Treating Trauma in Children

Effects of Trauma

Part 1

1.What does it mean to be a mindful therapist and in what ways can you incorporate mindfulness into your personal social work practice?

Mindfulness means staying in the moment and being aware of one’s thoughts, bodily sensations, feelings, and surrounding environment. A mindful therapist will stay in the moment, and they will focus on what the client is saying and how they feel without spacing out (Rayan & Ahmad, 2016). Considering how repetitive therapy sessions can become, there is a tendency for therapists to space out and operate on autopilot, denying the client the attention they need to deal with their presenting issues. It is never the intention of a therapist to space out, but they might find themselves overwhelmed with the repetitive and boring manner of their sessions pushing them to focus on other things that might be on their mind without realizing the impact it could have on the client. Being mindful means the therapist is aware of their thoughts and feelings and tries to stay nonjudgmental when interacting with a client. In therapy, there is a chance the therapist will make assumptions regarding the client, which can affect the client-therapist relationship. When a therapist practices mindfulness, their thoughts stay in the present and they do not allow themselves to imagine the future or think about the past.

Mindfulness is a state and not a trait (Martin-Cuellar et al., 2021). It involves impartiality and awareness where the therapist remains aware of the situation and what the client is talking about. Impartiality refers to remaining neutral without making a judgment before having all the facts. The tendency to pass judgment based on the race, color, gender, or symptoms presented by the client is easy. However, a mindful therapist will try to stay impartial no matter what the client states provided they are offering the assistance needed by the client. Mindfulness demands the therapist be aware of how what they might say will impact the client. While it is recommended that one stays open and gives feedback based on what they observe from the client. There are times when it might be too soon to express the truth based on the progress made so far. If the therapist feels the client is not ready to receive and handle certain information, they must withhold such information until the client is ready.

Being a mindful therapist entails not being overly reactive or overwhelmed by what clients talk about that is affecting their lives. There are a lot of emotions that might be evoked by clients and therapists need to understand the impact of such emotions on their personal lives. A mindful therapist will know how to separate work from life and deal with the negative emotions that might arise from their work. A mindful therapist will know what they need to do to overcome their sympathy feelings for clients. Burnout is common with therapists due to the nature of their work and having to listen and sympathize with various client emotions. There is a likelihood the therapist will develop strong feelings that will negatively affect their life. Therefore, being a mindful therapist will entail accepting these feelings and emotions and not allowing them to become a part of their life. A mindful therapist will recognize the emotions and feelings and closely monitor them without allowing them to take over their life. In this manner, they can remain grounded in their life and not become overwhelmed by feelings and emotions that are not theirs. Mindful therapists know how to reduce their anxiety and ensure it does not impact their relationship with the client. They also know how to separate work from life, and they ensure the two do not mix. A mindful therapist will engage in activities that help them overcome their overwhelming feelings like meditation, walking, exercising, or participating in yoga classes. These activities will keep the therapist centered and not be overcome by clients’ feelings and thoughts.

To incorporate mindfulness in social work practice, one should have mindful moments every day. These moments should not be done during one’s spare time, they should become part of their daily routine. There should be time set aside for pausing and focusing on what is happening at the moment. Taking time to be with yourself allows one to practice mindfulness meditation because you can tune in to whatever is happening inside. Noticing these feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations allows one to interact with them openly ensuring they do not overwhelm the social worker. The second strategy could be focusing on breathing. There are times the mind will wander and to bring yourself back to reality, practice focusing on breathing. Using the breathing strategy, you can get yourself back to the present, allowing you to focus in the moment.

Another strategy to incorporate is thought awareness. In many cases, we might have some fleeting thoughts, and this can make it hard to focus on the present, leading one to operate on autopilot. Thought awareness allows one to check on their thoughts and determine if they are focused on what they are doing. Noticing the thoughts gives one a chance to bring them back to what they are doing ensuring they stay in the moment. Practicing thought awareness assists in improving concentration. Social support is something to treasure, especially for social workers. Relationships with family, colleagues, and friends are vital as they offer comfort and nurturance. In social work practice, we need to ensure we have companionship, concrete assistance, and valuable information from people who understand us and know what we might be going through in our daily work. Social support will give the social worker the care they need. Social workers are used to taking care of others and they find it hard to allow others to take care of them.

Part 2

Identify one new piece of knowledge you learned in this course and discuss how you will use this knowledge in your work as a Social Worker. For an example, which/what trauma theories and disorders you would utilize as a clinician or a therapist.

