Category: Social work

Objective: This assignment is designed to help you articulate the challenges associated with providing social work to students in schools. *Reflect on the below event involving a student, as a school social worker what may prompt you to respond in a manner that is different from what other staff such as the school teachers, administrators, or nurses might expect?
*Consider the Code of Ethics: “Best interest of the child(ren)” who may be experiencing challenges based on race, ethnicity, disability, gender identity, or sexual orientation. Example Event:
This is only an example. A first grade student comes to school wearing oversized clothing and smells of cat urine. The child’s siblings are older and all appear to be dressed in size appropriate attire; however, they, too, smell of cat urine. The class teacher complains of the smell and appearance of the child and complains to you and the vice-principal that the student’s condition is both heartbreaking and a cause of disruption to other students in the class. Both the teacher and the vice-principal believe you should immediately report this to Child Welfare Services (CWS). You believe you should speak with the child and perhaps the siblings and parents to get a clearer picture of what may be occurring as this does not sound as if it a suspicion of abuse or neglect yet. In addition, you know by law that teachers are not allowed to defer their duty to report and, if a report should be made, it should be from the teacher who has first hand knowledge of the concern. Answer:
How would you address this? Remember the sociological imagination and taking on a broader perspective than “judging” the individual.
Provide feedback to at least two of your group members using correct grammar and sentence structure. Responses must demonstrate insight and foster continued learning. Responses that are short and do not demonstrate effort, such as simply stating “Good idea. I agree,” will not receive full points. While this activity is graded as complete/incomplete it is part of the course learning experience and counts towards this week active engagement. I will provide more info on Mandating Reporting next week ~

Post a response to the following:
Identify the distinctions between key characteristics for the diagnosis of bipolar and depressive disorders.
Explain the impact of misdiagnosis from a lack of understanding these distinctions, including to the client, to the agency, or to an insurance provider.
Explain when you would use “other specified” and “unspecified” when diagnosing mental disorders. Explain the impact to the client.
Explain the specifier “with anxious distress and when you would use it.”

BY DAY 3
Post your evaluation of the group social worker’s leadership skills in the Levy video, using at least two items from each of the three categories found in the Toseland and Rivas chapter (facilitation of group processes, data gathering and assessment, and action). Suggest another way the social worker might have initiated the group conversation.

Post a response to the following:
Identify the distinctions between key characteristics for the diagnosis of bipolar and depressive disorders.
Explain the impact of misdiagnosis from a lack of understanding these distinctions, including to the client, to the agency, or to an insurance provider.
Explain when you would use “other specified” and “unspecified” when diagnosing mental disorders. Explain the impact to the client.
Explain the specifier “with anxious distress and when you would use it.”

Submit a 2-page paper that addresses the following: Using evidence from the Learning Resources, describe the purpose of an ACE screening tool and explain why it is used by professionals working with children and families.
Describe some of the potential benefits and risks of routine ACE screening and explain what you, as a social worker, could do to mitigate the risks.
Identify a few additional factors you might want to screen for, in addition to the ACEs included in the ACEs Aware screening tool, and explain how this additional knowledge could inform your work with children and families. Use the Learning Resources to support your Assignment. Make sure to provide APA citations and a reference list.

