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New Self-Care Resource for Health and Social Care Professionals

SPARK^² is a free, evidence-informed self-care tool designed for professionals working in health, social care, and community services. Developed at ÉîÒ¹ÑÇÖÞ¸£Àû¾Ã¾Ã College Cork by Kenneth Burns, Conor O’Mahony, and Elaine O’Callaghan, the tool supports practitioners to reflect on ten key areas of their personal and professional lives — from sleep and physical health to supervision, technology use, and emotional wellbeing.

The tool is designed to help prevent burnout, secondary trauma, and moral injury. Rather than prescribing a one-size-fits-all approach, SPARK^² uses reflective prompts to help professionals assess what is working, what needs attention, and what changes are within their control. Importantly, the tool also acknowledges that self-care has limits: when the problem lies in the workplace — unsustainable workloads, inadequate resources, or poor management — individual strategies alone are not the answer.

Version 2 (2026) includes updated content on digital wellbeing, supervision quality, moral injury, and a structured self-care planning section. It is available to download free of charge under a Creative Commons licence (CC BY-NC-ND) at:

/en/ideachildrights/resources/

Permission is granted to copy and distribute the tool for non-commercial use.

For more on this story contact:

k.burns@ucc.ie