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School Social Work NOW!
Supporting Innovative Practice,
Effective Leadership, and Applied Research
Vol 4, Issue 9
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In just a few weeks the "official" holiday season will be upon us. While we ratchet up our school social work helping mode, we need to be aware of our own social and emotional health. For many, the holidays are a joyous if not frenetic time of year. But for others, including many professional support providers, these weeks can increase the sense of loneliness and aloneness.
ACSSW strongly encourages each of you to make time for yourself each day--time to read, take a walk, do a little yoga, paint a picture...whatever brings you in touch with your inner self and refreshes you. We all should enjoy this festive time of year but yet focus on what is really important in our lives and those we love. Keep expectations realistic. You'll find yourself enjoying the season even more if you do.
The 3rd National ACSSW NOLA School Social Work Conference brochure is available online! This interactive conference will again be held on the historical campus of Tulane University in beautiful New Orleans! Check out the brochure and make plans before the sun sets.
Perhaps you'd like to enjoy a couple of warm days in the middle of frozen February, a mini vacation. Travel to New Orleans on Friday night and enjoy the sights, sounds, and exquisite food that only NOLA offers! Make it a family trip and enjoy the many activities for all ages! Then, on Monday, open your mind to what is new and emerging in school social work, education, and school mental health.
Put in your request to your school district! Discounts are available for teams of 3 or more from the same school/district. Encumber the funds while they are still there to help you become a stronger, more knowledgeable school social worker. Register today!
SAVE THE DATES! February 10-11, 2014
ACSSW National School Social Work
Mental Health Institute
Judith Kullas Shine
President
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Recommended Read for November
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 Trauma Stewardship:
An Everyday Guide to Caring for Self While Caring for Others
by Laura Van Dernoot Lipsky & Connie Burke
A longtime trauma worker, Laura van Dernoot Lipsky offers a deep and empathetic survey of the often-unrecognized toll on those working to make the world a better place. We may feel tired, cynical, numb, or like we can never do enough. These, and other symptoms, affect us individually and collectively, sapping the energy and effectiveness we so desperately need if we are to benefit humankind, other animals, and the planet itself. Through Trauma Stewardship, we are called to meet these challenges in an intentional way--not by becoming overwhelmed but by developing a quality of mindful presence. Joining the wisdom of ancient cultural traditions with modern psychological research, Lipsky offers a variety of simple and profound practices that will allow us to remake ourselves--and ultimately the world. |
from Liana Lowenstein
"I like this technique because it's engaging and active and it's a great way to help children talk about various emotional states. Watch the technique come alive on Pam Dyson's YouTube channel." Click here.
from NASWIL
School social work as a profession (now celebrating its 105th year) emerged out of the settlement house movement and was initially known as visiting teachers. Simultaneously, school social work originated in Boston, Hartford, and New York in the early 1900s. The Chicago Public Schools employed their first school social workers in 1919 (Morrison, 2006). School social work grew out of the policies around compulsory attendance. The initial focus centered on the school social worker providing the link between home, school, and community, utilizing their skills to understand the social ills of the community. These individuals served as advocates for the child and family, ensuring that students received the maximum benefit from public education. Although our world is a very different place than it was over a century ago, policies that support the needs of children and their families in the educational setting have played a major role in the evolution of school social work. This article builds upon the historical context of school social work and identifies strategies that can be utilized with two current policies-response to Intervention (RTI) and social and emotional learning (SEL)-to expand school social work practices to new heights. Complete article.
Perceived Levels of Cultural Competence through Social Work Education and Professional Development for Urban School Social Workers
The educational needs of the nation's demographics challenge school-based practitioners to keep up with the growing diversity found in classroom settings. This challenge is greatest in urban school settings where low-income African American children are the largest minority student population (U.S. Census Bureau, 2002). According to Losen and Orfield (2002), urban African American youth have higher dropout rates and school suspension rates, lower levels of academic achievement, and higher levels of diagnosed mental health disorders than any other ethnic group. In order to raise academic achievement and reduce antisocial outcomes among urban Black youth, school-based practitioners must not only have an understanding of the problematic conditions of poverty on adolescent outcomes, but they must also develop comprehensive knowledge of minority cultural norms and how these norms factor into educational outcomes (Allen-Meares, Washington,& Welsh, 2000; Frey, 2000; Losen & Orfield, 2002; U.S. Public Health Service, 2000). Thus, determining methods to best train and educate school services personnel has become a heightened topic of discussion in social and behavioral science literature. For the social work profession, the development of culturally competent school-based practitioners presents an ongoing challenge (Allen-Meares, Washington,& Welsh, 2000). Access full article.
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App - Psych Drugs Free for a limited time
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Continue
University Positions-
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Come to NOLA
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SAVE THE DATES!
February 10-11, 2014
NEW ORLEANS!
School Social Workers:
Inspiring HOPE. . .
Advocating for JUSTICE
Learn More Now!
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Free Guides for School Social Workers
Columbia University Teachers College Press published 4 guides geared to support teachers, administrators, student personnel staff, and parents. For a limited period, and as supplies last, TCP has agreed to provide FREE copies of the guides to social workers and educators working with military kids in schools including: teachers, school administrators, PPS workers, and military parents. School social workers should be aware of this wonderful, time-limited, FREE offer from TCP. Many school social workers will benefit from these guides.
The process is simple. Each individual desiring a free book would need to click on the link, select the type of book s/he desires, and fill out name, mailing address, etc. on the Qualtrix form after selecting the book desired. The book will be mailed in a few weeks.
