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School Social Work NOW!
Supporting Innovative Practice,
Effective Leadership, and Applied Research
Vol 4, Issue 3
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It's not too early to be thinking about how to make bullying prevention a priority in your school or district, especially during the month of October, National Bullying Prevention Month. PACER'S National Bullying Center is a wealth of information and resources for students K-12. Great ideas, programs and web pages for each grade group. October 9th is National Unity Day - Make It Orange, Make It End!
A new Guide to Bullying Prevention has been posted on the web. It has many links to additional articles. Be sure to visit this new resource.
Mix It Up at Lunch Day is October 29th. By taking a risk, this one day, students can cross the lines of division in a safe, controlled environment, meet new people, and help build an inclusive and welcoming school community. Check it out!
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September 30, 2013 -- Milwaukee, WI
Open to all school support staff.
Discounts available for teams of 3 or more.
ACSSW National School Social Work
Mental Health Institute
February 10-11, 2014 -- New Orleans, LA
Save the dates! Watch for details.
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With the start of the new school year come resolutions to provide better services to children, youth and their families. ACSSW can help you do that! Why not treat yourself well and join ACSSW now. We are extending the join/renew discount ($95 instead of $110 for active members) to September 30th. Fulfill that New [School] Year Resolution and support the efforts being made on your behalf. We can't do it alone!
Judith Kullas Shine
President
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Recommended Read for September
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 The Four Agreements by don Miguel Ruiz
Barnes & Noble: "In The Four Agreements, don Miguel Ruiz reveals the source of self-limiting beliefs that rob us of joy and create needless suffering. Based on ancient Toltec wisdom, The Four Agreements offer a powerful code of conduct that can rapidly transform our lives to a new experience of freedom, true happiness, and love. The Four Agreements are: Be impeccable with your word, don't take anything personally, don't make assumptions, always do your best happiness, and love." This short book, 129 pages, can help you make long-lasting changes in your life.
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ACSSW's Mental Health in Schools Institute
Milwaukee - September 30th
Team discounts available
-- updated --
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. . . cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) has become one of the most frequently used forms of psychotherapeutic intervention. Extensive research supports the effectiveness of CBT approaches for a wide range of psychosocial issues . . . This empirical validation has made CBT a popular choice for social work practitioners seeking evidence-based treatments . . . Although there may be subtle differences among the various CBT approaches, Dobson and Dobson (2009) identify three basic assumptions that underscore most CBT approaches: (1) cognitive processes and content are accessible and can be known; (2) our thoughts and beliefs mediate the way we process information and consequently affect our emotional and behavioral responses; and (3) maladaptive cognitions can be intentionally targeted and changed in a more rational and realistic direction, thus relieving symptoms and increasing functionality. In CBT individuals are seen not as passive entities simply reacting to environmental cues or past experiences, but rather as human beings with the potential to actively shape the course of their lives. Complete article.
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Trauma Informed Interventions for People Who Self-Inure: A Compilation from Experts Around the Nation
Self-injury can be understood as a coping mechanism to deal with less visible forms of pain. While there are perhaps self-harming behaviors that have greater repercussions on the person than cutting, burning, or biting does, self-injury (also called self-inflicted violence [SIV]) can provoke intense reactions from others, including helpers. It might be useful to consider self-injury to be one among many self-harming behaviors that people might engage in. Self-harm can be understood to include a range of behaviors from self-annihilation (suicide, unsafe sex,terminating essential treatment), to self-injury (cutting, burning, unhygienic tattooing or piercing), to self-defeating (isolating, anger, rejection of help). This broad understanding of self-harm encompasses substance abuse, unsafe relationships and sex, running away, isolating, disordered eating, hair plucking,dropping out of school as well as self-injuring actions like cutting, picking, burning,and self-punching. Learn more.
