The New Social Worker Online Blog

Is it 2012 Already?!

noreply@blogger.com (Kryss Shane, L.M.S.W.) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 20:02:00 +0000

A year ago, I was asked to be the 2011 blogger. Although the writer in me loved the idea, the new professional was admittedly terrified. I wasn't sure I'd have enough to write about, that I'd be self-aware enough to recognize my mistakes, and that I would be brave enough to admit to them so publicly.

And somehow, approximately 50 posts later, here we are. This blog has given me a space to share the experiences I've had in my first year post-MSW, it's allowed me a forum to express my NASW-aligned beliefs, it's presented me the opportunity to ask you all for advice, and it's forced me to reexamine so many of the things I thought I knew.

In the year of weekly blog posts, I've earned my LMSW, watched marriage equality pass in NY, lost my first job due to restructuring, and have become increasingly aware of how important the social work community is, in all its incarnations.

The latest edition of The New Social Worker Magazine has just come out, in which I've shared my New Year's Resolutions. I hope they will encourage you to make your own and to begin and live your 2012 in the best possible light.

More though, I hope you know how important you've all been as I've chronicled my past year here. Some of you have commented, some of you have emailed privately, some of you have simply clicked to let me know when you've found something cool, interesting and/or funny. Regardless, you've been participants in my life. You've taken moments from your own busy schedules to peek into my world and for that, I am both incredibly humbled and unspeakably grateful.

In Social Work Solidarity, Your 2011 Blogger, Kryss

Online Friendships/Social Networking

noreply@blogger.com (Kryss Shane, L.M.S.W.) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 06:03:00 +0000

I know, I know, I am totally out of the norm... not posting last Friday (I was spending the day with the incredible Susan Mankita, L.C.S.W.) and today isn't Friday, but I really had the urge to update now, so forgive my being 6 days late or 1 day early, depending how you look at it. I've just been so recently majorly impacted by social networking that I couldn't help but come to this networking site and write about it.

Saturday night, my dog had an emergency and it began a 3 day whirlwind of panic and fear for me as he spent the days in the ICU. Every bit of my energy and every bit of my strength was being telepathically sent to him. My days were filled with calls to the vet, visits to see him and to put my hand into his incubator cage and nights were filled with sheer terror at the very real possibility I'd lose him.

I can truly say that the only thing that held me together was the world through the internet. A breed specific website I'd joined when I rescued him gave me comments of hope and well wishes with folks from everywhere checking in for my updates. Emails came from those who had heard about the situation. Most of all, facebook allowed me to spend my hours typing with people who loved and supported me during a time when I was too afraid to speak the words but when I needed others more than I could articulate.

I got lucky, very very lucky. Nikko rallied and got to come home. But I was also incredibly lucky to have been held up by incredibly supportive people.

Please please keep in mind how helpful the internet can be in trying times. Although it's known for being full of porn and useless videos of kittens and celebrity gossip, it is also a place to reach out and a place to reach back. With the holidays here, please remember to ask for the emotional support you need and to give the extra you may have, it truly can change (or save) someone's life.

Public Speaking

noreply@blogger.com (Kryss Shane, L.M.S.W.) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 22:41:00 +0000

Today I gave another presentation to a group of students at Columbia University, this time within their Nursing Department. My presentation is called "LGBT 101" and when I first created it, it was a Powerpoint with slides and was pretty basic. As I have continued to give this talk though, I'm becoming increasingly thrilled with the level at which students have been open to talking and making it more of a conversation and discussion than a lecture. Much of this is due to the media and the political campaigns happening, no question, but it's bringing up some great points and counterpoints. The presentation was initially scheduled for 45 minutes and grew into almost 3 hours of story sharing, example discussions, and I really feel we all left the room a bit more enlightened than we'd entered.

I really hope to continue to be asked by companies, organizations, and schools to present on this topic, I truly enjoy spreading current and topical information to those whose ignorance is easy to correct when their minds are open to learning!

