Tuesday, January 24, 2012

10 More LMSW Exam Practice Questions


Selective Color: Flower.

Would you like to test out your knowledge on some more LMSW (ASWB) exam questions?

Below are another 10 questions that we went over during a review class at my school:

1. The phase of the helping process which leads to subsequent implementation of intervention is:

a. exploration and summation
b. exploration, assessment and planning
c. initiation of established rapport
d. clarification and analysis

2. When reviewing a social worker's performance, the supervisor notes that the social worker conveys little empathy toward clients who have recently left welfare and holding first jobs. In order to help the social worker develop empathy with her clients, the supervisor should:

a. explain welfare-to-work procedures from the client's perspective
b. suggest the social worker enter therapy to become a more empathetic person
c. model empathetic communication when engaging with the social worker
d. clarify the agency's reason for supporting these clients

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Best in Mental Health (wk of 1/16/2012)


I'm watching twitter, google+ and the web so you don't have to...

This post is part of a weekly series, Best in Mental Health, featuring the best posts of the week, in social work, psychology, evidence-based practice/healthcare, non-profit and private practice concerns on Social Work Career Development.

Topics this week include: the integration of health care and mental health, the pursuit of social justice in honor of Martin Luther King, mindfulness, dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), helpful tips for looking for looking for employment within the nonprofit sector, ways to build/run your private practice and more...

Evidence Based Practice/Healthcare:

Payment by results and personalization may undermine each other, according to new report
The Mental Elf (Andre Tomlin)
"The approach being taken to introduce payment by results in mental health care is to cluster people into groups according to their needs and clinical description. Personalization is concerned with people having greater control over their services..."
Why engagement in healthcare will change the game
Occupy Healthcare
"When engaged, and a relationship is formed, both the provider and the patient better see the others needs. They become acutely aware of the issues that impact on health (and also the delivery of service)... It becomes less about me and more about “we”..."

Social Work:

Advice-Giving
College of Social Work (Daisy Bogg)
"For me the value of advice-giving is not about social workers imposing their knowledge on others, but rather social workers sharing knowledge with each other and those they support, making sure that the individual, family or community has..."
Article about racial identity in transracial adoption
JaeRan Kim
What we find is that parents are pretty good about the culture part, but not very good about the race part,” Victor Groza, professor of parent-child studies at Case Western Reserve University, said. “They don’t recognize racism.”

Friday, January 20, 2012

Menopause and Pleasure


As you now know from Menopause - Is it the Beginning of the End?, menopause can be a very positive and exciting time in a woman's life!

According to Dr Northrup, there are 7 critical keys that need to be "unlocked" for a woman to achieve her full pleasure potential. Please see Menopause and Pleasure: An Oxymoron? for a review of the first four keys.

This post will reveal the final 3 keys to a woman's fulfillment...

Malaysia - Penang Butterfly Gardens - 15 - lovely flowers

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Safety Tips for Social Workers



Today, Charles Ennis, a former police officer on a Mental Health Emergency Services Unit in Canada, is back to provide you with some priceless tips on how to keep safe.
 
As mentioned in the first part of the interview, Charles has not only trained people on how to be safe when working in the field with the mentally-ill but has also co-authored the book on social worker safety entitled: The Safe Approach: Controlling Risk for Workers in the Helping Professions.


So without further ado, Charles, what are some safety steps that social workers should take when making solo house visits?  

Solo house visits are never a good idea in my view. Any police officer who deals with domestic violence will tell you that the initial contact with a client is one of the most vital and risky parts of an investigation. Police officers always attend homes where domestic violence is occurring in pairs.

Your first contact with clients in the field is at their door. Never stand in front of the door when knocking. Doors offer no protection from firearms. Standing in front of the door places you in the most likely line of fire. 

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Best in Mental Health (wk of 1/9/2012)


I'm watching twitter, google+ and the web so you don't have to...

This post is part of a weekly series, Best in Mental Health, featuring the best posts of the week, in social work, psychology, evidence-based practice/healthcare, non-profit and private practice concerns on Social Work Career Development.

Topics this week include: termination, resilience, end-of-life decision-making, play therapy, meditation with Jack Kornfield, the new working definition of recovery and much, much more...

On the private practice building side, Casey Truffo is offering a 300+ page book for free! Enjoy:)


Evidence Based Practice/Healthcare:

Seven principles of better adoption of evidence in practice, from new MeReC bulletin
The Mental Elf (Andre Tomlin)
"The most recent MeReC Bulletin (December 2011) considers the problem of the implementation gap: the best evidence often does not get adopted quickly into practice... Several principles can be identified from the evidence and models highlighted in the bulletin..."
No More "Partiality "in Healthcare: Fighting Partiality at Clinical Level
Occupy Healthcare
"We do better when all aspects of us are addressed simultaneously. In the face of studies like these (and there are many more studies to support addressing mental health and medical conditions), the question that continues to come into my mind is why are we not expecting more comprehensive..."

Social Work:

Another Take on Termination
Practice Wisdom (Natalie L. Hill, LICSW)
"My theory is that my feelings about terminating with clients are countertransferential (reflective of the client's degree of attachment to me), while feelings toward colleagues perhaps reflect the degree to which the team, versus individual clinicians, is the central therapeutic relationship..."
Comment Policy
N.A.H. (Relando Thompkins, MSW)
"We acknowledge that we all hold conscious and unconscious attitudes and behaviors toward people who are not like/unlike us... We acknowledge that one of the meanings of racism is that we have been systematically taught misinformation about our own group..."

Friday, January 13, 2012

10 Twitter Chats for Mental Health Professionals

Webtreats 53 Twitter Icons Promo Pack

Would you like to participate in a twitter chat about mental health?

A twitter chat = a real-time chat where you get to talk with others about topics of interest to you via twitter by using tweets that include a predefined hashtag to link those tweets together in a virtual conversation.

And if you've never done it before, not to worry - just read How To Participate In A Twitter Chat or watch this video.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Social Worker Safety


This week, I had the honor and pleasure of interviewing Charles Ennis, a former police officer on a Mental Health Emergency Services Unit in Canada, on the important topic of social worker safety.   

Thank you, Marianna @AuntieStress, for this invaluable introduction!

Charles has not only trained many agencies and their staff on how to be safe when working in the field with the mentally-ill but has also co-authored a book on the subject with a former colleague (social worker) Janet Douglas entitled: The Safe Approach: Controlling Risk for Workers in the Helping Professions