Welcome to the Community

We are pleased to introduce you to another member of the Intentional Therapist community!

We recently had the opportunity to interview Dr. Amanda Maranzan, one of the authors of a 2018 article entitled: Self-Care and the Canadian Code of Ethics: Implications for Training in Professional Psychology. In this article, Dr. Maranzan and colleagues discuss the concept of self-care and how it relates to the Canadian Code of Ethics for Psychologists. The authors also review the training literature and accreditation standards in relation to self-care and propose that self-care be considered a competency and that training in self-care occur "across the spectrums of training and professional practice." We couldn't agree more! Although the article focuses specifically on psychologists, we imagine the message is likely equally applicable to other disciplines.

1. Please tell us a bit about yourself and your current position in the mental health field.

I am a full-time parent, partner, academic, and clinician. My roles include Associate Professor and Director of Clinical Training (Department of Psychology, Lakehead University), Psychologist (St. Joseph’s Care Group Mental Health Outpatient Programs), and School Lunch Planner (self-imposed title, sometimes to the delight/dismay of my 3 children).

2. In 2018, you and your colleagues published an article in Canadian Psychology entitled Self-Care and the Canadian Code of Ethics: Implications for Training in Professional Psychology. What inspired you to write an article on this topic?

Over the last few years self-care has been the focus of class projects in the Ethics course that I teach, in an effort to engage students more dynamically with the topic of self-care. The 2018 article is the result of a group project that examined self-care, graduate students, and professional psychology training, specifically linking self-care to the Canadian Code of Ethics.

3. What are some key messages in that article that you’re hoping will resonate with readers?

That self-care is implicit to our profession’s ethical principles of responsible caring and integrity in relationships. That graduate school can be a time of enormous professional and personal growth, and also a very stressful time as students attempt to balance multiple roles and demands. And that for these reasons, it’s important to think about how we are teaching and modelling self-care when training future psychologists. I also hope the article raises some questions. Does our view of self-care, which is often viewed as reactive (for example, stress management once we notice we’re not coping well) need to change? How do departmental or graduate training culture influence self-care? Are we missing opportunities to talk about and model self-care with students? And, if self-care is an ethical imperative for professional practice, what are the next steps that our profession can take to support self-care across the professional lifespan?

4. In your opinion, why has the topic of self-care historically been absent or been given minimal attention in training programs?

Norcross and Barnett (2008) use a great parable to describe the paradox of self-care: Imaging coming across a woodcutter who is feverishly trying to cut down a tree, appears exhausted, and confirms to you that it is hard work and he has been at it for a long time. When you suggest that he take a break, rest, and sharpen the saw, he ironically replies “I don’t have time to sharpen the saw – I’m too busy sawing!” This is the self-care paradox that we all face – being too busy to sharpen the saw. I suspect that this plays a role in the lack of attention to self-care in our programs; students, faculty, and supervisors are multitasking professionals with lots of hats/roles that we assume. Compounding the problem is a tendency to think about self-care as reactive, rather than proactive and continuous.

5. What are some key components to your self-care? Or - recognizing we all struggle! - what would you like to include as key components to your self-care? What self-care practice(s) have you found particularly helpful to your well-being during the pandemic?

Speaking of the paradox of self-care – this was a big challenge for me, and I really struggled with self-care especially for the first few months. I find time outside to be especially helpful, and I am fortunate to live in a place where I was able to do so safely. Right now, I am trying to be purposeful about walking in the evening, usually listening to a fun podcast. Music is also a big part of my “regular” self-care routine (playing the piano). I would like to include some more creative outlets in my self-care routine.

6. What's most likely to get in the way of you engaging in self-care? What helps you get back on track?

Time. It’s so easy to continually bump “self-care” to the bottom of the list when there is so much going on, especially true since March. It’s also really easy to add “self-care” to the list of failures and missed opportunities. This is a really tricky thing. I’m trying to keep in mind that getting things accomplished in my work and family life, amidst the pandemic, is a marathon and not a sprint. There will always be something on the list. Always. Taking time to recharge and refresh, however that has to look right now, is important.

7. What does it mean to you to be an 'intentional therapist'? What resonates for you?

To me, this means someone who has a strong sense of what is important to them. It also makes me think of an ongoing process, which of course has ups and downs, but always continuing purposefully towards a goal.

8. What do you do to incorporate humour/playfulness/creativity into your days and weeks?

My kids help me with a lot of this! I have a lot of practice being a lion owner, or a horse owner, or a bear owner. I do try to play the piano regularly and when the kids allow it, my husband and I will play 80’s songs on piano/guitar together (think Heart).

9. If you could pick only one song that would play every time you walked into a room what would it be?

Anything by Hans Zimmer.