Abstract

The social work and human services profession has begun to recognize the importance of health and well-being among students and practitioners. It has been acknowledged in the literature that wellness and self-care is an ethical imperative given occupational hazards associated with exposure to other people’s personal trauma. As students learn to be social workers, there is a need for academics and educators to reconsider the promotion of health and wellness in the academic and practice environments, specifically in relation to practitioner self-care. This is particularly important because many students do not recognize the importance and value of well-being in social work education and in social work practice. This article shares research findings from the Alberta Resilient Communities project on wellness and self-care from the perspectives of community influencers in the context of disaster recovery.