Professional education workshops through AMITA health

https://www.amitahealth.org/behavioral-medicine/professional-education/workshops-programs

This is a list of professional education workshops and programs offered this fall through AMITA health. It came highly recommended by my supervisor who has attended many of their events in the past few years.  These programs are offered as part of a Back-To-School education series for mental health professionals and teachers who are interested in learning more about issues that affect adolescents. The programs range from a more medical focus to treatment techniques for particular groups of children. Some of the offerings would be extremely helpful for those who are going to be working with at-risk, self-injurious, and depressed and suicidal students.

The workshops and webinars are presented by professionals of the mental health field. They cover current relevant issues affecting our youth and offer CEU credits to help practitioners stay on top of current evidence-based practice. The majority of these classes would be placed under “providing evidence-based education, behavior, and mental health services” practice feature. They offer training in individual assessment and interventions for students. 

Just an additional note, the webinars are free!

School Social Worker Priority Sheet

The item of interest that I chose was titled “Clinical School Social Work”.  Starting out at Hersey High School I was tossed right into the mix of things just as I was hoping.  What I quickly learned is that the role of a school social worker has many responsibilities and knowing how to prioritize can be difficult and drain on positive thoughts.  My supervisor created a priority sheet for me so I would know what takes precedence of others.  This was a mind saver for me and in a way, a form of self-care. 

School social workers are pulled in many directions and have a large number of responsibilities and tasks to complete in a short day.  This sheet helps me keep my day straight when things come up that are not planned.  Every school might have a different order that your supervisor wants you to follow but the top three things will be universal.  Crisis control always takes precedence over any other responsibility.  That does not mean that just because a student comes down to your office unexpectedly that you send your normal scheduled student back to class.  It means seeing what the crisis is and determining if it can wait.  Suicidal idealization is more important than a student who wants to talk about what his/her friend said to them.  The social worker still needs to use judgement while using this sheet.