Outside the Box

noreply@blogger.com (Kryss Shane, L.M.S.W.) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 18:47:00 +0000

I was chatting with a fellow social worker the other day who spends her off time taking belly dancing classes. We got to talking about her love of dance and how much of my free time is spent within the theater community and it's led me to wonder what other fields and areas social workers feel connected to.

In the generations past, it was expected that a working person (typically male) had one job in one field at one company until retirement. As companies and loyalties changed, it became more acceptable to switch companies, but there still seemed to be an assumption that a person had one career. Now though, when the economy may not allow us the "American Dream" in terms of property ownership or giant nest eggs, more folks than ever are finding a different version of their ideal life, one based on happiness more than on possession.

It certainly makes it interesting to figure out what to put on one's personal business cards, doesn't it? If I were to include everything, I suppose mine would say, "Professional Social Worker/Writer/Educator/Associate Producer/Public Speaker/Activist/Advocate/Blogger/Columnist" and whew, the business card would need to be the size of a full sheet of paper!

What would YOUR business card say if it included everything you do?

Traditions

noreply@blogger.com (Kryss Shane, L.M.S.W.) — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 21:58:00 +0000

What a week/weekend of traditions for so many! Please take a moment to share your traditions with us in the comment section below.

As for me, I spend the week in Ohio, where I grew up. Now that I live out of state, I travel first into Columbus to reunite with dear friends from undergrad and beyond, flitting from friend to friend and (luckily) favorite restaurant to favorite restaurant. Then I head up to Northeast Ohio on Tuesday so I am ready for my favorite holiday tradition of the year; co-running a soup kitchen.

We make everything from scratch, so it takes all day Wednesday and the entire morning Thursday to prepare the foods; dozens of turkeys, hundreds of pounds of potatoes peeled and mashed, real pumpkin meat and scented spices for the pies, loaves and loaves of bread baked. We've had mostly the same volunteers for quite some time now so it's also an annual reunion of sorts. I've watched adults' kids grow up, those same adults have watched me grow up, and every year it becomes even more fun to work as a well-oiled cooking/baking machine.

Thursday afternoon is the day we serve to those who choose to come to us and deliver to those who do not, as well as the local fire and police departments of 3 towns. It's beyond wonderful to get to provide something for those who risk their lives to provide safety to us. Thursday night is dinner with my fictive family, followed by an early morning (4am) drive to the airport.

To round out my tradition, I typically arrive back in NYC around 7am, head home, and proceed to "take a nap," which almost always results in my waking up 6-8 hours later.

What about you? What do you do each year?

Professional Associations

noreply@blogger.com (Kryss Shane, L.M.S.W.) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 21:25:00 +0000

There have been lots of conversations in the past months about Unions and Professional Associations. Sometimes they stem from the political issues of voting on whether to curb the abilities of Unions for public service workers, sometimes from students who aren't sure whether spending the bit of money they have on a membership is worth the cost, and sometimes from those who are job seeking and wonder whether they ought to attend a meeting.

Where do you all stand? Are you members of NASW? Do you have other Professional Associations? Do you encourage others to join? Why or why not?

Veteran's Day

noreply@blogger.com (Kryss Shane, L.M.S.W.) — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 04:09:00 +0000

Tough to know what to write on a day like today... this is often the place where we discuss the trials and difficulties of our work but on a day like today, it seems inappropriate. No matter how tough our work is (and no one's arguing that), we still get to come home every night, sleep next to or down the hall from loved ones, pet our dogs, order our take-out, and wind down with our favorite tv shows.

How lucky we are to be in the position to help others who are more in need than we are. How lucky we are to be able to do so without being shot at or bombed. How lucky we are to fall asleep each night without fear that we won't wake up again. How lucky we are that we get to vote, to follow our choice of career paths, to own property, and to shower under hot, clean water.

While the stress each feels is real because it is real to him/her, I hope everyone is taking extra time today to thank the military personnel of past and present for protecting us all. I hope you're remembering to show gratitude to those who sacrificed by supporting their soldier from here at home. I hope you're remembering to appreciate the gift each soldier gives us and that, regardless of your political opinions, you'll remember to give silent thoughts/prayers/nods to each person who stands guard somewhere in the world so that we are able to get up each morning and return to our work.

