Self-Care and Stress Management Toolkit

Abstract The focus of Chapter 5 is to develop the reader’s toolkit of strategies to proactively optimize self-care, build resilience, and reduce baseline stress. Self-care is encouraged and multiple suggestions are given. The importance of sleep, a healthy diet, physical exercise (and barriers to this), and scheduling relaxation and pleasant events are explored. The concept of sleep hygiene is outlined, and recommendations are made. Readers are also provided with general lifestyle suggestions and techniques to improve overall mental health and wellness, including breathing techniques, progressive muscle relaxation, mindfulness, meditation, distraction, and somatic exercises. Anger management strategies, guided visualization, assigned “worry-time” and therapeutic letter writing are also described.