Intro (1 min)

Lebert & Paul: Happy Monday everybody! You are currently tuned into another episode of Thoughts From A Counselor. We are your hosts Lebert Lester III and Paul Singleton II.

Paul: Who are we? (2 min)

Two Black counselors in training who are bridging the gap between what they were taught, what they know, and what they think they know. All through understanding the world by recognizing the world is still being formed.

Paul pass to Lebert to introduce the topic

Episode Topic: Self Care: Did You Make Time For Yourself

Segment 1: Self Care Explained

(Paul) Intro: Self-care is important at all times but is especially important now given the more visible acts of racism in the media, the coronavirus pandemic, and the societal failures being enlarged by the pandemic. Before we begin the episode, it’s only natural that we provide a neat definition of self-care so you all will know what we are talking about when we say “Self-care”.

(Lebert) Definition: Today, we will be operating off of dictionary.com’s first definition of self-care, which says “Self-care: noun; the act of attending to one’s physical or mental health, generally without medical or professional consultation (often used attributively)

(Paul) Question 1: Now that we have a formal definition, let’s talk about what self-care looks like to us. How do you define self-care?

(Lebert) Question 2: To add to how we view self-care when were you first introduced to the term self-care? Did you engage in it before you physically knew the word “self-care”?

Segment 2: Growing our Self-Care

(Paul) Intro: Self-Care is a journey, right. There is not really a set point in time where we stop engaging in it or stop adding to the ways we engage in it.

(Lebert) Question 1: How did you engage in self-care before you currently did? What are some of your favorite ways of engaging with self-care?

(Paul) Question 2: How have your friends assisted your self-care journey? How has your self-care grown because of the acts they’ve done or suggested?

Segment 3: Self-Harm

(Lebert) Intro: As the antithesis of self-care, we define self-harm by actively avoiding one’s physical or mental health and trying to act as if such acts are low priority. Additionally, we also define self-harm as overly participating in self-care. For a neat example of what we mean by that second sentence, think about drinking water. Not drinking any is horrible, but so is also drinking way too much.

(Lebert) Question 1: What are some ways you’ve seen people knowingly engage in self-harm? As an add on to this, what are some ways you have seen folk unknowingly engage in self-harm?

(Paul) Question 2: We’ve talked about others so now it’s time we discuss the ways that we as individuals engage in self-harm. What are some ways that you have?

(Paul) Lead by example