A Few Steps Backwards

With Barbara still out, things have been a bit hectic.  We just started our classrooms “push ins” where we work with an entire class to help students master socialization skills, so currently I’m running three small groups AND facilitating three classroom push in programs.  I wish I could say everything was going well with both Ryan and Mary in group, but we’re experiencing a few setbacks.

Ryan has been acting out in group lately.  He tends to gravitates towards strong willed, outspoken male figures, probably due to the lack of a strong male figure in his household.  In this case, Ryan has started to follow the negative behavior of another group member who is older and much bigger than he is.  Specifically he inappropriately mocks other students within the group and does not follow direction.

I’m trying to make Ryan aware of his behavior through a role model technique. Two people will act out a skit in which one person influences the other to do something which has negative consequences. The goal is for Ryan to notice the poor behavior in the skit and recognize it in his own actions.  Ryan and I also speak after each group session about his behavior. I try to verbally encourage Ryan and praise him for his strengths.  By reinforcing his positive actions he will slowly decrease his negative actions.

As for Mary, after observing her behavior through the group process it seems she may need individual counseling as well.  When she speaks her thoughts are often unclear and off topic.  I have tried calling on her more often and encouraging participation so I can gain a better understanding of her social skills.  The other day, she got up to speak to the entire group but just stood there silently with her hands wrapped around her body and looking defensive.  When I questioned her, she expressed that she wanted to leave and felt discomfort due to the ethnic composition of the group.  To address her concerns, I refocused the group to discuss multiculturalism.  We openly discussed similarities and differences between races and ethnicities.  I wanted Mary to feel more comfortable in her surroundings, but also wanted to address the topic as a group, in case other students had similar feelings.  I’m scheduled to speak with Mary’s mother to discuss Mary’s reaction and behavior to better understand the source of her feelings.

The nature of our work is not linear; there are days of great success and sometimes some bumps in the road.  Ryan was doing so well at the end of last year, but seems to have gone back to some of his poor behaviors.  After working closer with Mary it seems that her social issues are much deeper than I originally anticipated. What’s important is that we’re able to see these behaviors and understand the source and figure out how to help.

Doing More with Less

This week has been rough!  We’re currently working with over 80 students through our individual and small group counseling alone, and we haven’t even started pushing into full classrooms.  Normally we work with a team of four—another social worker, two part time social work interns and me, but this week our staff has been reduced to three.  Barbara, my other social worker just went on short term medical leave.  Best case scenario she’ll be back in November, but worst case scenario?—I don’t even want to think about it. Even though we’re short a staff member, we will still provide 100% support for each student.  There is such an overwhelming need in this community for our services and one little hiccup in planning isn’t going to change anything.  Our students NEED us, and we’re not going to let them down.

Take, for example, one of our newest third graders, Mary.  I noticed Mary last year in one of our full class programs.  She would often come to school with lice, her clothes were tattered and her hair matted.  She was awkward and had low self-esteem and as a result was frequently teased and bullied.  We learned that she lived with her mother who had psychological problems and her baby sister.  Her family was often in and out of shelters.  We tried to support Mary and her family through clothing drives, our holiday toy drive and by connecting them with a local soup kitchen.

This year I decided to bring Mary into our Girls Group.  I think she will benefit from being surrounded by other girls and hopefully increase her self-esteem and confidence. Sometimes it’s easier to work with students like Mary in a group setting because we can generalize problems. Quite often an issue that one person might be facing is also a concern of the others within the group.  Rather than addressing a problem Mary is facing individually and make her feel even more awkward, we address it with the entire group. Students are engaged and learn the social skills they need but don’t feel like there’s something specifically wrong with them individually.

I have high hopes for Mary and all of the students we’re working with this year. Every job has challenges.  There’s difficult days and easy days (well, maybe not that easy), but you push through.  I can’t WAIT until Barbara gets back, but until then, I know what needs to be done—just buckle down and make sure these students are getting the best possible support from us.

Keeping Students on Track One Day at a Time

October is when it all starts.  We’ve identified which students will be in each group and selected students that will best benefit from individual counseling. I’m so excited that Ryan will be joining our Newspaper Group this year!  He has been working with PwC on an individual basis for the past three years, and I’m excited he “graduated” to a small group setting. 

While Ryan seems like a sweet smiling kid now, it took three years to even get close to this point.  When I first met Ryan he was angry and disruptive in class.  He always sat on the outskirts of his classroom.  Even if his seat was already in the corner, he would make the effort to pull it further away from his other classmates.  He also had trouble socializing and was often accused of bullying other students.

It was difficult to engage him in counseling at first.  I tried a number of therapy techniques to get him to open up and finally was able to connect through “play therapy”.  Rather than speaking to me directly, Ryan used puppets to express his emotions.  Slowly his feelings came out—that he and his siblings are being raised by his grandmother, how his mother is absent in his life and his father floats in and out of the family and about his sister being abused by their father.  I could tell that Ryan wanted to be strong and protect his family but was scared.  All the anger and fear he had bottled up caused him to isolate himself in school and lash out when he felt threatened.

Ryan made TREMENDOUS strides over the past three years, especially at the end of last year.  I was a little worried when his teacher started calling me at the beginning of the school year to say he was acting up again.  As a social worker, I need to remember it’s always an up and down struggle.  We only work with the students a few hours a week and we can’t control what happens outside school.  Three months is a long time. I’m afraid some of his bad behaviors might have resurfaced, but hopefully I can get him back on track soon. I just need to remember to take one day at a time.