Job Searching

noreply@blogger.com (Kryss Shane, L.M.S.W.) — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 00:12:00 +0000

With so many people out of work, I thought we ought to bring that up here.

What are your experiences job hunting? Any tips or tricks to share? Rants or raves on the subject?

Life Goals Lists (aka Bucket Lists)

noreply@blogger.com (Kryss Shane, L.M.S.W.) — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 17:06:00 +0000

Some of you may have noticed that I didn’t blog last Friday. It wasn’t because I had posted something on Wednesday but rather because I was doing something I never thought I’d be able to, crossing off one very specific item from my life goals list.

I’m not sure if it’s the “type A” side of me or if it’s the Piscean dreamer, but I’ve had this list (which some of you may call your “bucket list”) since I was about 5 years old. I’ve never differentiated what goes on there since any of them, at the time of their addition, felt lofty and potentially impossible. In a way, this list is a bit of a time-line of who I was/am.

For example, one item on my list is “memorize my locker combination” which I likely added around 6th grade when, for the life of me, I couldn’t remember those 3 numbers. check Later additions include, “be accepted to college,” “get into my #1 choice for grad school,” and “finish a semester with a 4.0 GPA.” check, check, and during my final semester of grad school, finally, check Some items happened completely out of order too, like “speak at my graduation,” something I added at age 17, when I realized how many of my favorite sitcom characters were commencement speakers on their shows. Having graduated high school at age 18, that one seemed impossible, yet I was lucky enough to have achieved it at age 27 when I finished my MSW.

One of the earliest items I'd written on my list was to see my favorite musician perform. It’s been on my list for 21 years and, considering that he had retired in 2000, seemed to be another impossible goal to attain. Even when he signed a performance deal in Las Vegas in 2009, I was acutely aware of just how far away Vegas was from my apartment.

Last week, I crossed that goal off my list.

Yes, exactly 1 week ago, I was sitting 6th row, center, watching my musical idol perform. To be honest, it was incredibly therapeutic. There I was, listening to songs that had spanned much of my life, songs that had played in the background of my heartbreaks and travels, my friendships and experiences. Not only did I get to relive those moments, I did so while considering that there may well be other seemingly impossible goals that, well, aren’t so impossible at all.

I could write for days about the trip and about every second of the performance, but what I’m more interested in is hearing from YOU! What is on your life goals list? What items have you crossed off? Which are you halfway through?

Does Anyone Else Feel This Way (Or Have Ideas For Those Who Do)?

noreply@blogger.com (Kryss Shane, L.M.S.W.) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 14:54:00 +0000

Dear Abby advised LONELY IN A CROWD, a holistic health practitioner who feels lonely and needs someone to talk to about his own feelings.

He says, in part:

DEAR ABBY: I have been a holistic health-care and healing practitioner for 10 years. I love my work and being in a helping profession. I'm the one who is always there for everyone who needs help. A good portion of my work is as a counselor, teacher and shoulder to cry on.

My problem? I'm lonely. I have multiple health issues and struggle with money. I need someone to talk with about me and how I'm feeling. Whenever I find a counselor, member of the clergy, teacher, etc., I end up being the counselor, teacher, listener, whatever.

Read the rest at:

http://news.yahoo.com/big-man-abused-girlfriend-fights-turn-other-cheek-063204120.html

and let me know your thoughts.

Occupy Wall Street

noreply@blogger.com (Kryss Shane, L.M.S.W.) — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 22:15:00 +0000

Just wondering what you all are hearing/feeling about the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations, which are taking place throughout the USA and the world.

(for those needing a quick overview: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupy_Wall_Street )
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The NASW President has written the following letter on this topic:

10 Things Social Workers Have In Common With The Occupy Wall Street Protests
Robert Schachter, DSW, LMSW
Executive Director
National Association of Social Workers,
New York City Chapter (NASW-NYC)
October 11, 2011

A lot has been going on three blocks from the NASW-NYC office at Zuccotti Park, located at Liberty Street between Broadway and Church Street, since the middle of September. At its core it is an encampment of protesters but has also become a destination for support demonstrations, including a recent 10,000 person march of union members, community groups and ordinary New Yorkers.

