Diagnosing Trauma in Children

Effects of Trauma

Part 1

Discuss at least one way a manager should respond to staff achievements, and at least one way to respond to sub-par performance.

A manager should recognize staff’s exemplary performance. Recognizing the accomplishments made by an employee is a great motivator and morale booster for the workplace. Depending on the organization, there might be several ways a manager could recognize the employee’s performance. The best way is by offering personalized prizes to employees. Whenever an employee reaches a set milestone or makes an accomplishment, they should be offered a list of choices for recognition. The list could include tangible and non-tangible items. Tangible items include physical prizes, gift cards, or cash rewards (Worth, 2020). Non-tangible rewards include an extra day off, flexible working hours, or the chance to leave work early for a given period. Employees will appreciate the reward since it is something they genuinely want and desire. Overall, the goal should be to reward the employee’s performance to motivate and increase the morale of the other employees to improve too (Worth, 2020).

The best way to deal with subpar performance is to speak with the employee as soon as the performance issue comes to the manager’s attention. The manager should approach the meeting aiming for a solution and not vent or reprimand the employee. Managers should be leaders, and they are charged with motivating employees to improve their performance. Therefore, the meeting should be done privately, and the goal is to find a solution to any problem the employee faces. The issue might be that the employee does not understand the goals set by the manager. The employee’s goals could have been set without their participation, making them ambiguous (Worth, 2020). The employee struggles to attain the goals the best way possible, but they keep failing. Therefore, the manager should discuss areas where they struggle with the employee and find a way to assist them in achieving the set goals. Clarifying the goals is vital for the organization because they are now understood, and the employee knows what is required of them.

Choose at least one management theory and explain how it connects to the manager responses you identified

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is the best theory to explain how a manager responds to employees who achieve their goals and those who fail. An employee has lower-level needs that, if they are not met, they cannot attain higher-level needs (Stewart et al., 2018). Therefore, when an employee achieves their set goals, the manager must offer the employee a reward that is consummate to what the employee wants. The need the employee wants to fulfill determines the reward they will select. For example, an employee who has a young child might struggle to keep the office hours and might appreciate getting out of work early or having flexible working hours. The goal of a reward is to ensure that it meets the employee’s needs and they get the satisfaction they desire. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs speaks about how difficult it is to attain higher-level needs if the lower-level ones are not met, and employees who have a higher performance have most likely met their lower-level needs. Employees who feel safe will focus on what matters the most at work.

The reverse is true for subpar performers. Employees whose performance is low could be struggling to meet their low-level needs, impacting their overall performance at work. For example, an employee might be too worried about losing their job since forcing them to only focus on bringing innovation to their work. Their worry might stem from their past performance, where they might have been threatened with job loss. Sticking with the basics means their performance stagnates since there is nothing exemplary in their performance, and they attain what is set for them. A manager should discuss with the employee their worries and figure out how they can assist them in eliminating their worry and challenging them to aim higher. Another subpar performer might be worried about their child in daycare, making it hard for them to focus on attaining greater achievement. The employee’s mind will be on their child’s safety, and they cannot pay much attention to what they are doing. To improve their performance, the employee could be allowed to leave an hour earlier so they can pick up their child, or the organization can allow the employee to bring their child to work.

Part 2

Big Brothers Big Sisters of America

Big Brothers Big Sisters of America (BBBSA) seeks to change the lives of children facing adversity for the better. Its mission is “Create and support one-to-one mentoring relationships that ignite the power and promise of youth.” The vision for Big Brothers Big Sisters of America is “All youth achieve their full potential.” The organization serves youths by offering mentorship matches of Littles and Bigs. They serve youths from age 5 to young adults across the 50 states. In the past decade, the organization has served nearly 2 million Littles. The population is mostly Littles facing adversity, and the organization aims to stem juvenile delinquency.

The organization uses a functional structure, and it is a decentralized organization. A functional structure organizes employees based on their specific skills. The organization has three functional areas: governance, administration, and programs. Due to the organization having numerous agencies all across America, it has allowed the agencies to operate autonomously. The board of directors oversees the organization’s operations by ensuring that the executive team follows the organization’s policies. The board members have different roles they play based on their expertise. However, the major one is to promote the organization to the public. The board makes final decisions on the organization’s direction and oversees all the other agencies. The administration arm includes all the people assisting in running the organization’s programs. The CEO oversees all the organization’s administration aspects and provides guidance for the organization’s programs. The CEO is responsible for overseeing the activities of all the agencies and ensuring they follow the guidelines of the organization. Finally, we have the programs run by the organization. All the professionals who directly work with the organization to achieve its mission form the programs. Human resources, marketing, fundraising, volunteers, and other staff working directly with the Littles and Bigs fall under programs.

