Blog Post 6

(a) who was present: Kappy(Kap Daddy), Kady, Steph, Mariah, Daniel, Danielle, and Gina 

(b) what was discussed/decided and the rationale: Discussion was had regarding "Conceptualizing the Problem" paper, specifically progress and completion of assigned sections, deadline for submission to Gina for editing, editing process, and individual issues in completing sections. Our group seems to have settled in to developing and understanding of the problem, rather than jumping ahead to interventions. This appears to have helped in gaining perspective of the overall project.

(c) tasks completed or pending: all sections of the paper have a deadline of 11/28 and are to be submitted to Gina, out designated editor.

(d) the responsible party for those tasks: Kappy(Kap Daddy), Mariah, Danielle, and Kady have already submitted their sections and Daniel and Steph will submit by 11/28.

Blog for 11/21

Present was Danielle, Kady, Stephanie, Daniel, Gina, Mariah, Kappy, and Lindsey. The group wanted to clarify with Lindsey the information to be posted on the blog and our ideas of where we want to go with our project. The group continued to conceptualize the project and what specifically we wanted to address with the project, for example; do we want to provide various methods for self-care for SW students and/or therapists, or awareness of burn out, or both. Group members have been conducting informal interviews to determine the need for self-care awareness. The next step after the completion of the paper is to decide if we want to create a survey for SW students and therapists, or to use the one from the University of Buffalo. We will also talk with Brad Lundall about possible resources, or even a workshop. The group confirmed who had the parts of the paper that needed to be accomplished and the deadline to which the paper had to be to Gina for editing and formatting. It was decided that by Dec. 1st everyone should have their portion of their paper to Gina. By our next meeting Kappy will have contacted Brad Lundall to see when we can talk with him about our ideas for the project; we will also bring together our resources and discuss them as a group. 

Blog Post 4: 11/7/14

On 10/31/14 we had a group meeting after class.  Present during our meeting were Daniel, Danielle, Kappy and Mariah and absent were Gina, Stephanie, and Katie. During our meeting we decided who was going to write the different parts of our group paper.  Kappy and Mariah are writing part one and two, Daniel is writing part three, Stephanie is writing part four and Danielle and Katie are collaborating on part five. Gina will be responsible for proof reading and editing our group paper.  Our group is still in the process of researching our topic and have stumbled upon some interesting research related to our topic done by the University of Buffalo. As a group we will decide if we want to implement some of the components from the study done by the University of Buffalo into our project.  Over this last week we have been talking with other students in different classes regarding their perception of self care and how they feel out program here at the U addresses it. We have gathered similar views from almost everyone we have talked to. We also would like to pass around a self care assessment tool that the University of Buffalo produced to see the different results other students in our cohort get. 

Post 3

A) At our meeting on Friday Kappy, Kady, Steph, Mariah, Daniel, Danielle, and Gina were all present.

B) During our group meeting we discussed who our target population is, whether the issues we are addressing is a problem or a condition, and what specifically that issues is.  We discovered the target population by stating the issue at hand, which was social worker burn out and the possible affects of social work clientele. We discussed narrowing the population down to MSW Students who are working in the field or in practicums. It was decided that the issue at hand is considered to be a condition because it is a phenomenon that hasn’t been labeled by the community as a problem however it is distressing to a sum of people.

C) Pending right now is speaking with people to receive permission to have an arena where we can gather together and invite MSW students to participate mindfulness and yoga and deliver information on self-care.

D) Group members are responsible for coming up with research that supports what we believe to be the condition. Group members are also responsible for putting together an informative pamphlets on social worker burn out prevention, self-care, and mindful exercises to give to MSW students who are interested.

Author: Stephanie Chamberlain

Post 2: 10/2/14

A. In class on Friday when we met as a group, Mariah, Kappy, Daniel, Kady, Danielle and Stephanie were all present. The only person absent was Gina. 

B. As a group, we discussed trying a few self-care strategies in the hall for students in between classes. After the practice, we would ask the students who participated how they felt. We talked about having one or two yoga poses (specifically poses that promote energy and motivation) as well as have a few minutes dedicated to a small mindfulness meditation practice. 

We also  talked about how each person would take some time to research articles regarding social work burn out and the importance of self-care in our field. These articles will help us with our needs assessment. 

C. After talking to my supervisor this week at my practicum, he gave me some great ideas about implementing the different parts of DBT that would work great for social work burn out and self-care. For example, "improving the moment", self-soothes, mindfulness, self-compassion, etc. I will discuss this with the rest of my group next time we meet and hopefully they are reading this as well, LOL. 

The rest of the assignments that we discussed (yoga in hall before class, gathering articles) are pending. 

D. Everyone in our group is responsible for coming up with ideas to add to our project. We also encourage everyone to be a part of the mindfulness/yoga session in the hall, if possible. Mariah and Daniel said that they would work on some yoga poses and I (Kappy) committed to doing a quick mindfulness exercise. Next time we meet, we will give more direct assignments for each person and work on moving forward since we are now pretty clear on what we are wanting to do. 

Authored by: Kappy Kindred 

Post 1: Initial Meeting (9/12/14)

   A)   At our first meeting Mariah Rist, Elizabeth Kindred, Daniel Henderson, Danielle Payne, Gina Brewer, and Kady Newland were present.

   B)   Our group discussed ideas for our community project and brainstormed about the population we want to focus on. We decided to direct our project towards social workers and the burnout they face entering or being in a field that can cause significant emotional distress. We want to incorporate mindfulness, yoga, and other healing methods to help social workers take care of themselves so they can better serve the community. Our group discussed ways to implement our project and different ideas on how to approach the issues social workers are facing. We decided to think of ideas over the next week and meet back together as a group and share ideas and thoughts.

   C)   We completed the task of creating a group, sharing ideas, and creating a possible route for our community project. Each person in the group is responsible this week for thinking of ideas for our project and how to direct it towards the social work profession. Pending tasks include our projects exact focus and how to execute the project so that it successful and helpful in the community. 

   D)   Each person in our group is responsible for thinking of different ideas and avenues for our project. Our goal is to narrow down our ideas and come up with a rough draft game plan on how to proceed with the ideas presented.

Authored by: Mariah Rist