Social Work Values
Objective: Define social work and introduction to social work values.
Social work is a dynamic and demanding profession that requires a variety of skills and qualities. Whether these skills are innate or acquired, success in the field requires social workers to continually develop them throughout their career. While this list is not exhaustive, the following skills are vital for all social workers.
Social workers rely on their values and skills to help individuals address issues. One of the core values of social work is the importance of human relationships. To start building a strong relationship a social worker will begin applying the skills we learned about in this module. One of the most significant one being empathy.
Empathy is the ability to identify with and understand another person’s experience and point of view. NASW defines it as “the act of perceiving, understanding, experiencing and responding to the emotional state and ideas of another person.”¹
“Stepping into someone else’s shoes” and recognizing that experiences, perceptions and worldviews are unique to each individual enables social workers to better understand and build stronger relationships with clients. It is a vital skill that helps social workers to determine a client’s needs based on his or her unique experiences in order to efficiently provide services.
¹Barker, R. L. (2003). The Social Work Dictionary. 5th ed. Washington, DC: NASW Press.
The difficult thing about empathy, as you saw in the video On Empathy is that sometimes we might not agree with our client or in an attempt to be positive, we want to cheer them on and say something completely opposite so they feel better, what I like to call “the cheerleader response”. See examples below:
Client (when discussing her daughter) : “I am a terrible parent, she just doesn’t listen to me and I have to yell at her to get her attention”
In this situation we might be tempted to say “Of course you are a good parent…don’t be so hard on yourself”…however that is not true empathy. Empathy would be something like “What I hear you say is that parenting is hard” or “That sounds like a struggle, it must be very hard for you”.
Adolescent Client (when discussing his dad): “My dad hates me, he is the worst dad ever!”
In this situation we might be tempted to say “No he doesn’t! He loves you so much, he buys you food and clothes…” or “You are mad, but you know that’s not true.” An empathic response would be something such as, “I am sorry to hear that, what does it meant to you that he hates you?” or “Help me understand why he hates you, that must be lonely and hard for you…”
Submission and Grading
1. In your own words, define Social Work and state how it is different from other professions you have encountered or your own (if Social Work is not your major). See section Social Work and Other Helping Professions to help with this question.
2. Reflect on empathy, how can you practice using it to strengthen the core value of importance of human relationships. Think of your everyday interactions at work or in your community. Even if you do not work in social work, you can use empathy with any type of customer, consumer or individual in your community. In a full paragraph, describe
1. How you will implement empathy and do you think it will benefit those relationships?
2. Do you foresee any difficulties as you practice implementing empathy?
Please click on at the end of this discussion post.
(40 points total) Please see “snowman” icon on the top right-hand corner to see assignment rubric used for grading.

Instructions
It is anticipated that the initial discussion post should be in the range of 250-300 words. Response posts to peers have no minimum word requirement but must demonstrate topic knowledge and scholarly engagement with peers. Substantive content is imperative for all posts. All discussion prompt elements for the topic must be addressed. Please proofread your response carefully for grammar and spelling. Do not upload any attachments unless specified in the instructions. All posts should be supported by a minimum of one scholarly resource, ideally within the last 5 years. Journals and websites must be cited appropriately. Citations and references must adhere to APA format.
Classroom Participation
Students are expected to address the initial discussion question by Wednesday of each week. Participation in the discussion forum requires a minimum of three (3) substantive postings (this includes your initial post and posting to two peers) on three (3) different days. Substantive means that you add something new to the discussion supported with citation(s) and reference(s), you are not just agreeing. This is also a time to ask questions or offer information surrounding the topic addressed by your peers. Personal experience is appropriate for a substantive discussion, however, should be correlated to the literature.
All discussion boards will be evaluated utilizing rubric criterion inclusive of content, analysis, collaboration, writing and APA. If you fail to post an initial discussion or initial discussion is late, you will not receive points for content and analysis, you may however post to your peers for partial credit following the guidelines above.
Initial Response
Instructions:The U.S. Census Bureau defines family as a “household that has at least two members related by blood, marriage, or adoption, one of whom is the householder.”
What do you think about this definition?
Does this definition reflect your family or other families you know?
Is this definition limiting?
Please be sure to validate your opinions and ideas with citations and references in APA format.
The post and responses are valued at 25 points. Please review post and response expectations. Please review the rubric to ensure that your response meets criteria.
Estimated time to complete: 2 hours
Peer Response
Instructions:You are expected to actively participate in the forums each week. Responses to others must add substantively to the discussion by building upon classmates’ ideas or posing critical questions to further the discussion. For example, a posting of “I agree with what people are saying” is not sufficient. What is considered sufficient is initiating further discussion, promoting further thought, providing critical or integrative dialog providing effective support or encouragement, challenging by showing supporting literature or other documentation, and/or self-reflecting regarding the topic. You must respond to at least two other peers’ initial posts. Please read and respond to at least two of your peers’ initial postings. You may want to consider the following questions in your responses to your peers:
Compare and contrast your initial posting with those of your peers. How are they similar or how are they different?
What information can you add that would help support the responses of your peers?
Ask your peers a question for clarification about their post.
What most interests you about their responses? Please be sure to validate your opinions and ideas with citations and references in APA format.
All peer responses are due by Sunday at 11:59 pm CT.
Estimated time to complete: 1 hour