At the heart of positive school climate are strong relationships. When you walk into a school with positive climate, you see students and staff who are caring, respectful, and committed to their communities, both their immediate communities (e.g., school and neighborhood) and the broader world. You don't just see posters proclaiming these values-in these schools, these values live and breathe. People are more likely to greet one another in the hallways, offer to help one another, take pride in one another's successes. In these schools adults don't just ignore students making derogatory remarks in the hallways. These practices become part of the fabric of the school, permeating day to day interactions and instructional practices. More.
Sometimes it's obvious. In Wilcox County, Ga.-where proms historically have been privately funded and casually labeled "black prom" and "white prom"-efforts to bring black and white students together for the biggest dance of their high school career raised both awareness and long-simmering tensions. Some 30 years after desegregation, Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal, in an email sent to the media by his spokesperson, labeled these efforts toward integration a "silly publicity stunt."
And sometimes it's less obvious, more insidious.
Long-standing and long-accepted patterns mean harsher discipline for students of color compared with their white counterparts-in every region of the United States. Expectations are lowered for students on the bottom of the achievement gap.
Institutional racism exists throughout society and our schools-public, private, small, large, mono- or multicultural. None is immune to it.
"It can happen at the classroom level, the administrative level or the district level," says Matthew Lynch. Full article.
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Do you have a clear picture of the relationships within your organization? Do you see the ties that extend beyond your organization, into other organizations, communities, and the broader society? If so, you have what we call network perspective.
People with network perspective understand the dynamic web of connections that have an impact on their work, their leadership, and the leadership culture of their organization. They can identify patterns of relationships and people in their personal network and the broader organizational network that will foster strategic success - and those that will inhibit or undermine it.
This paper introduces you to the concept of network perspective: what it is, why it matters, and
how to develop it. We also show how developing network perspective can foster learning, growth, and change for individuals, groups, organizations, and society. Access White Paper.
The Care and Feeding of the Leader's Brain
The brain is the seat of intelligence, emotion and memory, and it initiates movements and behaviors. How it helps us lift a fork to our mouth or navigate a busy interstate at 70 mph - relatively mindless acts we perform daily - is something we barely understand. There is not a computer in the world that can match its capacity. But we are prone to treating our brains like pieces of junk.
Lack of sleep, poor dietary habits, stress, lack of regular exercise and smoking can all contribute to worsened cognitive performance and brain health. In fact, the same factors that elevate our risk for heart attacks - elevated cholesterol levels, diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity - have also been shown to increase risk for dementia, mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease. Learn how good health habits lead to better brain functioning.
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For more than a century, there has been a growing interest in school climate. Recently, the U.S. Department of Education, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Institute for Educational Sciences, a growing number of State Departments of Education, foreign educational ministries, and UNICEF have focused on school climate reform as an evidence-based school improvement strategy that supports students, parents/guardians, and school personnel learning and working together to create ever safer, more supportive and engaging K-12 schools. This work presents an integrative review on school climate research. The 206 citations used in this review include experimental studies, correlational studies, literature reviews, and other descriptive studies. The review focuses on five essential dimensions of school climate: Safety, Relationships, Teaching and Learning, Institutional Environment, and the School Improvement Process. We conclude with a critique of the field and a series of recommendations for school climate researchers and policymakers. Full review.
Results from 2012 National Survey on Drug Use and Health:
Summary of National Findings and Detailed Tables
This report and the detailed tables present a first look at results from the 2012 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), an annual survey of the civilian, non-institutionalized population of the United States aged 12 years old or older. Both the report and detailed tables present national estimates of rates of use, numbers of users, and other measures related to illicit drugs, alcohol, and tobacco products, with a focus on trends between 2011 and 2012 and from 2002 to 2012, as well as differences across population subgroups in 2012. NSDUH national estimates related to mental health and NSDUH State-level estimates related to both substance use and mental health will be published in separate releases in the fall of 2013. Summary of Findings. Detailed tables.
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Helena's [MT] elementary school counseling program has been caught in a long, not always consistent process of scrutiny by state education officials, and recent action by the state Board of Public Education prolonged the uncertainty by pushing a decision until November. But despite the series of mixed and delayed signals, one thing is clear: The district's current model will be required to make at least some changes to comply with state accreditation requirements.