Inspired by the Wall St. protest, similar encampments have been springing up in cities throughout the country including San Francisco, Washington, DC, Seattle and Los Angeles. It is common for the media to ignore demonstrations, even when they are massive, so it is noteworthy that they are paying attention.

According to the website, occupywallstreet.org, Occupy Wall Street “is a leaderless resistance movement with people of many colors, genders and political persuasions.” As stated on the site, “The one thing we all have in common is that We Are The 99% that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1% . . .”.

What exactly the objectives are may depend on who is being quoted or what news coverage is reflecting, but it is reasonable to discern that the demonstrators are determined to hold financial institutions and corporations, as symbolized by the phrase “Wall Street”, accountable for the current financial crisis that began in 2008 and the growing economic inequality in the United States.

While there are likely to be differences about the best way to seek change, there can be little doubt that many Americans, and New Yorkers more specifically, share the concerns of the protesters about the impact of the economy on individuals and families, the lack of accountability for the crisis, and the prospect of any beneficial change in the near future.

For social workers, the worsening economic conditions of the past three years have only added to the significant challenges faced by the communities that the profession serves. Whether explicitly articulated by Occupy Wall Street or not, the following 10 points reflect common realities that the protesters, New York’s communities, and the social work profession have collectively experienced:

1. The country has been experiencing the worst economic conditions since the Great Depression in the 1930s, caused in part by extraordinarily risky investment practices that put major financial institutions at risk of collapse, with world-wide impact.

2. The federal government has been far more willing to bail out the financial sector than to help low income people and a vulnerable middle class. Attempts to tighten regulations on risky investments are being resisted by the financial sector and by many in Congress.

3. The United States has engaged in two enormously costly wars in the Middle East without raising revenues to pay for them. The total cost over the past 10 years has been estimated at $2.5 trillion.

4. The President and Congress agreed to cut $2.5 trillion in programs over the next 10 years, with more cuts being considered. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other important social programs are being targeted.

5. We now have the highest poverty level in US since 1993, with 46.2 million people living in poverty in 2010, or 15% of the population. This is up from 11.7% in 2000. In New York City the poverty rate is 20%.

6. Unemployment in the US is over 9%, and this number is much higher when those who have given up looking for a job is considered. Joblessness wreaks havoc on individuals and families, both economically and in terms of mental health, including the experience of sustained stress and depression.

7. New York’s lawmakers passed a budget in the Spring that includes $10 billion in cuts that fall disproportionately on low income communities, including a $2.85 billion reduction in Medicaid. Proposals to raise significant revenues through taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers were rejected.

8. Nationally, health insurance premiums rose 9% in the past year in spite of passing a national health reform law, a law that assures higher profits for insurance companies. The number of uninsured is now 49.9 million.

9. The principles of democracy are undermined by the influence of corporate wealth in the political arena, resulting in both major parties being dependent on their contributions, making the possibility of significant change less likely to come from electoral politics (as important as this is). That the US Supreme Court recently ruled in favor of unlimited corporate spending on campaigns is further evidence of the threat to electoral democracy.

10. The social work profession itself is at risk as services and social work jobs are cutback for communities that are suffering from the current economic conditions. Given the current state of politics today, with a focus on cutbacks with no new revenue, the social work profession will be significantly challenged while the need for services increases.

The bottom line for us is that the real needs of people are not being addressed. And there are a lot more issues involved than what has been enumerated above.
There come times when protest and demonstrations play a critical role when other institutions are not up to the task, as evidenced by what has been unfolding across the Middle East. If Occupy Wall Street continues, it can prove to be a valuable moment for our future.

Social workers will make their own decisions as to whether to join with the protesters and the demonstrations that may continue. Demonstrations carry certain risks, even when the intention is to be peaceful, but those risks are often necessary to seek change.

Please weigh in with what you see happening with these issues and Occupy Wall Street.

