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title: Tips from the Panelists of Mental Health in Community Caretaking

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# Tips from the Panelists of Mental Health in Community Caretaking
## OSS EU 2022

### General

- Contextualize and normalize your experience as a community manager rather than minimizing, judging, or gaslighting yourself–”It’s not so bad, why am I so upset? vs “Wow, today was a hard day.”)
- Try to figure out what you need when you are debriefing a difficult moment or day as a community manager: do I need to download the details or share the cliff notes of it with someone who gets it? Sometimes sharing details gets you re-activated and sometimes it moves things through you
- When you are struggling, try to figure out if you need support/validation or problem solving from someone (or ask when someone is reaching out to you). Sometimes, problem solving bypasses important feelings that need to be processed
- Don't forget to acknowledge all your wins and progress in the community! Make a list of these to refer to when you get discouraged. 
- Remember why you do this work. Stay connected to your why. 
- Stay connected to your values. Ask yourself, what are the three most important values I want to center in this work? 

### Social-political climate

- Individualized self care can’t fix all that is making your job difficult- remember it is often larger systems, structural forces, or larger political conditions/factors that are the culprit

### Setting community standards

- Find ways to empower your community members to be there for each other when you are offline; delegating is delicious!
- Understand cultural differences- this can save you a lot of worry, frustration, and unsureness

### Burnout

- Remind yourself: good enough is GREAT- for now 
- Focus on the the work you have completed versus the things that aren't done
- Encourage a follow the sun model for community engagement
- Take a step back once you feel overwhelmed, don't wait till you break down
- Always document, communicate and be transparent with information/tasks/issues, so interested community members can help out.

### The balancing act of career growth, personal reputation, and exployer expectations

- Invest in your own professional development and learn to invest in areas you want to grow 
- Practice radical honesty about where you are and what you need to be successful; a healthy community will understand and a healthy workplace will support you
- Have formal and/or informal peer support for your role (don't do this work in isolation!)

### Setting boundaries

- Clarify your "off" hours/work life balance/boundaries (do community mgrs get to have these!?). You're allowed to tell people you'll get to their question once you're back at work.
- If you work from home, clarifying your boundaries is harder, but more necessary. Have a work computer or disable work notifications after a certain hour, a space that's just for work, and/or hobbies that take you offline.