Systems theory was the one piece of information that could be utilized by a therapist in social work. System theory assists professionals in holistically looking at a client’s environmental factors and conditions to better understand why they face issues (Martinello, 2020). It is believed that the issues a client presents with could be explained using systems theory because people are the product of their environment. The trauma a client suffers due to their environment will manifest itself in the behaviors they present in everyday life. We can then use the behaviors presented to try and piece information together to uncover what influenced the behavior. Systems theory seeks to look at the whole instead of focusing on a single aspect of the individual. Having a holistic view gives a better perspective on what might be affecting the client and uncovers information that had been hidden in the past. Systems are complex and we cannot pick a single part to try and explain the whole. Applying systems theory in social work would entail looking at all aspects of a person’s life and how they all come together. A good example of understanding systems theory is baking a cake. A cake comprises different ingredients and individually on their own they cannot be considered a cake. These ingredients are mixed together, and they form a cake. When someone tastes the cake, they can hypothesize its sweetness comes from sugar. To get more information on where the other qualities of the cake come from, they would need to dig deeper into the individual ingredients. The baking scenario presents systems theory in the best way possible.

As is the case of baking a cake, systems theory looks at all the aspects of a person’s life like family, social settings, friends, home environment, economic class, and religious structure to determine the influence they have on the individual. Looking at one aspect of the person’s life would result in missing vital information, and we would end up treating the person using the wrong methodology. A person might have an issue due to the home environment but looking at their family only could not uncover the information we need to determine what is wrong with the home environment. Therefore, we would end up missing vital information and treatment would be effective in the short term. The interaction between each aspect of a person’s life should be analyzed to determine how they impact the individual and their behavior. The different aspects will interact differently and have different effects on the individual. Therefore, their behavior could be a by-product of each individual aspect and not one aspect alone.

In social work, we can use systems theory to treat disorders like depression, eating disorders, bipolar disorder, school trauma, and anxiety. Social workers can use systems theory to understand the impact family systems have on an individual. For example, when dealing with errant child behavior, the behavior manifested by the child would be due to their family system. To understand the trauma the child suffered we would have to analyze the family as a whole and determine the child’s upbringing to see if they might have suffered trauma at a tender age. Working with children, we should try to understand their environment and family system so we can uncover their underlying issues. Children get traumatized based on where they come from and the kind of parenting they receive. Therefore, without understanding the role played by the system we cannot effectively treat their problems. With a desire to work with children, I should be prepared to utilize systems theory in my work as I endeavor to look at all aspects of a child’s life before initiating treatment. Failure to do so would lead to missing vital information that could be used in treatment.

In treating childhood trauma, we can employ systems theory to look at the different systems and how they might impact the child (Luhmann, 2021). Trauma is a complex thing, and we cannot for sure determine its origin if we do not analyze the different aspects of a child’s life. Trauma treatment relies on determining the cause and when it started. Without making these discoveries we could be treating the symptoms and not the underlying issue. Childhood trauma can demonstrate itself in different ways and we do not have a definitive method for saying the symptoms or behavior presented by a child is due to a certain traumatic behavior. Children will demonstrate varying behaviors related to their trauma and we should strive to understand the reason behind these behaviors. Systems theory sees the family as a complex system comprising feedback loops and other systems. Therefore, we should be prepared to look into the other systems and determine how they interact with each other. The interaction of the various systems determines the behaviors presented by the family members.

The systems model allows the social worker to look at how the singular and complex systems interact together to understand their impact on the individual (Erdem & Safi, 2018). In many cases, we find that based on a singular system the whole is impacted. For example, an alcoholic father will have negative effects on the lives of the children where some might take on drinking or others might resent their father. Without looking at the interaction of the systems, would not understand why a child behaves the way they do and how we can assist them to overcome their issue. A child might develop anxiety because they were scared of a parent and their anxiety makes them timid toward authority figures. A social worker should uncover the root cause of the anxiety and not merely treat the symptoms presented by the child. We should be aware that no behavior is independent and some connections should be analyzed to determine why a child or individual behaves the way they do. Without making these connections, we would fail in our approach because the remedy offered would be short-term.

Part 3

Clinical Identity Reflection Paper

1. In 20-words define your current clinical identity as a social worker. For example: Integrated and flexible provider using narrative approaches, humor, psychoeducation and Evidence Best Practices (EBP’s) to treat those with serious mental illness.

Compassionate provider offering services to adult clients with substance abuse issues utilizing psychoeducation, behavioral therapy, talk therapy, and Evidence-Based Practices.

2. In 1-page or less write an introduction to yourself as if you were a master’s prepared social worker advertising your services on a website. You can check out websites such as psychologytoday.com or a local clinic in your hometown to get a feel for how this looks. There is no wrong answer.

Your Name, MSW working with diverse populations in private and public practice, health care, outpatient, and inpatient treatment settings. I offer group and individual outpatient therapy to adult and minor clients utilizing Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), psychoeducation, and motivational interviewing. Perform individual and family, agency, and home-based therapy for medically fragile children and their families to maintain intact families and improve family functioning. I Maintain a professional image and exhibit excellent customer relations with patients, visitors, and co-workers. With my social skills, I can make referrals for community-based resources when needed. Skilled at establishing community support and forming strategic partnerships to assist in transforming under-served populations.

