Activists frequently work in a stressful environment with increased pressure and possibility of burnout due to lack of self-care. We recognize that in order to work in long term and effectively self-care is one of the key priorities.

When you take care of yourself well, you can maintain your energy and passion to achieve your intended goals. The strength of your mind and body are essential resources for social movement which you are currently championing.

Therefore, VOICE has chosen self-care as one of its core values, to raise awareness and to improve the skills of self-care and care of others.

How do we encourage self-care?

Every Wednesday, VOICE’s staff and interns have 1 hour for self-care at the end of the day. At this time, you are free to do what you want, except working and,… going online. Usually, some people organize activities such as playing badminton, meditation, taking walks, swimming, or socializing and they invite others to join these activities. 1 hour for self-care during the working week does not mean everyone only has 1 hour per week. The reason we chose 1 hour is to remind the staff and interns about the importance of regular self-care and to not leave it till they feel tired or stressed.

Besides this, we are greeted each morning with a board that contains questions such as “Did you take care of yourself well yesterday?”. Each person will answer the questions and share their responses and seek support if required.

We also invited a psychologist to guide each individual in self- care principles and techniques.

We are content that the changes to the programs we have introduced in the past two years have had positive outcomes. However, we continue to incorporate new ideas to better fulfill our intended goals.

If you share such opinion and have ideas to share with us, please let us know.