Classroom Participation
Students are expected to address the initial discussion question by Wednesday of each week. Participation in the discussion forum requires a minimum of three (3) substantive postings (this includes your initial post and posting to two peers) on three (3) different days. Substantive means that you add something new to the discussion supported with citation(s) and reference(s), you are not just agreeing. This is also a time to ask questions or offer information surrounding the topic addressed by your peers. Personal experience is appropriate for a substantive discussion, however should be correlated to the literature.
All discussion boards will be evaluated utilizing rubric criterion inclusive of content, analysis, collaboration, writing and APA. If you fail to post an initial discussion or initial discussion is late, you will not receive points for content and analysis, you may however post to your peers for partial credit following the guidelines above.
Initial Response
Instructions:Explain how CBT and DBT can bring clients closer to the “truth” when it comes to controlling emotions, behavior, and thoughts.
Describe the similarities and differences of both therapies and provide examples of the effectiveness of each therapy in social work practice.
Please be sure to validate your opinions and ideas with citations and references in APA format.
Your initial response is due by Wednesday at 11:59 pm CT.
Estimated time to complete: 2 hours
Peer Response
Instructions:Please read and respond to at least two of your peers’ initial postings. You may want to consider the following questions in your responses to your peers:Compare and contrast your initial posting with those of your peers. How are they similar or how are they different?
What information can you add that would help support the responses of your peers?
Ask your peers a question for clarification about their post.
What most interests you about their responses? Please be sure to validate your opinions and ideas with citations and references in APA format.All peer responses are due by Sunday at 11:59 pm CT.Estimated time to complete: 1 hou

Reflection #4: Mental Health Matters
6262 unread replies.6262 replies.
Watch and Reflect
Watch Video above.
What is “Black Mental Health” and why does it “Matter”? Hear Phillip’s journey of trauma, resilience, and advocacy as he gives an impassioned talk discussing the impact of trauma on black identity, and black wellness, and why America’s current conversation on mental health is inadequate. – Phillip J. Roundtree, MSW, MS is the Founder of Quadefy LLC, an organization dedicated to providing empowerment services to enhance the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual strength of an individual, team, and/or business. He is a staunch advocate of destigmatizing mental health, by promoting total wellness, amongst marginalized and often underrepresented communities. His transparency, as it relates to his personal journey in coping with depression and anxiety, gives a face, voice, and hope to those who’ve yet to recognize their emotional and cognitive strength. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedxLinks to an external site.
Submission and Grading
1. After watching the video above, in your own words describe how are the the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness affected by culture, ethnicity, socio-economic status, gender or age of individuals?
2. Use a key term/concept from our class to share how it relates to the mental health please bold the term and define it first.
Please click on at the end of this discussion post.

Reflection #4: Mental Health Matters
5454 unread replies.6262 replies.
Watch and Reflect
Watch Video above.
What is “Black Mental Health” and why does it “Matter”? Hear Phillip’s journey of trauma, resilience, and advocacy as he gives an impassioned talk discussing the impact of trauma on black identity, and black wellness, and why America’s current conversation on mental health is inadequate. – Phillip J. Roundtree, MSW, MS is the Founder of Quadefy LLC, an organization dedicated to providing empowerment services to enhance the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual strength of an individual, team, and/or business. He is a staunch advocate of destigmatizing mental health, by promoting total wellness, amongst marginalized and often underrepresented communities. His transparency, as it relates to his personal journey in coping with depression and anxiety, gives a face, voice, and hope to those who’ve yet to recognize their emotional and cognitive strength. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedxLinks to an external site.
Submission and Grading
1. After watching the video above, in your own words describe how are the the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness affected by culture, ethnicity, socio-economic status, gender or age of individuals?
2. Use a key term/concept from our class to share how it relates to the mental health please bold the term and define it first.
Please click on at the end of this discussion post.