Dual Degrees

noreply@blogger.com (Kryss Shane, L.M.S.W.) — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 19:44:00 +0000

I've been hearing lately that more and more social workers either return to school for a degree in another field or earn dual degrees (such as MSW/JD program -Masters of Social Work and Law degrees).

Any thoughts or experiences with such? Do you think this is awful because we may lose social workers to other fields or does the social work background enhance those other fields? Have YOU done this?

Is It Genetic?

noreply@blogger.com (Kryss Shane, L.M.S.W.) — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 18:15:00 +0000

Just about 18 months ago, I had the lucky fortune of being able to sit around a table with a handful of relatives, spanning 4 generations. As we flipped through handed-down photo albums and tried to identify the people in the yellowed photos, I was writing down the memories being shared about each person. I began to notice a pattern; this side of my family tree had a surprisingly large number of people involved in social work.

It's caused me to wonder whether there may be some predisposition to our field. I'm not thinking just about who has attended a collegiate program or who has a license, I'm also considering who was known around the family (or around town) for being the go-to problem-solver, the one to turn to with problems, the one who took in the orphans, etc.

Do any of you have other social workers or those who were known for being "helpers" in your families?

What Makes a Social Work Supervisor “Great?”

noreply@blogger.com (Kryss Shane, L.M.S.W.) — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 12:57:00 +0000

A new school year has begun and thus begins another round of interns for me. For the first time, I have social work interns, which I am really excited about, though I also have more nursing students and I am thrilled to improve upon the experience I gave to last year’s students. In NY, anyone supervising social work interns must complete a 2-semester course on supervision in field instruction (SIFI), which I attended the first session of last week, before the interns began.

Let me be very blunt… in the first SIFI class, I couldn’t figure out why I had to be there or what the teacher could teach me, considering that this class was meant for beginners. I have a teaching background, after all, and I’d mapped out an entire plan for my students months ago. I’d considered my personal experiences in internships, I’d chatted with former classmates about their internship experiences, I’d read articles about supervision, I’d made sure the internship binder I’d created was labeled and had proper tabs and was color-coded, I had their ID badges laminated and set out on my desk the day before their first day. I.Was.Set. …

Until the students arrived.

Suddenly, I found myself being asked logical questions for which I didn’t have all of the answers. I was given paperwork from the school that asked for information I didn’t have. The assignments in the binder didn’t match up as perfectly as I’d hoped to the clients’ choice to come to our agency at any given time. In short, I went from feeling on top of the world, Madame Preparation, to feeling like I was starting the race from 10 feet behind, Mrs. Oh… I Hadn’t Thought of That.
Well, we’re now a few internship days in and things are beginning to settle down. Anxiety levels are dropping for all involved and the students are beginning to ask questions and follow them up with ideas on how to make things better than the answer provided to them. Clients are becoming more familiar with new faces and are starting to open up. Those fancy binders I worked so hard on are now becoming living works, being altered and tweaked as life requires.

But no matter the ease we’re baby-stepping into, I remain humbled by the experience. So I write to you all this week with my mouth shut, ready to listen to what the genius SIFI professor has to teach me, ready to listen to what my quick-thinking interns teach me through their experiences and questions, and ready to listen to your thoughts on what makes a supervisor great.

What About Us?

noreply@blogger.com (Kryss Shane, L.M.S.W.) — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 21:47:00 +0000

Over the past decade or two, many companies have been playing around with the traditional 9-5 working hours to gain a feel for what makes sense both for the company's bottom line and for its employees. Flextime, self-regulated vacation time, and 4 10-hour day work weeks have become more common, and many are now considering having one or more of those options to be a necessity when seeking work.

Some companies have reported that such options create happier employees, which makes them more loyal and more productive, which is worth it to the company in the big picture.

Could such ever work in Social Work? To be honest, there's a huge part of me that likes the idea of working Monday-Thursday and having 3 day weekends, even if it meant 10 hour days for the other 4. There's an even bigger part of me that likes the idea of flextime allowing me to not start work until 10 or 11, even if it meant working until 6 or 7.

For me, this sounds awesome... but then, I say that as someone who doesn't have to pay for after-school care for children and as someone who is naturally a night owl.

