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 ones 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 ones 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 clients 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 persons 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 persons 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 persons 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 clinical social work where you find yourself struggling, needing more practice, or wanting more knowledge.

Working with Latinos is challenging, and I find myself struggling to understand and offer services to the Latino population. The Latino population is growing, and they are spreading faster across the country. However, without a proper understanding of their culture, I find it hard to interact and offer services to them. While I have learned about cultural awareness and how to interact with diverse populations. Surprisingly, I fail miserably when it comes to assisting Latinos. There are issues of migration and immigration that we do not know about the population, and it hinders their interaction with health workers, Latinos are not a homogenous group, meaning there are numerous identities within them that make it hard to understand where one comes from and the culture of that region. With a diverse cultural background, we find it hard to offer services because we are uncertain of how to communicate and express ourselves to them in a manner that respects and recognizes their culture.

Without bilingual experience, we struggle to express some terminologies to the Latinos. Knowledge of the Latina language is vital when offering services to Latinos because some of them do not understand English. I am forced to rely on interpreters when offering services to Latinos and it has been a challenge because most professionals do not speak Spanish. Most social workers have to depend on a relative who might still not be proficient to explain medical terms to the patient. Immigration policies make it hard for some of them to seek services because they fear being deported even when they have the right paperwork. As a social worker, I find myself first having to build a rapport with some of them before I can even begin discussing their issues. Compound this with a language barrier and you find yourself struggling to interact with most Latinos.

5. In 1- page discuss your future plans as a social worker and how you will use any of the material from this course in your work.

Future plans involve employing the knowledge I have gained from the course to deliver services to people. I intend to collaborate with other care teams to ensure we offer holistic services to clients, and that we can positively impact the lives of those who need our services. As a social worker, I plan to utilize the knowledge I have gained from the course to identify areas that need improvement in the community, create and implement plans to remedy the issues identified, and measure the effectiveness of the plans to foster new growth. With a desire to work with children and families, I plan to optimize family well-being by encouraging and assisting families to remain together regardless of the underlying issues. However, I do recognize that it is not always possible to keep families intact, and in such cases, I would arrange adoptions and find foster homes for abandoned or abused children.

The materials from this course have prepared me to identify when a child needs support and how to intervene to ensure the child is protected as the parent or caregiver is being assisted. Being a caseworker can be challenging and I plan to ensure I have enough social support and take time off work to refresh and focus on other aspects of life outside work. Mindfulness techniques will come in handy during work to ensure I stay focused on work and can give my all through paying attention to the client and not allowing my mind to wander. Mindfulness techniques will be used to ensure I stay grounded and do not get overwhelmed by the client's feelings and emotions. Working with a vulnerable population can be overwhelming for any professional. In my case, I plan o utilize the knowledge on elf-care to ensure that I keep my sanity and never carry work home. Learning to separate work from personal life is essential for any social worker if they intend to remain focused and offer better services to clients.

6. List the top 3 items you feel are important to keep in mind when carrying out your role as a social worker.

Ensure to prevent burnout.

Practice mindfulness…