Social Worker response to school bullying includes identification, education, counseling, and prevention of future incidents. Kids need a little adversity to develop resilience which conscientious parents often try to instill early on in life. In the case of the proverbial scraped knee, for example, a parent may encourage a child to get up and make their way into the house on their own.
It is this hardy mentality that so often obfuscates the issue of bullying in schools, which some people still believe to be a healthy rite of passage. A scraped knee will heal in a few days, but the effects of bullying can harmfully manifest themselves throughout a lifetime.
person centered therapy and school bullying
Relational bullying is a more passive form that includes quietly ostracizing a person by spreading rumors and turning others against the victim. No matter what form it takes, bullying is accompanied by a laundry list of long-term consequences. Therefore, all school environments should be free of bullying. How can school social workers (and others) contribute to this effort? The solution is a multi-faceted one.
As with family social work and most other cases, social workers use their skills to educate all parties involved with the problem behavior, establish safe environments, train bystanders and supporters on proper behavior regulation, and so on. Each case of bullying is different, requiring an individual approach, but at the same time, school environments can be set up in a way that greatly reduces bullying from occurring in the first place. A social worker can apply the following individual and environmental approaches to significantly curtail school bullying.
Advocacy is massively important to anti-bullying efforts within a single school, the surrounding community, and the entire country. Social workers can participate in efforts to tighten anti-bullying policies and laws. They can oversee awareness campaigns or create physical resources like pamphlets, posters, commercials, and radio ads.
Additionally, they can coordinate speaking engagements to spread awareness about the perils of school bullying. They can participate in community-wide rallies and other events to raise awareness and promote anti-bullying initiatives. Advocacy can take many more forms. However, the most important part is that it is positioned in front of the right audience to effect real change.
It may seem that school faculty have little power in preventing cyberbullying, but they can still take steps to minimize it. Most schools struggle with enforcing no-phone policies, but keeping this effort alive will cut down on cyberbullying in the form of verbally abusive texts, tweets and posts shared between students. Social workers and other faculty should also encourage close monitoring of students using computer labs, ensuring all computers are in a public area. Cyberbullying can affect students even more profoundly than physical bullying since the incidents are often far more visible. Making all students aware of the harm caused by cyberbullying is another important step in mitigating this issue.
As always, social workers in the school environment should use discretion to provide targeted interventions based on individual circumstances. The above methods will help to guide those decisions and create a framework that will resolve bullying issues even before they happen. Schools can significantly reduce instances of bullying with a supportive environment and proactive students, faculty, and social workers.
How their experience with bullying has impacted them will determine the best therapy method. For example, if they are experiencing anxiety, then treatments for anxiety will be best. The therapist will talk with them, then determine the best treatment method for their unique circumstance. Treatments may include:
Experiences of mean girls and bullying are common in middle school, but they can still feel isolating. If your daughter is being bullied at school and is struggling socially, switching schools can give her space to focus on herself and her academic goals. Therapeutic boarding schools combine supportive accredited academics with experiential therapies to help girls regain confidence.
This idea of striving towards realization, fulfillment, autonomy, self-determination and perfection is referred to as actualizing tendency. This idea is essential to the process of person-centered therapy. Person-centered therapy is a non-directive form of talk therapy with a positive view of human nature. This is also sometimes referred to as 'client-centered therapy.'
Person-centered therapy is based on the positive belief that the individual has the inherent capacity to move towards a state of positive mental health, much like the acorn has the inherent capacity to become an oak tree.
Think back to the acorn metaphor. Imagine a squirrel comes along and buries an acorn. The acorn is now buried in the nutrient-giving soil that it needs to grow into an oak tree. The counselor in person-centered therapy is much like this squirrel, providing a nurturing environment in which a person can reach their inherent potential.
In person-centered therapy, the focus is on the person, not the problem. The goal is for the client to achieve greater independence. This will allow the client to better cope with any current and future problems they may face.
There are four basic goals a person will achieve in successful person-centered therapy. They will become open to experience, learn to trust themselves, develop an internal evaluation of themselves and have a willingness to continue growing.
The primary technique involved in person-centered therapy is reflection. Put simply, this is a restatement of what the client says. Reflection, when practiced properly, will show an understanding of the client's situation and display empathy.
However, person-centered therapy does not rely on techniques or formal assessments. Instead, the quality of the therapeutic relationship is considered the most important factor. A counselor's ability to establish a strong connection with their client is the critical factor in the success of person-centered therapy.
One of the main advantages of person-centered therapy is its cross-cultural applications. Person-centered therapy has had a global impact and has been adapted to fit many cultures around the world. Carl Rogers, the founding father of person-centered therapy, was even nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for his work promoting cross-cultural communication.
One drawback of person-centered therapy is that many clients come to counseling seeking more structure than the person-centered approach provides. Also, a more directive approach may be necessary with certain clients.
Person-centered therapy is a non-directive form of talk therapy with a positive view of human nature. It is based on the belief that a person has the inherent potential for positive self-growth. This idea of striving toward realization, fulfillment, autonomy, self-determination and perfection is referred to as actualizing tendency. A counselor can nurture a client with a positive relationship, much like an acorn can be buried in nutrient-rich soil by a squirrel and become a mighty oak tree.
In person-centered therapy, the focus is on the person, not the problem, and there are four basic goals a person will achieve if therapy is successful. They will become open to experience, learn to trust themselves, develop an internal evaluation of themselves and have a willingness to continue growing.
The primary technique involved in person-centered therapy is reflection. Put simply, this is a restatement of what the client says. However, person-centered therapy does not rely on techniques or formal assessments.
Youth and Family Counseling is a three-month community based program providing free therapeutic services for families with children and youth up to age 22 years old. YFC's community focused services include assessments; family and individual therapy, parent education and school based behavioral health services. Therapeutic services are offered in-person or virtually in English, Spanish, French and Creole at office locations in Belle Glade, Delray Beach, Palm Beach Gardens and West Pam Beach. Youth and Family Counseling offers internships for students pursuing degrees in Mental Health Counseling and Social Work.
New Haven will not tolerate behavior that infringes on the safety of a student. A student shall not intimidate, harass, or bully another student through words or actions. Such behavior includes direct physical contact, such as hitting or shoving; verbal assaults, such as teasing or name-calling; social isolation or manipulation; and cyberbullying, such as harassment online. Bullying occurs when any of these actions lead to a student or students having a reasonable fear of harm to their person or property, cause detrimental effects to their physical or mental health, interfere with their ability to perform academically, or interfere with their ability to participate in or benefit from school activities, service or other privileges provided by the school.
New Haven also prohibits false reports of bullying as a means of retaliation or as a means of bullying. Any student found to have made a false report of bullying will be placed on Safety and will work with their treatment team to make an appropriate repair with the person they have falsely accused.
Joshua Gelber, LCSW-R is a New York State Licensed Clinical Social Worker and certified school social worker who has been providing counseling services to children, adolescents, and adults for more than twenty years. Josh earned his Master's degree in Social Work from Hunter College, School of Social Work and completed his bachelor's degree in psychology from the University at Albany. Josh has worked with diverse populations in a range of settings including schools, foster care, and private agencies. Josh has extensive training and expertise working with behavioral regulation difficulties, post-traumatic-stress-disorder (PTSD), crisis-management, anxiety, interpersonal and school-related issues such as bullying and special education needs. Josh has a person-centered approach and utilizes cognitive-behavioral therapy, play therapy, skills building and creative activities to build upon his clients' strengths. He has earned a reputation for kindness, concern and good humor among the many individuals and families with whom he has worked. 2ff7e9595c
Comments