The Clever Self-Care Guide

Dr Nadine Hamilton





"Much of self-care has to do with our psychology. That’s where The Clever Self-Care Guide comes in. This well-thought-out and easy-to-follow guide on understanding self-care and how to incorporate it into our lives is a must for all busy professionals. Through Nadine’s extensive experience as a psychologist, she has spoken right to the heart of the issues blocking our ability to truly self-care."


Dr. Cris Beer
Author of Healthy Habits: 52 Ways to Better Health, Healthy Liver
and Your Best Year Ahead: Small, Easy Steps to Wellness.



Life can be full of challenges rocking our boat so strongly that we risk drowning in a sea of stress and mental ill-health. That’s why self-care is such a vital skill.

Dr Nadine Hamilton has spent over 17 years in her speciality psychology practice helping professionals and businesses get on top of stress and psychological fatigue to avoid burnout, depression and self-harm. Her 2019 international best-seller Coping With Stress and Burnout as a Veterinarian targeted a profession with a suicide rate almost four times higher than the general population.

Now, after two years of social, personal, and financial impacts from a global pandemic, she has found herself working with her clients (and herself) more and more on self-care — how to use self-understanding and practical psychological tools to attain and maintain better mental wellbeing.

Time then, to release a new book to help anyone who is finding life at work and home a tough ask at times. Nadine gives us a clever guide to self-care covering topics such as setting boundaries, dealing with stress and anxiety, self-esteem, coping with grief, resilience, compassion fatigue, mentally healthy workplaces, and the imperative to build more hope and optimism into our daily lives.


 
 

About the Author

Dr Nadine Hamilton has worked as a psychologist for nearly two decades. She is recognised as a global leader in veterinary wellbeing through her ground-breaking research and years of professional work with veterinary practice managers and owners to increase wellbeing, productivity, and retention in the workplace. In support of her aim to create a paradigm shift within the veterinary industry, in 2018, she founded the charity Love Your Pet Love Your Vet, which raises awareness about mental health issues within the veterinary industry. She published her first book in 2019 — Coping With Stress and Burnout as a Veterinarian — an evidence-based resource to help vets build protective attitudes, enhanced wellbeing, and increased coping skills to try and prevent the psychological distress that can lead to self-harm.

Nadine’s journey to ‘now’ wasn’t always easy. She failed her high school exams and dropped out at just 15 years of age, but this did not deter her from following her dreams. She has worked in many different industries in various roles, such as clerk, dental nurse, office manager, personal assistant, teacher/trainer, rehabilitation consultant, lecturer, and acting head of department. As well as being a registered psychologist, she holds a Master of Training and Development degree, a Doctor of Education, and qualifications in nutritional psychiatry, Feng Shui, and healing.

She set up her psychology clinic, Positive Psych Solutions, in 2010. The clinic provides a wide range of online courses, eBooks, live workshops and wellbeing plans and programs. You can read more about the services offered by Dr Nadine and her team at Positive Psych Solutions by visiting www.positivepsychsolutions.com.au.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1 What is Self-care?

Chapter 2 Healthy Self-esteem

Chapter 3 Mindfulness

Chapter 4 Changing Careers

Chapter 5 Setting Boundaries

Chapter 6 Stress

Chapter 7 Dealing with Anxiety

Chapter 8 Dealing with Depression

Chapter 9 Coping with Grief

Chapter 10 Coping with Change and Adversity

Chapter 11 Compassion Fatigue

Chapter 12 Burnout

Chapter 13 Dealing with Imposter Syndrome

Chapter 14 Coping Strategies

Chapter 15 Relaxation

Chapter 16 Resilience

Chapter 17 Spirituality

Chapter 18 Motivation

Chapter 19 Exploring Core Beliefs

Chapter 20 Mental Health Problems need Mental Health Solutions

Chapter 21 Mentally Healthy Workplaces

Chapter 22 The Importance of Hope and Optimism

Here’s to your Wellbeing

Bibliography