For more than 20 years, Helena has been using licensed clinical social workers--[A number of MT social workers have endorsements for school social work, but the state's accreditation policy doesn't recognize this concentration.]--to fulfill a state policy calling for one certified school counselor for every 400 students per K-8 school. he district has received permission periodically for such a "variance to standards" for their elementary schools but was recently denied renewal for the first time. . .
Last year, as the district came under closer state review over a handful of accreditation problems, the state decided not to renew Helena's variance request for its counseling program. That sent the request for further review by a new advisory board designed to allow for more flexibility in school compliance efforts.
During its inaugural meeting in August, that board recommended the BOE approve Helena's proposal. BOE Board members, though, stalled after hearing a few hours of testimony and discussion at its meeting in Billings earlier this month. Continue.
"Family Glitch" in Health Law Could Be Painful
A "family glitch" in the 2010 health care law threatens to cost some families thousands of dollars in health insurance costs and leave up to 500,000 children without coverage, insurance and health care analysts say.
That's unless Congress fixes the problem, which seems unlikely given the House's latest move Friday to strip funding from the Affordable Care Act.
Congress defined "affordable" as 9.5% or less of an employee's household income, mostly to make sure people did not leave their workplace plans for subsidized coverage through the exchanges. But the "error" was that it only applies to the employee - and not his or her family. So, if an employer offers a woman affordable insurance, but doesn't provide it for her family, they cannot get subsidized help through the state health exchanges. Complete article.
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Target Field Trip Grants fund scholastic outings for visits to art, science, and cultural museums, community service or civic projects, career enrichment opportunities, and other events or activities away from a school facility. Funds can cover field trip-related costs such as transportation, ticket fees, food, resource materials, and supplies. Maximum award: $700. Eligibility: teachers, principals, paraprofessionals, and classified staff in K-12 public, private, or charter school in the U.S. Deadline: October 1, 2013. Learn more.
NEA Learning and Leadership Grants
NEA Foundation Learning & Leadership Grants support public school teachers, public education support professionals, and/or faculty and staff in public institutions of higher education for one of two purposes: Grants to individuals fund participation in high-quality professional development experiences, such as summer institutes or action research; grants to groups fund collegial study, including study groups, action research, lesson study, or mentoring experiences for faculty or staff new to an assignment. Maximum award: $2,000 for individuals and $5,000 for groups engaged in collegial study. Eligibility: public school teachers grades K-12; public school education support professionals; or faculty and staff at public higher education institutions. Deadline: October 15, 2013.
CVS Caremark Community Grants
CVS Caremark Community Grants give funds to nonprofit organizations for programs targeting children with disabilities, programs focusing on health and rehabilitation services, public schools promoting a greater level of inclusion in student activities and extracurricular programs, and initiatives that give greater access to physical movement and play. Maximum award: $5,000. Eligibility: nonprofit organizations with programs targeting children with disabilities; public schools with programs for children under age 18 with disabilities. Deadline: October 31, 2011. Requirements & Application.
Children's Foundation Medical Grants for Children in Need
These grants are designed to cover financial expenses for a child's medical needs beyond a family's health benefit plan. Families can directly apply online for these grants of up to $5,000. Details.
Do Something Seed Grants
Do Something Seed Grants for youth can be used towards project ideas and programs that are just getting started, or to jump-start a program and realize ideas for the first time. These grants can also be used towards projects that are already developed and sustainable, towards the next steps of a project and organization as it looks to expand and grow impact. Maximum award: $500. Eligibility: community projects that are youth-led and driven. Deadline: rolling. Application.
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Improving School Climate by Supporting Implementation of Evidence Based Practices (EBPs) in High (Secondary) Schools
September 26, 2013, 3 - 4:30 pm ET
This webinar will provide participants with a definition of school climate that can serve as a structure for targeting areas of need in a school, selecting EBPs that align with the need, and measuring improvement. More details.
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