The Art of Self-Care: A Heuristic Investigation

The following research is grounded in an arts-based heuristic methodology that explores how art-making can be used to facilitate immediate self-care practices within an efficient time period. The literature reviews the impact of life stressors on one’s ability to cope and further details how lack of adequate self-care strategies can lead to burnout, compassion fatigue and more generally, personal health deterioration. These findings have been gathered from the areas of art therapy, psychology, psychiatry, nursing and neurology and emphasize the necessity for better burnout prevention among health care professionals. Amidst the literature, art-based and mindfulness-based practices are explored as therapeutic tools that may encourage better self-care practices. Accordingly, the researcher’s reflections regarding her own self-care process is described, detailing the challenges, successes and insights of developing and exploring an immediate self-care approach as an art therapy student in training. The researcher then gathers the predominant themes from her own experience and discusses them in relation to the existing literature. By authentically sharing her process, the researcher touches upon key findings that reveal the value of intuition and simplicity in the practice of self-care