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Among all the attributes of the greatest leaders of our time, one stands above the rest: They are all highly trusted. You can have a compelling vision, rock-solid strategy, excellent communication skills, innovative insight, and a skilled team, but if people don't trust you, you will never get the results you want. Leaders who inspire trust garner better output, morale, retention, innovation, loyalty, and revenue, while mistrust fosters skepticism, frustration, low productivity, lost sales, and turnover. Trust affects a leader's impact and the company's bottom line more than any other single thing.
One of the biggest mistakes a leader can make is to assume that others trust him simply by virtue of his title. Build Trust.
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from PEN: The latest Kids Count report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation uses a new analysis of the Early Childhood Longitudinal study, which tracked 13,000 children in kindergarten in 1998-99, to show that by third grade, only 36 percent were on-track in cognitive knowledge and skills, 56 percent in physical well-being, 70 percent in social and emotional growth, and 74 percent in school engagement. Only 19 percent of third-graders in families with income below 200 percent of the poverty level and 50 percent from families with income above it had age-appropriate cognitive skills, particularly if children of color: Just 14 percent of black children and 19 percent of Hispanic children were on track in cognitive development. For children to succeed, classroom learning must be integrated with other aspects of child development. To prepare all children for success, the report offers three broad policy recommendations: support parents so they can effectively care and provide for their children; increase access to high-quality birth-through-age-8 programs, beginning with investments that target low-income children; and develop comprehensive, integrated programs and data systems to address all aspects of children's development and to support their transition to elementary school. Continue.
Despite the limitations of the data, new research on children in military families has advanced relatively quickly as researchers and policy makers have sought to learn more about the academic, social, emotional, and behavioral consequences of parental deployment for children.2 Still, our knowledge remains incomplete, and opportunities to expand the data infrastructure for future research have not been vigorously pursued. The national survey and administrative data available to researchers today has substantial gaps that make it hard to robustly analyze how military children grow and develop or to evaluate how parents' military service affects children's lives. Download PDF.
Trauma therapists are vulnerable to secondary trauma stress (STS) also often referred to as vicarious trauma (VT). Therefore, it may be necessary that the trauma clinician, their supervisor, and their employing organization develop a formal plan to prevent or effectively intervene if a therapist is experiencing symptoms of STS or VT. According to Culver, McKinney, and Paradise (2009), clinicians who worked with trauma reported many negative psychological symptoms including anxiety (73%), suspiciousness (62%), disrupted sense of safety (71%) and disrupted frame of reference (50%). Therapists are human and may experiencetraumatic loss and grief (Boss, 2006). STS and VT for a therapist can be caused by trauma events such as the sudden death of a client including suicide, listening to the client's story of violent assaults such as rape, murder, and torture or working with survivors of disfiguring accidents, terrorism such as 9/11, or natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina. Perlman (1999) explains that a trauma therapist must carry the burden of the trauma with the client in the midst of trauma therapy. The burden of trauma and secondary stress when working with traumatized clients can impact multiple facets of the clinician's life; their behavior, emotions, relationships, beliefs, success and health. Full study.
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... in the St. Paul Public Schools district: Most students with emotional and behavioral disabilities started the school year in mainstream classrooms. The district closed most classrooms at seven learning centers that served the children with the highest needs among them. In recent years, districts across the state have striven to ensure students with special needs spend as much time in the mainstream as possible.
Still, the changes in St. Paul -- Minnesota's largest special education program -- appear unprecedented. District leaders say the learning centers had become increasingly isolated within their host schools: classrooms where predominantly black youngsters fell behind academically. Reversing a trend of segregating students with special needs is a "moral imperative," said Special Education Director Elizabeth Keenan. Read more.
from Education Week
President Barack Obama's vision--outlined in his State of the Union address--to help states expand prekindergarten to a broad swath of low- and moderate-income 4-year-olds would be realized under bipartisan legislation slated to be released today on Capitol Hill.
The measure has bipartisan backing-it's being put forth by the top Democrats in both chambers on education issues, along with one Republican, Rep. Richard Hanna, R-N.Y. But it would cost more than $30 billion over its first five years and faces some major hurdles in a Congress consumed with trimming spending.
Still, the legislation, written by Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, the chairman of the Senate education committee, and Rep. George Miller, the top Democrat on the House education committee, along with Hanna, is still worth a close look. If the political landscape ever changes, the bill could help inform a major remaking of the federal role in prekindergarten. Continue.
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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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Autism, Meditation and Stress
Thursday, November 14th, 1-2 p.m. ET - Free
Can a simple, easily-learned, evidence-based meditation technique be an effective tool for reducing the symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)? A distinguished panel of experts explores the research, clinical applications, and uses of Transcendental Meditation for reducing stress and stress-related disorders, improving brain function, and enhancing quality of life among children and teens with ASD. More information. Click to register.
DSM-V 101 for School Based Health Care Providers
Wednesday, November 20th, 2 p.m. ET - Free
The most recent revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) has many changes for children and adolescents. Keisha Mack, Licensed Clinical Psychologist from the Mecca Group, LLC will provide an introductory overview of the DSM-V and discuss changes to the diagnostic and coding process. Register.
archived
Group mentoring is an increasingly popular strategy for providing positive relationships and activities to youth in need. In fact, over 20% of youth mentoring programs offer some form of group mentoring, while a survey of American volunteers finds that over half say they work with more than one young person at a time. But compared to one-to-one mentoring, the research on the group approach is still emerging, and programs often wonder when group mentoring might be the right fit and how to implement these models for maximum effectiveness. Access online.
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