In my previous employment, I interviewed clients aged between 13 and 18 and their families to establish the services that would best address their needs. Working with diverse clients, I managed to develop workable solutions for recurring issues faced by clients and their families. Understanding the need to keep families together, I drafted feasible goals that assisted families to reconnect 20% more of the time. Lobbying and assisting communities to lobby for vital resources like financial aid and infrastructure development has been a key goal of my social work.

My direct supervisor, NAME is familiar with my clinical social work skills, my aptitude for relationship management with partner organizations, and my ability to work with a diverse population.

3. In 3-pages discuss your approach to social work including:

a. Any application of psychoanalytic principles in your work.

Free association is a principle that would be effective in understanding that no utterance is innocent. Psychoanalysis posits that the conscious and unconscious are interrelated and the human mind functions consciously as much as it does unconsciously. Therefore, utilizing free association one can uncover what lies deep in the client’s mind and figure out what might be kept underneath. The idea behind the free association is that repressed memories will come to the fore, helping to reveal what could be bothering the client. In many cases, people tend to keep the unconscious mind hidden but if we could uncover what lies hidden, we can determine what motivates a person to behave or act the way they do. Another principle to use would be dream analysis. When we sleep the conscious mind is less vigilant and it reveals to us things or memories that have been hidden. Analyzing a dream will uncover hidden memories that could prove vital in the treatment of a client. However, there is a caution that sometimes what is revealed in a dream could be altered because we have been repressing it for so long. There are two aspects of a dream that should be considered, the latent and the manifest content. The manifest content is what we recall, the latent content is what the dream means. Therefore, we should focus more on uncovering the latent content so we can help the client overcome or deal with their problem.

b. Clinical theories or models of practice you plan to use in your work.

I plan to make use of systems theory and psychoanalytic theories. These theories are vital for social work as they push the social worker outside their comfort zone and ensure they focus on all areas of a client’s life. Systems theory pushes for the analysis of all systems the client interacts with to ensure there is a holistic view of the client and their environment. Social workers should understand that people are the product of their complex systems. A person does not act in isolation, they will act based on how they interact with their different systems. Psychoanalytic theories encourage the use of different approaches to engage and treat a client. These theories encourage the social worker to analyze the client from a different perspective and look at what might be causing the problems presented. According to the founder of psychoanalysis, humans are driven to seek gratification. Humans seek gratification unconsciously because they have developed these experiences from childhood. The drive for gratification influences how the person behaves, leading to actions like sex, aggression, and self-preservation. In social work, we will employ psychoanalysis to understand the human need for gratification and explain their internal processes. Since the person has developed these behaviors from childhood, most of them are unconsciously motivated and we should assist the client to see how their unconscious thoughts are impacting their behaviors.

c. Clinical theories you plan to discard or that do not fit your identity.

Social exchange theory and rational choice theory are two theories that do not fit with my identity. As a social worker who aims to assist clients to overcome their challenges and deal with minors as well, I do not see how I will make use of social exchange theory, because it lies on the idea that relationships are based on cost-benefit analysis. The theory posits that each person aims to maximize their benefits and they are expected to reciprocate based on the benefits they receive. Therefore, its application to children becomes difficult because children are mute in that we cannot expect children to have a cost-benefit relationship with the adults in their lives. Children expect naturing from their parents, and the parents cannot expect anything in return. Parents cannot abandon their children because the children are too risky. However, there is an aspect of power that might come into play when working with the theory. The parents have power because they offer the child greater resources than the child can reciprocate. Rational choice theory assists us in explaining the choices people make. There is an aspect of analyzing risks, costs, and benefits when making decisions. When working with addicts, while we can say they were seeking to escape their reality, we cannot honestly assume a person will participate in risky behavior for the need to escape something. Assuming the person has weighed the costs, risks, and benefits before deciding to engage in drugs or alcohol would be untrue.

d. How you view your role as a social worker in society.

My role as a social worker in society is to assist those who need help the most and become a voice for the weak. Communities are struggling without service access not because they cannot get the services but because they are not aware of what should be offered. I desire to educate such communities and assist them in advocating for better services. Policy modification is not easy, and people might give up easily if they do not understand what is needed of them. However, with guidance and assistance from a social worker, they can learn how to navigate the murky world of politics and get their message heard. The vulnerable in society need support so they can better their lives and become productive members of society. Social workers understand that each person has the potential to improve their situation provided they receive the support and assistance they desperately need. Helping people understand they have an underlying problem they are trying to escape from through their use of drugs and alcohol will assist in modifying the behaviors of people. Opening people’s eyes to see the reality instead of lying to themselves about why they engage in dangerous activities. Once they realize the impact of the dangerous behaviors, social workers will then guide them by giving referrals to professionals who can assist further.

4. In 1-page review the aspects of clinical social work where you find yourself struggling, needing more practice, or wanting more knowledge.