The organization has numerous partners from different backgrounds who support it in one way or another. Some of the partners are African Methodist Episcopal Church, Caron Treatment Centers, Communities in Schools, and Tragedy Assistance Program. Most of the funding received comes from government partners comprising the US Department of Justice and Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. There are corporate and community donors who come to support the organization through donations. The organization also requests assistance from individual donors through its website. The organization relies heavily on state and federal government grants, philanthropic trusts and foundations, corporate partnerships and donations, and general fundraising activities.

The top competitor for funding against BBBSA is Mentor. Mentor received funding of $1.5 million compared to BBBSA’s $1 million. The two organizations offer mentorship services to young people across America. BBBSA might be the largest and oldest youth mentoring organization in the United States, but it has faced stiff competition from organizations that have come after it, like Mentor. Mentor was founded in 1990, and it has managed to surpass the funding received by BBBSA. Mentor has higher revenue than BBBSA too. The second competitor for funding is 100 Black Men of America, founded in 1963. The focus of the organization is mentorship for African-American children teens. While it focuses on a niche area, the organization rivals BBBSA for funding as it tries to increase its resources and spread its services across the US. 100 Black Men of America has members across the world. The organization sources its funds from the same governmental agencies and seeks to increase its funding to increase its chapters and reach. The revenue generated from its own sources or activities is higher than BBBSA. The organization can self-sustain itself even if it does not receive as much funding as BBBSA. However, it still needs support from the same donors and governmental agencies supporting BBBSA. The third rival to BBBSA is Friends for Youth (FFY), founded in 1979. FFY focuses on offering services to at-risk youth in juvenile justice and child welfare systems. It offers mentorship to vulnerable and dissatisfied youth in Colorado. Targeting youth already interacting with the juvenile justice system, the organization aims to ensure the youth do not end up in the adult prison system. BBBSA has the highest number of employees compared to these three organizations, and it has a broader network of agencies located in all 50 states. The agencies spread the organization’s mission and values and ensure the organization reaches as many youths as possible.

BBBSA has four strategic initiatives to assist it to grow and become a stronger mentoring organization. The initiatives are to increase sustainable funding to serve more children, strengthen human capital, improve infrastructure, and increase marketing and brand awareness. These strategies define where the organization is currently and where it wants to be in the future. There is a focus on how the organization can raise funding to serve more children and increase awareness through marketing. BBBSA has a clan culture where the staff is friendly, people-oriented, and collaborative. The organization focuses on connecting children with mentors, and it should have an excellent collaborative culture to identify suitable mentors and devise methods to approach and connect them with a child. There is no discrimination of any kind in the organization, and employees are encouraged to be themselves and express their opinions. There are opportunities to grow and increase knowledge through training and professional development.

It was impossible to assess the organization’s budget and finances because they were not public. I tried searching through the organization’s website to no avail.

The organization continues to link with its environment by focusing on its core mission of connecting children with big brothers and big sisters. BBBSA is trying to increase the number of mentors to ensure that all vulnerable children have at least a mentor. To push its services further, BBBSA needs to increase its funding and resources, and it does this through policy development and interactions with the relevant government agencies. It holds donor funding events where it demonstrates its impact on society and presents its strategy to potential donors. BBBSA relies heavily on its staff and volunteers to increase its brand awareness by talking and interacting with different people, letting them know about the organization and its activities.

SWOT Analysis for Big Brothers Big Sisters of America

Strengths

Weaknesses

Positive Brand Recognition

Lack of Revenue Generation Sources

Strong Board of Directors

Old Technology in Organization Offices

Employee Culture

High Staff Turnover

Large Network of Agencies

Low Funding Base

Staff Diversity

Low Brand Awareness

Opportunities

Threats

New Technology

Competition for Funding

Increase Mentoring Matches

Low Barriers of Entry

Strengthen Human Capital

Unpredictable Economy

Improved Office Space

Lack of Capital

Increasing Brand Awareness

Part 3

Identify the areas that need attention and share a self-care plan. The plan will address what you do to take care of yourself and how different areas of your self-care plan may help to address potential Compassion Fatigue, Burn out, and Secondary Traumatic Stress.