What do you think? Would your personal life be improved or suffer if your company began such protocol? How do you think it would impact your clients?

Your Dream Job

noreply@blogger.com (Kryss Shane, L.M.S.W.) — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 18:08:00 +0000

http://www.nydailynews.com/money/2011/08/18/2011-08-18_how_to_find_time_to_pursue_your_dream_job_while_making_the_money_in_order_to_sup.html

I just finished reading this article, “How to find time to pursue your dream job while making money in order to support it” by Carolyn Kepcher, a major force in the business world and famous for being on “The Apprentice” as a judge with Donald Trump.

It has me thinking about us and about how much our jobs are what we want and how much is what we feel forced to settle for. It’s tough not to be realistic; the government pays us very very little for doing our jobs well, which will save them a ton a ton of money. Our budgets continue to get cut so jobs are tough to find and it’s tough not to just feel grateful to be offered a job at all in this economy. We’re told every day to do more with less and suddenly, working with a coworker you don’t absolutely hate or actually getting a 12 minute lunch break almost feels like a dream.

But what was your dream job before you took your first job? Before your first internship? Before you were snapped into the realities of this field? Did you hope to change your community? Did you want to become a supervisor? Maybe we can’t have every bit of what we wanted when we were too naïve to understand the realities of this profession, but maybe we can work together to find ways to help each other achieve at least some piece of that initial dream. Maybe it’s too broad a goal to change your community, but maybe you can schedule a volunteer time to help clean up the local park. Maybe politics or the economy or a million other things mean a rough road to becoming a supervisor in your company, but you can supervise interns from a nearby university. Maybe you can mentor a new social worker or supervise kids in an after-hours program at the nearby youth center.

Maybe there’s something you can do to help others find a way to incorporate a piece of their dream and somehow find a piece of yours in the process. The only way to know is to try!

How Would I Have Handled This Client?

noreply@blogger.com (Kryss Shane, L.M.S.W.) — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 16:40:00 +0000

http://www.livingwithendometriosis.org/2010/03/05/a-fallen-endo-sister/

I just finished reading this story, sent to me by the blogger. When I was in my first MSW elective course (Social Work and Women), I wrote a paper on endometriosis. This woman’s story has me thinking about it again.

How would a social worker have seen this person, had she been a client? Had she been thought of as the medical doctors first did, as an attention-seeking teen? Would she have been trusted as misdiagnosed or would she have been diagnosed with a mental disorder like Munchhausen? Later, would she have been counseled and cheered for her bravery or would she have been diagnosed as depressed, perhaps prescribed an anti-depressant?

Much like medical doctors, social workers often have over-sized client loads, and we’re taught to be on the lookout for certain red flags. We’re taught that, when we hear hooves and see a flowing mane to look for the common horses, not for the rare zebras. Kristi was a zebra… someone vibrant and wanting to live, someone craving activity and happiness and someone whose body didn’t allow it.

Cleveland Clinic estimates approximately 5.5 million women in the US have endometriosis. 30-40% are infertile. There is no cure. As I write this blog, I cannot help but wonder how often social workers and other mental health professionals have misinterpreted suffers literal and metaphoric cries for help.

Unlike cancer or addictions or grief, there is no chance of a cure and time doesn’t make the pain subside. Funding for this illness is small, so it may be a while, but I hope a cure is found and the endo sisters of the world may someday find peace… and I hope social workers are able to be part of their support system in the meantime.

Please Be Patient

noreply@blogger.com (Kryss Shane, L.M.S.W.) — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 21:42:00 +0000

Kryss is currently stranded, in a hotel out of state, due to Hurricane Irene. Her weekly blogs will resume this Friday, 9/2.

Therapy for All?

noreply@blogger.com (Kryss Shane, L.M.S.W.) — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 03:31:00 +0000

Somewhere, among all the professors I had in the MSW process, someone told me that they believed all social workers should be in therapy. At the time, I thought the person was joking as the idea of a therapist seeing a therapist seemed silly. Now, I wonder if there's truth in that and, if so, whether we make easier or more difficult clients than non-social workers.

