Affirmations

I've been engaged in leadership coaching for about 9 or so months. It's been an interesting journey of self-reflection and realizing the type of leader I am. I used to consider leadership more along the lines of becoming rather than realizing that I already am. 

One thing that I was encouraged (required) to do as part of the coaching was to write down affirmations. I am not an affirmations type of person, but I am the type of person who will complete assignments...because one I am responsible and that is one of my strengths. Putting these down on paper was a lot more challenging than I thought it would be and it took me longer than I anticipated to get 10 on the paper. There are a few that challenge me even now I think about them. 

I am smart.

I do not owe anyone anything.

My opinion matters. 

I am not afraid of success. 

On a regular basis I try to reflect on these ones specifically in order to manifest them in my daily life. These are probably the ones I believe less often than other affirmations I have written. I am quick to revert to negative self-talk and can sabotage my own success. When I do realize I am talking negatively to myself, I remind myself of these affirmations. I know I will continue to struggle negative views of myself and my abilities, however I have found this exercise to provide a new depth of perspective I had not had before. 

Changing how you word things can have a powerful effect on your mind. Moving forward in life may require some change in thinking. Writing down positive affirmations may be a tool to help your change your thoughts and views about yourself. 

Balancing Power

We frequently talk about the inherent power imbalance between client and social worker. Even the terms we use to describe the micro system the social worker is engaged with; client, consumer, service recipient, etc. We are aware of this power imbalance yet we discuss empowerment and we discuss it in the context of the social worker empowering the client. Maybe it is an issue of semantics, but however you slice the power pie the social worker is always left with more. Whether that be legitimate, referent, expert, or coercive power, the social worker is usually always the one with more power. 

An individual working with a social worker may try to find their power and it may be labeled as non-compliant- even that term illustrates the constant power social workers exert over their clients. Not following through on treatment plans because their do not reflect their values, not engaging with the social worker because their is no connection or there is a lack of cultural understanding, or completely removing oneself from a service are ways an individual could try to regain some of their power. 

How do we then start to balance that power?

Let's be honest, a client has little recourse when a social worker is providing poor services. They may be able to complain to a supervisor, but that may be ineffective and depending on relationships may hurt the client. Social work is not like a restaurant where Karen-ing out on management may result in immediate benefits.   

One way I believe we may be able to help shift some of the power in the relationship is to inform clients of their right to make reports to the state licensing board. A step forward would be to show them how to make a report. I don't know about every state, but in Ohio, your professional licensure is public record. Anyone can look up a licensee with first and last name to see the status of the license and whether they have had issues with the licensing board before. 

Providing the knowledge on making complaints to the license board can provide clients a vehicle to ensure the social worker is providing quality services that are ethical and in line with best practices. I do not believe that the majority of clients will follow through with making reports, but I do think that it would empower clients to report concerns to the licensing board. 

I believe that this may be part of informed consent, but is this fulling communicated to clients and do they fully understand what it means or how to do it. Clients can discuss concerns with client's rights officers, but they may be deterred due to the client's rights officers being employed by the agency. 

These are some thoughts I've had recently. There are more ways to start to bring about more balance in the client/social worker relationship, but this is one way I do not hear much conversation about. 

What are your thoughts? Do you inform your clients that they can make reports to the board if a social worker is being unethical?

TIC Thoughts

This week I participated in two events that centered around trauma informed care. Several things were stood out to me during these events and while I am still processing I wanted to put them out there. Plus, it helps me to reach my goal of blogging at least twice per month this year. Admittingly, this blog post won't be the same as my others. Here I am just putting thoughts, ideas, and things that really stopped and made me think. 

• "Racial oppression is a traumatic form of interpersonal violence which can lacerate the spirit, scar the soul, and puncture the psyche". - Dr. Kenneth Hardy
• We cannot build authentic rapport without addressing historical trauma. 
• Protective space and protective relationships are the foundation of trauma informed practice and supports the brain's neuroplasticity in healing. 
• Trauma is a public health problem. 
• Safety cannot exist without incorporating culture. 
• Trauma involves a loss of power and control. 
• "Nothing for us without us"; we must include those who are affected in meaningful ways. This is completely aligned with TIC principles. 
• We are harmed in connection- we can only heal in connection. 
• Evidence based practices must be implemented within the context of the community. 
• Keeping the work of trauma informed care moving forward requires collaborations which is a from of community care. 
• Sense of belonging is both necessary for those being served and the professionals who are part of the service. 
• To help foster belonging, take time to address when there is a breakdown in safety or a violation of norms. 
• Equity and culture are embedded in being trauma informed. 
• When we practice TIC everyone benefits. We need to have a common language and framework. 
• Transforming systems is foundational to healing- community collaborations are needed to moving the work forward. 
• Healing is more than resilience. 

Some questions I am still pondering:

• How do I foster a sense of belonging in the groups I work with?
• How do we give voice and choice to those we are working with in a meaningful way?
• How am I working to address historical traumas?

