Stopping the pain - Self harm

Stopping the Pain: A workbook for teens who cut & self injure by Lawrence Shapiro

What does Self harm look like? 

--> Cutting, Burning, Hitting self/head banging, skin picking, bone breaking, biting, other.

This workbook offers activities on automatic thoughts and how to change their thinking habits, as well as coping habits that can be implemented as interventions for the student. Listed below are some sheets from the book as a preview of the workbook!

Safe School Ambassadors

For my item of interest, I chose to write about  the Safe School Ambassadors (SSA)  program used to stop bullying in the school. This program helps students to take an active role supporting other students who may be teased at a given moment. The staff members give these tools to popular students who may have the greater social influence to reach out to vulnerable isolated students.  This immediate intervention is quicker and often more effective than conflict resolution. While the popular students may mentor the other students, they are observant of  their peers' risky behaviors and sudden changes of behavior. There have been results where there is less wasted time disciplining troublesome students when school administrations implemented this program.

The Safe School Ambassadors program is one of many anti-bullying measures that are successful at stopping students from hurting one another. There are many times of bullying that consist of cyberbullying, under the radar, as well as mistreatment of LGBT individuals. I would like to incorporate this program in the future. Rather than assigning students to be ambassadors, I want to have them volunteer for the positions.This can be an afterschool activity where the students can foster new friendships and partnerships with others.  I want to foster a positive atmosphere inside and outside of the classroom for all students.

http://community-matters.org/programs-and-services/safe-scho

ol-ambassadors

Bully Free Classroom

This packet is extremely useful and helpful, it not only talks about what bullying is and eliminating myths, but it informs students, and teachers, and families on what to do about it.  The packet helps students who are getting bullied and it also helps students who ARE bullies. This is geared towards students who are K-8th grade.  This helps students with the problem solving process.The book helps students, teachers, and families to create specific strategies to help students who are bullied and those who are bullies.  The booklet gives examples, and worksheets for students to come up with their own solutions to provided situations.  This makes it so that the students learn how to apply problem solving methods to make their own solutions while being provided with some by the booklet.
Model: promote a school climate and culture conductive to student learning and teaching excellence. It facilitates engagement between student, family, school, and community. This tool is for everyone involved in the school system and it helps everyone differently but for the same goal: to be bully free.

Self Esteem Quiz/Video/Seventeen Mag/Face Your Feelings Activity

Design:

I designed this as a 4-in-1 activity to be done in one session. This activity can be utilized in a school setting; however I feel it can be utilized in any setting if modified. It is best used with small groups of 4-6 students. This activity can be used as a secondary build upon activity from the Popsicle Surprise activity I presented last week. It can be tailored for any child/adolescent/teen ages 5 – 19. This activity can be custom designed for any group you are having surrounding different topics. You can have Face Your Feelings about Anxiety, Depression, Social Skills, Healthy Dating, LGBTQIAAP. The word cut outs for the mirror activity can be tailored around your specific topic; you can find a video clip about your topic, and short survey question quiz regarding your topic (or create a survey quiz).

School Social Work Model:

This item of interest meets the School Social Work model under the practice feature of “Promoting a school climate conducive to student learning and teaching excellence.” This is done by school social workers promoting a psycho-social environment that fosters academic engagement and achievement. This practice is implemented by the school social worker building supportive relationships within and between students and facilitating engagement between students such as small groups. (sswaa.org)

Objective:

The objective of this group 4-in-1 activity is to increase open discussion about specific areas and challenges students are having in relation to self-esteem, self worth, self-confidence etc. The goals for this 4-in-1 activity is for the students to increase self-awareness and understanding of their own challenges surrounding the topic of self-esteem and continue to facilitate open dialogue; while also continuing to build the students trust, knowledge, support, and from their peers.  

Process Method:

I haven’t decided yet which order is best to perform this activity. If watching the video clip first, then quiz, then mirror activity is best and would result in the most open and honest dialogue or switching it around. I will be putting this 4-in-1 activity to the test next semester at my placement starting a new girls group. (This is where I need your feedback)

Self-Esteem Quiz:

The quiz is kept confidential during the activity. I explain to them that I will collect them and keep them. No names needed on the papers unless they feel comfortable putting their names on them. Give them 1 minute and 30 seconds to do the quiz.

http://www.self-esteem-experts.com/self-esteem-quiz.html

Video clip link:

The video clip is 1 minute long.

https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FIndependent.ie%2Fvideos%2F10154664274658470%2F&show_text=1&width=560

Seventeen Magazine Comparison:

Compare the two covers from 2011 to 2016. (You can go on their website and get old covers.

Face Your Feelings Mirror Activity:

Purchased mirrors from the Dollar Tree, and Velcro self-adhesive circles from Joanne Fabrics. Used Seventeen magazines to cut out various thoughts, feelings, ideas, catchphrases all surrounding self-esteem, self-confidence, and self-worth. In total I have about 40 different positive, negative, and neutral types feelings. Dump them on the table (preferably prior to the students coming in but cover them up) Give the students 30 seconds to pick the first 4 feelings that they can relate to at this exact moment (not yesterday, not two hours ago, not how you want to feel in the future) how they feel about themselves right now. I learned that giving them too much time to pick feelings also gives them too much time to think about what others are picking and second-guessing their feelings etc.

The remainder of the group will be used to have open dialogue about the students thoughts, feelings, reaction to the video clip, the quiz, the feelings they faced on their mirrors, and the two Seventeen magazine covers.