For example, is it better to come in with a guess as to our own GAF score or is that something we can never presume to know because we are too close to the subject? Are we more or less likely to self-diagnose or to attempt to justify or explain away our behaviors?

What do YOU think? Should all social workers be seeing a professional? Should all professionals be warned about taking on social workers as clients?

SW 2.0 Column Sneak Peek - Virtual Clinical Practice

noreply@blogger.com (Karen Zgoda) — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 20:35:00 +0000

Folks, I'm really excited to be profiling Nancy Smyth, LCSW, Ph.D., and Mike Langlois, LICSW. Both Nancy and Mike practice what is commonly called virtual social work or virtual clinical practice. They both use a variety of computer games and interactive online spaces, such as Second Life, in their social work practice.

For example, here's Nancy talking about the power of virtual placemaking with the International Transgender Hate Crimes and Suicide Memorial in Second Life:

The power of virtual immersive platforms becomes really clear when you find a place in a virtual world that really uses the environment effectively. The International Transgender Hate Crimes and Suicide Memorial provides an excellent example of such a space. To start, the memorial is a peaceful, visually appealing place: a beautiful building and surrounding green space, with the sound of waves crashing at the shore. The dark granite walls, reminiscent of the Vietnam Memorial Wall, lend a somber tone to the space and the feeling of being in a protected enclave.

Upon entering the building you encounter an alter filled with pink and blue candles. This is the memorial for transgendered people who have died from suicide. Each candle has a name associated with it and when you click on the candle a description of what happened to that person comes up in the chat. I clicked on quite a few of the candles: the tragedy of these deaths comes through loud and clear. Nearby the altar is a box where you can submit a request to light a candle for someone.

Read the rest of Nancy's post here.

Here's Mike explaining Gaming Affirmative Therapy:

You can watch Mike talk more about gaming affirmative therapy here.

What do you want to learn about virtual clinical practice? In what ways can these practices help our clients, or respond to our clients already using these technologies in new ways? How can social workers incorporate virtual clinical social work into their practice?

Happy Workplace, Longer Life…

noreply@blogger.com (Kryss Shane, L.M.S.W.) — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 16:47:00 +0000

I just finished reading this article http://70.32.73.82/blog/5203/happy-workplace-longer-life/ and it got me thinking… what am I doing, heck, what are any of us doing, to make our workplace happier?

Around my office, we find little ways to enjoy the day or to help others enjoy the day; treats brought to work, offering to pick up coffee for each other, that sort of thing. We do pretty well with being understanding when someone has a sick child or when a person’s train has made them late. Sure, we still have our disagreements and there are times we probably want to throttle each other, but it’s a pretty nice set of women to work with.

In a way, I suppose we’re lucky in this field. So many professions are based on numbers, on who gets the sale, on who’s up for promotion to partner, etc. In our field, most of us don’t have positions with such competition, so we’re not as required to be as cutthroat. We don’t need to seek out each other’s weaknesses for exploitation or to be afraid someone else will steal a rich client if we take a sick day. I really love that about this field.

In what ways do YOU and your coworkers help to make for a happy workplace?

PhDs/DSWs

noreply@blogger.com (Kryss Shane, L.M.S.W.) — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 17:31:00 +0000

I don't know if it's my insatiable love of learning or some level of insanity, but I've been researching PhD and DSW programs. I love the idea of learning more, the structured environment with deadlines and such speaks to the side of my "type a personality," and I feel like it might be wiser to pursue now, before I'm too busy with the rest of life to have the time.

But here's where I've discovered is the difficulty... programs seem to only want students with at least 3 years post-MSW, some require an LCSW, and few offer coursework that doesn't require you to leave your paying job in order to attend classes.

Some argue that they're both unnecessary in the field of social work, that there's no real benefit in earning either unless you plan to become a tenured professor. They say that it doesn't take a doctorate to be a therapist, a case manager, or the other often-common positions in our field. They say the salary boost doesn't make up for the extra student loans and that programs seldom offer scholarships or grants to cover the costs.

After hearing so many nay-sayers, I wonder what you all think... does a social worker with a doctorate earn more or have more clout where YOU work? Do YOU have a doctorate? Have YOU considered it?

