Engage with Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities 

Whether a social worker is servicing through a micro, mezzo, or macro lens, we must reflect back to our values to support our professional engagement. When engaging with clients, referring to theories such as Person-in-environment can help them feel heard and supported. In the field of social work, I will encounter clients with diverse backgrounds so, it is important that I can meet them where they are at and approach them as the expert of their own situation. 

 

6A-  Examine evidence-based practices to prepare for professional engagement across systems.

Field Evidence: Sources of Strength is an evidence-based suicide prevention program that focuses on the strengths perspective. This group is made up of students with various roles in the school and a variety of teachers throughout the building. For this school year, I became a Sources of Strengths advisor and was identified as a trusted adult. I received training for this program in Dalton High School and The Dalton Academy. I helped coordinate this in Calhoun High School and below you will see the flyer for the monthly themes and meeting dates.

Click here to view the Sources of Strength student info document.

Course Evidence: In the course School Social Work Concepts, I had the opportunity to learn more about a school social work role in a small town. I learned how the school social worker engaged with her students and reflected on how her role impacted the students. Through this interview, I examined how Mrs. Vess used evidence-based practices to engage with students who are at-risk of graduating. She increased her interactions with students when past interventions were ineffective. The use of collaborating with other significant people such as the principle, teachers, and parents were found to be most effective when addressing an at-risk student. I implemented this strategy in my practicum setting to improve school engagement with at-risk students by leading more Attendance Review Team meetings.  

Below you will see my School Social Worker Interview Reflection and how I can learn from her process of engaging with students, school staff, and families in the community.

School Social Worker Interview Reflection

 

6B-  Engage with systems utilizing evidence-based practice strategies.

Course Evidence: In my Advanced Clinical Skills course, I learned how to utilize evidence-based strategies to support my facilitation when engaging with individuals and families. In this course, I facilitated a one-on-one session with a client who was struggling with anxiety and depression. In the timestamp 6:18-8:00, I engaged with my client by using a solution-focused technique that helps facilitators monitor client progress and incremental changes. I also used skills such as paraphrasing, summarizing, and active listening to build the therapeutic process. Below you will find a link to the recorded session.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ftnWwpfzzk

Field Evidence: Sources of Strength is an evidenced based program that focuses on strength-based interventions to reduce the risk of suicide and other negative pathways for students. Sources of Strength promotes positive mental health through peer led campaigns to increase the acceptability of asking for help, healthy coping methods, and communication with trusted adults. I have been trained at Dalton High School, The Dalton Academy, and plan to be trained again this upcoming November on behalf of Calhoun City Schools. As an intern, I supported this group by coordinating a campaign centered around physical health and healthy coping methods. As an advanced generalist social worker, I must be intentional with the interventions I use to support my target population. In this case, I reviewed and implemented a evidence-based practice suggested by the National Library of Medicine. It stated that a walk outdoors can help reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression (Grassini, 2022). In result of this, I created a flyer to fulfill the topic of the month I created a flyer to encourage teachers and students to go on a walk. This campaign was a success and was enjoyed by all who participated. 

Reference

Grassini S. (2022). A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Nature Walk as an Intervention for Anxiety and Depression. Journal of clinical medicine, 11(6), 1731. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm11061731

 

Skills Used: I used communication, social skills, coordinate, management, and advocacy to fulfill this competency. 

Knowledge Used: I used knowledge acquired from the Sources of Strength training I received, Dalton and Calhoun schools policy handbook, Advanced Clinical Skills course, and School Social Work Concepts course. 

Values Present: Importance of human relationships, service, integrity.

Cognitive Process Used: For these tasks, I designed and prepared materials to support the competency.

Affective Process Used: For these tasks, I listened and helped organize my clients and the activities in this competency.

Theoretical Foundation Used: The role theory is present in this competency. This is because I had to define my role as a social work intern and display leadership to carry out these learning activities. I organized and followed the chain of command when working with vulnerable clients.