Social Work Scrapbook (Ethical Dilemmas, Youtube Channel)

Social Work Scrapbook Youtube
Social Work Ethical Decision Making Guide

I found my item of interest in my SWK-611 Field Practicum class. My item of interest is, The Social Work Scrapbook, it a series of Youtube videos, blogs, social media and tools to use for social workers. All of these resources are run by a social worker from Texas, Lauren. Lauren offers a unique and modern approach to help social workers navigate the challenges and benefits of being a social worker. The topics Lauren presents are very applicable to social workers’ personal and professional lives. Her Youtube channel offers a number of vlogs on different topics across the social work profession. Her blog opens up a space for discussion on these topics and other tools that are useful, which are also available for free on TeachersPayTeachers.com. I have found Lauren’s perspective and tools to be helpful in my own learning and offer another approach to new information outside of the classroom. 

One of the most useful tools I have found in Lauren’s media is the “Social Workers Ethical Dilemma Decision Making Guide”. This tool, created by Lauren is paired with a short Youtube video discussing ethical dilemmas and how to navigate them best. The decision making guide presents simple questions to help the social worker assess and analyze the situation and how to approach the issue. 

Calm Guided Meditation

Calm is a guided mindfulness and meditation app that can be used in a lot of different ways.  Each day has a daily calm that provides the user with a focus on how to be more mindful and helps guide the user into recognizing times that cause stress.  Most of the meditations are about 10 minutes but you are able to find ones that are shorter or longer depending on your needs.  There are also different programs for things like sleep, anxiety, stress, self-care, focus, etc.  There are different practices that last between 7 to 21 days that focus on different needs as well which I thought could be helpful for a student or an educator who might be facing certain challenges.  Other features include music that is calming or energizing that lasts a few minutes or over an hour, a collection of sleep stories to help individuals with anxious minds work on their sleep hygiene, and short stretches and yoga moves to help relax the body.  

I believe this practice would be helpful to use in sessions or groups with students because it has been shown to be effective and is fairly simple to practice.  It helps with feelings of disappointment or overwhelming experiences.  Mindfulness has been used with students with ADHD and Autism as well as anxiety, depression, and behavioral challenges. Mindfulness can be used as an empowerment tool for students and help them regulate emotions and build resilience in tough situations.  The creators of Calm state that using mindfulness can help students regulate emotions better, be more alert during learning, have better attention to the task at hand and respond better to the needs of other students. The application has a seven-page instruction manual on how to implement this practice in a school setting as well.

This website has a few options for access, one is limited access which is free to all users.  The second option is that an individual can pay for an annual membership of $59.99 or a lifetime membership for $399.99.  However, there are two options for school social workers, you can sign up through calm health and get a free yearlong subscription for being a social worker or you can sign up through calm schools and get a lifetime membership for free, you just have to get approved.  It can be accessed through your computer, android, or iPhone.  

You can access this website by downloading the app on your iPhone or Android, or by going to: www.calm.com 

Calm Classroom

Calm Classroom- Bringing Mindfulness to School

Calm Classroom

Calm Classroom is a resource we use at York High School in the classroom and in group sessions with our students.  It is a form of guided mediation for students with anxiety and can be helpful in getting the classroom together and more peaceful.  Calm Classroom is a way to promote mental and emotional well-being through mindfulness.  The intention of this curriculum is to use this mindfulness based tool to "manage stress and achieve emotional well-being" by activating the body's relaxation response.  Research done by those who use Calm Classroom has shown that student and teacher stress is reduced, while classroom engagement is improved. 

In my own placement, I use Calm Classroom in an anxiety and a social-emotional learning group.  I implement the practice at the start of the group so the students start with a calm and relaxed attitude.  This can be done by playing the guided mediation music or scripts, or by reading the script to the students yourself.  Some students do not enjoy the guided mediation, so instead we do our own mindfulness practices.  I always allow for a discussion after to see how the students felt about that weeks activity.

The Social Work Model area I would put this resources into would be Practice 1 "Provide evidence based education, behavior, and mental health services".  This is done by implementing multi-tiered programs and practices, in group and individual settings.

"Feeling the Breath" is an activity for the high school classroom and "Body Scan" is for elementary and middle school classrooms.

Stephanie Hernandez

Mindfulness Practice            

Working in a school setting, the term SEL is thrown around alot in conversation. As school social workers, we use SEL to help guide our practice when working with students in areas of self-awareness, decision making, and social awareness. Focusing on the social emotional part/experiences of a student helps the social worker get a holistic viewpoint of the student. However, a new term that I recently heard at my field placement is mindful practice, this year all staff members at my field placement are required to attend professional development on mindful practices. Researching more about the topic I noticed the similarities of mindful practice and SEL, adding mindful practice as a support for SEL. “Mindfulness and SEL each prescribe certain practices and psychoeducation (which means discussion of psychological concepts that helps students better understand and regulate their internal life and behavior).” The goal of mindfulness practice is to train adults in acquiring skills to then teach to their own students. The 3 main skills to learn are: emotion regulation, attention control and self-awareness.

            Emotion regulation, is how one responds to emotions and how that respond impacts our well-being. Learning how to respond in a mindful way can help our emotion regulation. Attention control, in practicing mindfulness, one learns to select and object of attention and to hold a connection to that object, and to come back to the object when one is distracted. This skills is helpful for students to be successful in academics, and goal-directed behavior. Finally, self-awareness includes present moment awareness of the body and emotional cues. These 3 skills combined will allow students to create mindful habits for dealing with difficult situations. Mindfulness practice is a new technique that is still being researched and implemented in schools. There is still much to be learned from it but the benefits so far have been positive in decreasing negative student behavior, promoting self-awareness and contributing to academic success.

http://www.mindfulschools.org/foundational-concepts/integrating-mindfulness-social-emotional-learning-programs/

This is a great activity for students in social work group because it makes students identify their own strengths.  This makes students self aware and makes them look at the positives qualities they have.  They get to share what they are good at and feel good about themselves.  By putting the chains together, it becomes a teambuilding activity because it shows that utilizing each others strengths is what makes a team great.  These chains should be hung in the classroom or in the social work office to serve as a reminder for the students of their own strengths!

This activity is from a book titled “Everyday SEL in Elementary Schools” Integrating Social-Emotional Learning and Mindfulness into your Classroom.  The title says it all about this activity.  This activity is a practical strategy for teaching social emotional learning and mindfulness.
model: 

 Link: https://books.google.com/books?id=LihqDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA104&lpg=PA104&dq=strengths+paper+chain&source=bl&ots=FmWI60o8qr&sig=6tIdB1ov0A6bsPGtN487lkul_wI&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwifwciWmpPQAhUFOiYKHT1QBiYQ6AEIKTAC#v=onepage&q=strengths%20paper%20chain&f=false

SaveSave