Changes Around NYC

noreply@blogger.com (Kryss Shane, L.M.S.W.) — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 14:17:00 +0000

Whew! There have been some big changes happening around here since I last blogged... we've had temperatures over 100* and same sex marriage began to take effect!

First, thank goodness for all of the communities throughout the country who have been setting up cooling centers, giving out bottles of cold water, and otherwise doing whatever they're able to help keep the fragile members of their neighborhoods healthy during this time of extreme temperature! It's so wonderful to see people stepping up to help just because the need is there.

Second, as it's no secret where I (and the NASW) stand on the issue of same sex marriage, YAY for this! As more states legalize equality, I'm interested to see how our profession changes. Will our textbooks include more chapters on marriage therapy within same sex couples? Will our children & families texts have sections on same sex parents? Or will research show that there isn't much difference between couples and families of the same or opposing genders? Will more schools offer a focus in LGBT issues the way some offer for women's studies, gerontology, adolescents, etc.?

In the past two weeks, a city known for its size, its garbage piles, its supposed rudeness experienced 2 major threats to its people in terms of weather and bigotry. As someone living in the midst of it, I can tell you only what I saw. I witnessed elders playing in fountains with children in an attempt to cool off. I observed businesses handing out free ice water to overheated commuters. I viewed LGBT people become legally wed. I looked on while heterosexual people cheered for the newlyweds.

Perhaps the sidewalks feel tiny and the crowds massive, perhaps there are garbage piles, perhaps New Yorkers are more blunt and less hesitant to use curse words in regular speech, but certainly there is a sense of pride and of love here in NYC. I hope you feel it wherever you are!

Inferno!

noreply@blogger.com (Kryss Shane, L.M.S.W.) — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 17:40:00 +0000

Kryss is busy helping with the safety of senior citizens during the NYC heatwave which is bringing temperatures over 104* (heat index is over 115*). She will return next week with a new blog entry. In the meantime, here is a great interview by a fellow social worker, Suze Orman.

http://www.everydayhealth.com/healthy-living/jillian-michaels-interviews-suze-orman-on-health-and-wealth.aspx

Bucket List

noreply@blogger.com (Kryss Shane, L.M.S.W.) — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 20:08:00 +0000

Hi All! I am beyond thrilled to be back, but I have to tell you, even more thrilling was crossing a goal off my list (to relax more often). It reminded me of this recent article: http://www.socialworkersspeak.org/cheers-and-jeers/doing-the-bucket-list.html

So now I’m wondering about bucket lists… from the time I was about 6 years old, I’ve had a “life goals list.” I’ve kept it written down and have added to it and crossed things off. It’s funny to read what my priorities were at different ages and it’s been a nice gift to myself that every goal has been attainable. Whether it’s “have my own room” or “complete a Master’s degree,” it’s been very rewarding for me to achieve and, to be honest, finally having my own bedroom at age 19 (first college apartment) felt just as monumental as graduation day. There’s just something about reaching a new milestone!

The longer I am in this post-school world, the more I realize how important this goal-setting process is. From our first moments post-conception through our final graduation, we have goals that are set for us; how many weeks along we’ve reached as a fetus, at what age we began to toddle, each report card in grade school, each term’s GPA in college, graduation. And then the abyss… or rather, the potential to feel as if everything else is just one day after the next. It’s been tricky for me to get the hang of, I won’t lie.

Here I am now, learning… learning to create new challenges and goals for myself, learning to find ways of not measuring myself by quarters or semesters or report cards or GPAs, learning to strike a new balance. For example, on my first day back from vacation, my goal was to meet with each staff member to check-in and to return emails and phone calls. Sure, I could have let myself be overwhelmed with the mounds of paperwork, but I could step back and recognize that as a goal for another day. At the end of the day, I walked out with all three of those goals met. I didn’t save the world or alter anyone’s life, but I felt pretty accomplished. Now? Well, now it’s onto that mound of paperwork! Tomorrow? *shrug* I’m thinking either sky-diving or reorganizing the office supply closet.