The areas that need attention are mind, body, and spirit. The self-care plan will incorporate strategies targeting the three areas. Mind refers to the psychological activities done to clear the mind and lighten the burden. The first step will be to ensure that I create time for personal hobbies and activities outside of work. Taking part in an activity not related to work will help in clearing the mind, and for the duration of the activity, one can be focused on something else. Having a hobby allows one to disconnect from the problems they encounter with clients and from carrying the burden of clients with them at home. The second strategy for taking care of the mind is listening to my inner voice and automatic thoughts. As social workers, we might tend to carry thoughts about our clients most of the time and focus more on our clients and not ourselves. Monitoring my inner voice allows me to notice the thoughts that frequent my mind and what is happening in my mind. I can begin to actively change my thoughts by focusing on something else unrelated to work. Another activity that would assist in psychological self-care would be to minimize stress in my life. Taking care of the mind requires one to maintain a low-stress level because high stress levels strain the mind.

Self-care for the body involves exercising, eating healthy foods, eating and drinking in moderation, and having a goodnight’s sleep of at least 8 hours. Eating healthy meals ensures that the body receives all the nutrients it needs to function correctly, and I will not suffer from any nutrient deficiencies. A proper diet will keep me healthy, and falling sick is considerably reduced. Exercising involves running, walking, or going to the gym. These activities ensure I keep my body active, and I can relieve stress quickly when focusing on exercise. During the exercise period, I can focus on what I am doing, allowing me to eliminate any negative thoughts or client worries from my mind. Exercising ensures that I stay healthy and build my flexibility and balance. Social workers should incorporate physical exercise in their daily activities to reduce anxiety and improve physical health. One does not have to visit the gym daily, but they should ensure they have taken some time, even a few minutes, and focused on physical exercise. The best way to do this is either early morning after waking up or after work.

Taking care of the spirit involves emotional and spiritual self-care. Emotional care is all about having and building relationships outside of work. The relationships should be supportive and not strenuous. Spending time with people who matter in my life, like friends and family, is beneficial for my emotional well-being. The time spent allows me to unwind and be myself around people who I trust and who can offer support. I could also participate in activities that energize me, like hiking, going to the movies, or playing a sport. These activities will require me to focus on the activity. Hiking and playing a sport will require my physical abilities, and I can get my exercise by participating in such activities. Spiritual self-care focuses on having a sense of perspective past the day-to-day activities of a social worker. I can participate in meditation, where I monitor my breathing and focus on something positive. These activities will enable me to go past what I might have gone through in the day. Another way would be to go to church and pray. Praying is a form of speaking where one seeks divine intervention and creates an avenue for releasing what is bothering or stressing me. Speaking to God is a way of conversing with someone and telling them your worries. Reading the Bible or listening to the scripture can be a motivator, and one can learn how to let go of what is bothering them.

Part 4

• What developmental stage is Amarika in and in what areas did she regress in after the shooting of her mother?

Amarika is in the toddlerhood developmental stage. She can walk confidently without needing support. She can run and move confidently, and she might be able to speak a few words. Amarika regressed in her feeding ability. Before the shooting, she would eat solid food comfortably, and she was always a good eater. However, now she only drinks milk like she was an infant and had not been weaned. The trauma she underwent caused her to refuse to take solid food, and she was only drinking milk.

• Identify 2 to 3 core concepts that apply to the Amarika case and explain why.

The two core concepts that apply to the Amarika case are children can exhibit a wide range of reactions to trauma & loss, and trauma & post trauma adversities can strongly influence development (NCTSN Core Curriculum on Childhood Trauma Task Force, 2012). Children can exhibit a wide range of reactions to trauma, as we see Amarika being clingy to her grandmother when she leaves to go visit her daughter and throws tantrums. Her clinginess is separation anxiety being displayed, and she gets anxious and worried whenever her grandmother leaves. The trauma she underwent witnessing her mother being shot and lying on the ground then being taken away by strangers made her develop separation anxiety, where she worries that if her grandmother leaves, she might not come back. Since the shooting, she has not seen her mother, and being told she is in Las Vegas has not made it any better for her. She recalls that strangers took her mother, and she was left alone. She fears the same will happen with her grandmother or anyone she has grown close with. When her mother finally comes home from the hospital, Amarika follows her everywhere she goes. To others, she might be demonstrating she missed her mother, which is why she is following her around. However, this is not true. Amarika is traumatized, and she fears that if her mother is out of her sight, she might not see her again. She is afraid of losing her mother, as she did when her mother was hospitalized.