Leadership Inspirations

Website: https://leadershipinspirations.com/

My second item of interest that I would like to share is a website called Leadership Inspirations. The website includes a section titled “Activities.” This is a great place to look for activities/ideas to do with a small group. You can customize your search by choosing from statements that best describe your group and their needs. For example, you can select that “My group is new or going through a personnel change; My group is focused on individual needs rather than on group cohesion...” Then from the second list, you can select options that include, “Icebreakers, energizers, mixers; activities that improve communication between members to maximize effectiveness and efficiency.” Therefore, these different options allow you to really choose activities that are unique to your group. Once your list of activities is generated and you find an activity that interests you, you can click on it to find more details on how to conduct the activity. It tells you the duration, the team stage it can be used for, the type of activity, and the materials needed. It then explains the set-up of the activity and then provides detailed instructions. It even includes a section that provides different variations to the activity if needed. The best part of this resource is that it includes Sample Debriefing Questions to pose for your group after the activity. Broken into three sets of questions- What, So What and Now What?- it allows for members of the activity to reflect on the purpose of the activity and connect it to the broader group.

            This resource is great since many school social workers run groups. Whether you are looking to get the group comfortable with one another, or your group needs to come together and build community, build trust, resolve any conflicts etc. this is a great place to get ideas. The lessons are very easy to adapt to whatever age group you are working with, as well as the size of your group. This activities can be very impactful and meaningful if you want them to, or they can be fun and silly. They can open discussions amongst the group, as well as provide insight for the social worker.

TherapistAid

My first item of interest is a website called TherapistAid that provides mental health professionals with worksheets, interactive tools, guides, videos, articles, and products such as card games, books, and much more. When visiting the website, mental health professional can use filters based on demographics including children, adolescents, and adults as well as specific topics that they are looking to address. The topics that are covered with the tools provided include anger, anxiety, art therapy, CBT, communication skills, DBT, depression management, education, emotion regulation, goal setting, grief, parenting and behavior, positive psychology, relaxation, self-esteem, stress management, substance use, and values.

The way that I have been using TherapistAid at my internship with Evanston Township Highschool is for the formation of groups and the content being covered throughout group sessions. Each full time social worker and their interns are responsible for creating and facilitating a certain amount of groups during the school year. I have used both the tools available at Evanston in addition to TherapistAid to help create an online resource center for social workers to use. Social workers can go to this shared web page and look up the topic they are covering in group. Once they search for the topic and click on that folder, there will be a list of resources provided which includes worksheets, curriculums, videos, interactive games, and much more. For example, I will be cofacilitating a group that focuses on social skills for students considered high functioning who have IEP goals that indicate a focus on communication and positive socialization. By filtering the demographic and specific topic, I can use TherapistAid to pull worksheets and activities that will assist students with increasing social skills.

TherpistAid fits into providing evidence-based education, behavior, and mental health services portion of the school social work practice model. In its mission statement, TherapistAid states “it is dedicated to helping mental health professionals improve their craft by providing free evidence-based education and therapy tools. Our resources are created with clients in mind, which means avoiding jargon, and creating tools that are not only useful in theory, but in practice” (https://www.therapistaid.com/about). By using TherapistAid, social workers and other mental health professional can provide multiple examples of evidence-based practice materials that meet the clients where they are at as well as remains within a strengths based approach. These tools can also be used to monitor group and individual progress to assist in evaluating the effectiveness of services being provided to students.

Below is the link to the TherapistAid website. It is free to sign up with your email and easy to navigate. I hope this will be useful during your internship and beyond!

https://www.therapistaid.com/about

https://www.therapistaid.com/

Group activities resource

104 Activities that build: self- esteem, teamwork, communication, anger management, self-discovery, coping skills, is a book that I discovered and purchased over the summer as a resource for activities to do in any groups that I may have. The book contains game and activity ideas to address different topics. The games can encourage children to modify behavior, increase interaction with others, start discussions, address issues, and build relationships. The activities in the book are best suited for middle school and high school age students. I think it’s a great resource because most of the activities don’t require many materials and all of them have some sort of discussion piece that can be done following the activity.

The book’s author, Alanna Jones, is a certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist, who has worked in psychiatric hospitals with children, adolescents, and adults. She has several other books out with therapy games and other team-building activities. These activities can help us deliver evidence-based education, behavior, and mental-health services to our students.