Reflection/ Marking tool

Key Lessons

There are various primary learnings that I have gained from this course. First, under health, wellness, and safety in schools, I have learned suicide assessment and intervention skills. This skill is critical as suicide causes 2.3 times more deaths than homicides, contrary to popular belief (Singer, 2018). From the readings, I learned that youths aged 10 to 14 have a higher probability of dying by suicide than in homicide or a car accident (Singer, 2018). This statistic was critical as it indicated the dire need to focus on suicide assessment and intervention, particularly with the youth. In addition, the issue disproportionately affects African American youths who often prefer to hang themselves than use firearms (Singer, 2018). In my line of work, I will most likely work with youths contemplating suicide; hence the knowledge of the several psychotherapies such as attachment-based family therapy that reduce suicidal behaviors and thoughts in youth was vital. However, I must use the customized versions of the existing models for practical use in schools. Finally, I also better understood my duties as a social worker, including knowing my responsibilities, students, community, tools, and resources. With this knowledge, I can better serve students who have suicidal thoughts in the legal, appropriate, and most effective way using the available tools and resources. 

Additionally, I better understood implicit bias and microaggressions and how they impact my role as a social worker. Through the course, I understood that people possess unconscious biases contingent on how they look and talk. In this way, I reflected on my biases, including how I automatically classified people according to their culture and associated stereotypes. Additionally, through the readings, I better understood the effects of implicit bias on students, including lower academic performance, inequitable punishments, and a reduced expected year of schooling (Finley, 2019). In contrast, microaggressions are implicit biases' outgrowths manifesting in various decision points and interpersonal situations. For example, they manifest in insults, slights, and denigrating messages (Finley, 2019). Implicit bias and microaggressions manifest in numerous ways, which can be overwhelming if one intends to learn them at once. However, recognizing that they are all based on powerful feelings that can be identified, comprehended, and managed has been comforting and a motivation to be better at recognizing, eradicating, and helping others do the same in my future role as a social worker. In this regard, creating awareness of the existence of implicit bias and the three categories of microaggressions (microinsult, micro assault, and microinvalidation) in schools can help reduce their occurrence and effects on students. 

Finally, I understood the importance of being culturally competent in my line of work to serve students from diverse cultural backgrounds better. As a future social worker, I will likely encounter beliefs, ideas, or traditions different from mine. I can effectively navigate these differences through cultural competence while catering to the students' needs. By eliminating various cultural barriers, a school social worker can improve the students' health outcomes and encourage them to pursue the required services (UOM, 2015). Cultural competence also better positions the social workers to assist the students with various issues, including behavioral and mental health, discrimination, family, and mental health issues (UOM, 2015). Nonetheless, being culturally competent will not mean I must comprehend every detail of a person's culture. Instead, it means that I will be open to people's cultures, inquire about what I do not understand, and be respectful. 

Personal Vision Statement

To make a difference in the lives of students, families, and the community through support, empowerment, and advocacy

.Personal Statement of Purpose

I believe children deserve a good quality of life and their fundamental needs met. Unfortunately, my experiences have exposed me to vulnerable children's numerous barriers. I see School Social Work as an opportunity to improve the lives of society's most vulnerable by upholding their rights, protecting them from harm, and taking a holistic, person-centered approach to helping them to build meaningful lives for themselves.

Core Values and Strengths Informing my Work

My work will be informed by various core beliefs that reflect the uniqueness of the School Social Work profession. The first is honor, which involves respecting myself, the profession, and the students. I will respect the students' inherent dignity and worth and be mindful of their differences and cultural diversity. Therefore, this would align with being culturally competent by being open to the students' cultures and inquiring about the aspects I do not understand about it instead of stereotyping them. Developing cultural competence and honoring students will be enabled by my strength of empathy. I can comprehend other people's points of view and experiences, making it relatively easier to accommodate different cultures. Additionally, courage is part of my core beliefs. I always aspire to act ethically and do the right thing, even when it is hard. In this way, I can recognize social injustice in schools and rally citizens and colleagues to lobby against it through sustained effort over time. I require courage to fathom the risk of failure and opposition, in pursuit of social justice, even by powerful entities such as the government. My strengths of patience and persistence will be valuable as I lobby for social justice, as sometimes it takes time and repetitive action to change systems already in place. Finally, I aim to be committed to safeguarding students from harm and working with the system to ensure their wellbeing. 

Simple Role Description

School Social Workers will provide mental health services related to a person's social, emotional, and life adjustment to school and society. In addition, school Social Workers will link the home, school, and community by providing direct and indirect services to students, families, and school personnel to promote and support students' academic and social success.

Work Plan

Creating a work plan enables social workers to be reflexive and requires careful consideration of each student's circumstances. My work plan involves several steps, including; case management, individual or group therapy, crisis interventions, restorative circles, community referrals, community referrals, participation in student 504 plans, SSTs, and the Individualized Education Program (IEP), working in collaboration with the community, parents, administrators, and teachers, and presentations. Case management involves evaluating, planning, monitoring, and assessing the possible choices that the student requires to meet their needs which would then lead to individual or group therapy (Canda & Furman, 2019). Crisis interventions offer short-term assistance to emotionally, physically, mentally and behaviorally distressed students. At the same time, restorative justice is genuine in-person conversations between the offender and victim and is critical to social work. In contrast, community referrals involve referring the students to community-based services. In addition, K-12 students having challenges in school can also benefit from IEPs, 504 Plans, and SSTs (Canda & Furman, 2019). After working with the community, parents, administrators, and teachers, I can finally present the case to supervisors and peers to ensure the student gets the best treatment customized to their needs.

References

Canda, E., & Furman, L. (2019). Spiritual diversity in social work practice: The heart of helping (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press, 2019.

Finley, T. (2019). A look at implicit bias and microaggressions. Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/article/look-implicit-bias-and-microaggressions.

Singer, J. (2018). Suicide risk in schools: What social workers need to know. SocialWorker.com. https://www.socialworker.com/feature-articles/practice/suicide-risk-in-schools-what-social-workers-need-to-know/.

UOM. (2015). Culturally Responsive Child Welfare Practice Winter [eBook]. University of Minnesota. https://cascw.umn.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/CW360-Winter2015.pdf.