Self-care: Practice or Play

For the past year or so, I have observed more and more conversation about self-care from both social workers and others. I have read posts on social media with friends and colleagues discussing what they are doing for self-care. I even started a Facebook group with the intentions of encouraging people to engage in more self-care.

One post really got me thinking. A friend discussed their plans for having a spa day and getting their nails done. My initial thought was “Oh good for her”, but as I thought more about the post, I had to ask myself is that practicing or is that playing? There is an interesting dichotomy between practicing and playing, but we do not discuss it much when we talk about self-care.

So, what is the difference?

Practicing requires word and dedication. One does not become good at anything by doing it every so often. If I am trying to learn to play the piano, I would not be very good if I just worked at it once a week.

The word play is defined as to “engage in activity for enjoyment and recreation rather than a serious or practical purpose”. The word itself probably brings up images of something enjoyable that you may have done as a child or you do now. Adults do not play all the time; that is the quintessential hallmark of being an adult. I can play a board game, but no one probably say I am practicing a board game. I can also play a sport, but if I wanted to be taken seriously it would be more appropriate for me to practice that sport.

Are you practicing or are you playing self-care?

Practicing and playing are both important and social workers need to do both. However, playing self-care (i.e., getting nails done, drinking a glass of wine, or eating some fine chocolates) is not enough. We also need to develop practices of self-care. We need to attend to our emotional, spiritual, mental, and physical health. Each person’s path to self-care is different, but I encourage you to consider how to move from playing with self-care to developing more practices of self-care.

As you consider this, you begin to realize it is strongly related to resilience. Six psychosocial factors have been found to promote resilience and these include optimism, cognitive flexibility, active coping skills, maintaining a supportive social network, attending to one’s physical well-being, and embracing a moral compass (as cited by Nugent, Sumner, & Amstadter, 2014). These factors have been studied in individuals who have experienced resilience after a trauma, however, I contend that as social workers are living through a global pandemic with the burden of trying to care for a society that is plagued with injustices. If we have not experienced our own trauma, we need to be acutely aware of secondary traumatic stress. 

Play with your self-care. Find relaxation and enjoyment, but don't forget to practice self-care too. 

 

An "Aha" Moment

The New Social Worker magazine put out a solicitation for articles for Social Work Month 2021. I decided to try and submit something I have gained a deeper, clearer, and stronger realization of over the past year. I was excited to find out that it was accepted and published. 

"From a macro perspective, the most essential thing I want social workers to know is that we must work on changing the whole social environment" (Jones, 2021). 

You can read more here. 

Can “why” help prevent burnout?

Long story short, I decided to take some classes towards a Master’s in Business Administration. Will I complete it? Who knows…I honestly know. I am just taking a class at a time and focusing on enjoying learning new information. The first class I took was on Marketing for Nonprofits. I’ve always been kind of interested in marketing so I was excited about the course.

I believe it was in the second week we had to watch a TEDx Talk by Simon Sinek. In it, he talks about how most leaders and organizations know what they do, and then some go further and know how they do it. Few organizations know why they do what they do. Sinek refers to this as the Golden Circles; a seeming simple concept, but very impactful once fully realized.

Inspired leaders and inspired organizations communicate from the inside out; they start with why. Too often in social work we get caught up in the what and how. We want to know what we need to do our how to address a situation or what the issue is and how do we empower clients to address their issues that the why gets lost. I don’t know if you have every been in a situation where you do things just because someone has said this is what we do without explaining why it’s done that way. It drives me up a wall. Some people are so content without connecting to they why.

I think part of the reason social workers burnout is because they lose that connect with their why. Our jobs stress the what and how and it’s usually up to us to connect with our why. This March, social workers have been inundated with messages about being essential, but the funny thing is I think we already knew that. Knowing we are essential to the very social fabric of the country isn’t enough to save us from burnout. In fact, there is no single solution to the problem of burnout. However, there are things social workers can do to help prevent burnout such as self-care and appropriate supervision. Check out this article with some guidance on preventing burnout.

Social work is not a profession for the light hearted. If you are in micro practice you are working with people on some of their worst days. If you are in macro practice it is easy to forget that change takes awhile to happen. We can get so caught up in our daily "to-do" lists or whatever priority has come up. We take a strength's based approach to our work and sometimes we are the only ones looking for the good in others. When society is falling apart, social workers are there advocating for change. It's no wonder we spend so much time focusing on the what and how that put the why on the back burner of our minds. 

While not the single solution to burnout, I would encourage my fellow social workers to spend some time in reflection and reconnect with your why. Why drives our behaviors. Your why is probably what got you into the social work profession in the first place. Maybe your why has changed over the years (and that’s ok), but going beyond the what and how of what you do to connect with why you are in the profession can be part of the solution to preventing burnout.

This social work month- Connect With Your Why.

Social Work Month 2021