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