed among his peers: many avoid taking their vacation time. "They are helpers and they have a heart for helping other people,” said Otton. “But if you aren’t taking care of yourself, you're not taking care of anyone else either."

“We have to trust in their self-efficacy" Keeter adds, "their ability to solve their own problems. When you answer their question, they trust you more, but they believe in themselves less.”

Instead of solving every issue for them in the moment, Keeter encourages professionals to gently return the responsibility to the client: “Let them know—if you haven’t figured it out by tomorrow morning, I’ll be back at work and ready to help. But for now, I believe you can handle this.”

This approach not only creates space for the professional to rest, but it also builds the client’s confidence in their own ability to navigate challenges.

Keeter also helped attendees distinguish between two common, often overlapping issues: burnout and secondary trauma.

“Most of the things that cause burnout are within our control. Most of the things that cause vicarious trauma are outside of our control.”

When emotional exhaustion lingers beyond physical fatigue, it may signal something deeper that burnout. Otton noted, “It is more specific to what I may have just heard instead of just tired in general.”

While the root causes may differ, the symptoms of burnout and secondary trauma often present themselves similarly. Both Keeter and Otton described signs such as disrupted sleep, poor focus, diminished task completion, and loss of enjoyment in life.

“Anecdotally, what I have noticed is that the early signs are trouble sleeping, diminished sex drive, and poor attention to detail and task completion,” said Keeter. “Those early signs often get overlooked.” Otton added that burnout can also cause professionals to become emotionally detached.

Both speakers underscored the necessity of intentional rest and learning what self-care really looks like. One way to prevent long-term emotional impact is timely processing. Keeter emphasized, “The sooner we can process it, the less it is able to take deep roots in your brain." He adds that research shows to do it before you go to sleep. He informs community members that in the sleep cycle, those things become more permanent in our brains.

He also stressed the importance of workload management: “There are various levels of trauma, and I try to make sure that daily, I don’t have two very stressful high-trauma sessions back to back.”

Otton agreed that maintaining balance is essential. For those with less flexibility in their schedules, he recommended learning to ground themselves yourself. One way to do that is to assess you senses, things you hear, things you see, and so forth in order to "hit the reset button."

He also emphasized the power of self-talk as a grounding technique. “Give yourself a pep talk in between each one,” he said, referring to challenging sessions or interactions. Speaking affirming truths to yourself can help reset your mindset and regulate your nervous system throughout the day.

Self-care often gets reduced to surface-level ideas, but both panelists offered more functional definitions and examples.

“We think of self-care as pampering... but it is really the things that promote life in you,” Keeter said. “Even if it is going out and standing in the yard barefoot and soaking in the sun.”

Simple routines like turning off devices and prioritizing sleep can make a profound difference.

“Mental and emotional health problems are made significantly worse by sleep deprivation,” Keeter reminded.

Keeter emphasized that self-care should be both personalized and practical. He pointed out that while professionals are frequently told to practice self-care, they are rarely taught how to do it or how to identify what actually works for them. Self-care isn’t one-size-fits-all, he noted—it varies from person to person and can evolve over time. There needs to be a stronger focus on helping individuals understand and apply self-care in ways that are meaningful and sustainable for their specific needs.

Keeter shared a personal experience that left a lasting impact. He recalled a case where a man murdered his wife, leaving six children who needed immediate care. No one had a vehicle that could transport the kids short notice after hours so Keeter volunteered to transport the kids in a van to a doctor for the medical eval and then to the emergency children's shelter.

"That stayed with me—that one four-hour experience—for weeks," he confessed. “Trauma hijacks emotional regulation that can impair you for a long while.” That memory, he said, strengthens his empathy for the clients he now serves.

Keeter speaks specifically to the importance of the 100 Families Initiative because it uses technology and existing resources to create a community wide care team that can serve someone holistically. "We can talk about our little slice of the pie," he notes, "but most of you guys are dealing with things that are not going to be in my purview."

This community meeting highlighted a powerful truth: supporting others means first supporting ourselves. Mental wellness is not a luxury—it’s essential for professionals on the front lines of crisis, healing, and care. Through practical tools, self-awareness, and emotional regulation, those who serve can stay strong enough to continue walking alongside the people who need them most.