What a week!

Thank gaawd it's Friday!?

Student association elections were Monday and I still can't believe it, I was elected vice president (incoming president). What this means is that for the next six or seven months, I'm the vice president of the MSW student association and then transition into the role of president. The turnout of students was more than they had ever seen before so I must say thanks to all my supportive new friends/classmates.  I really feel like we can use this opportunity to organize some great events. I'd like to bring in some guest speakers, organize community outreach initiatives and get the students from our faculty involved in events that will be social, help develop professional skills and bring awareness to new social work issues.

So this begins my work for the weekend, researching guest speakers and trying to figure out what I can do to make things happen.

Practice with individuals was something else. I of course volunteered in the wake of the sound of crickets when our professor asked for a volunteer to sit down and do a counselling session with her in front of the class. It was a nice experience and I felt a lot of "love" and support from those who looked on to experience an intimate conversation between a middle aged counselling instructor and myself. She asked what I'd like to talk about, what kind of troubles I was having and what came to mind was a presentation I had made with two classmates earlier in the week. We were three white guys presenting to a VERY diverse class on the subject of racism. Yes, three white guys sharing the experience of immigrant women and black men being oppressed and feeling victimized by social situations and blatant racism that marginalized them. So, my comment in our mini therapy was "I feel like a faker, like I don't really understand the issues that women or any minorities experience. I worry that they look at me as someone who has no right to talk about the issues that they own, that they live."

She asked me where I thought this was coming and after only a few minutes we explored that this was a fear, that I want to be a great social  worker and competent when it comes to diversity but that I fear I will be seen culturally incompetent or even as the very embodiment of everything that has served to oppress and marginalize them.

Only problem with this mini counselling session is yes, we exposed the issue but never got anywhere with it. Thankfully (and bravely I must say) about three or four other students came up to me to tell me that they felt very much the same way as me and had the same worries. We talked for some time and have established a really nice rapport, a group of people I know I can count on. :)

Also to be noted, the rush to finish my literature review on yoga as a modality of therapeutic care is on! So, yes the weekend is here. Class is over but my duties are many.

Maybe I could sneak in a bike ride today though...

Tim.

'tis the season to conceptualize a thesis.

So as a graduate student some are expected to write and research but my program, a master of social work does not require this. Instead the MSW program is very much practical and based on developing skills, doing practicums. I however want to write a thesis. This has elicited looks of fright from my classmates and friends. Well, I'm here to say don't look so scared. Writing a thesis is a lot of extra work, yes but think of how much deeper into your studies you can get. Take for example you're really into a certain topic but your faculty doesn't really offer any courses that specialize in that interest. So, maybe you take it upon yourself to do some additional reading, your interested is really peaked and now you're googling podcasts, youtube videos, books, anything you can in relation to this topic. Perhaps you find a workshop, maybe you can afford to go, maybe you can't. At this point you may not be recognized as an authority on this particular subject but you definitely have an understanding of it and if you're passionate about it and not sick of it why not learn more about it, contribute to it and help it grow. In growing that topic you may grow and become recognized as an authority or expert.

This is obviously something I've spent a significant time thinking about. The name "Zen Social Worker" comes from a description of me. I'm a yogi and practice (yoga) every day as well as a social work student. First thing when I wake up in the morning, I unroll my mat and jump on it. It's my time to wake up, energize myself for the day, fire up my hunger, increase my metabolism and focus my Drishti (outward vision, inward awareness). My practice is meditative and sometimes slow, just to stretch and ease myself into consciousness. for the day Other mornings I am ready to rock and really want to get my sweat on. My practice on these mornings will be far more active with many vinyasa's.

Yoga is something I'm very passionate about, it has a profoundly positive effect on my life and I have seen those positive impacts on other people. I would like to introduce yoga as a modality of therapeutic care, from my readings I've found a variety of studies relating the practice of yoga to well being and healing in healthcare situations. As a student in the yoga teacher program I'm learning more about yogic philosophy and have a great desire to introduce yoga into my direct practice.

I suspect that it will take a significant time investment to put together a practical guide as to how I plan on integrating yoga as a treatment for specific symptoms. Luckily there is a lot of literature on the subject and now it's a matter of me taking that information in, digesting it and conceptualizing a research design to test if yoga does have a healing effect on patients.

I should get back to reading,

Tim.

A class on diversity, marginalization and oppression.

Week two of Diversity, Marginalization and Oppression has turned out to be a heavy one. The classroom is set up in a semi-circle with desks but our professor encouraged us to put our chairs on the other side of the desk. Funny, sitting in a circle with each other without the desks in front of us really made the environment feel intimate. A seminar presentation group discussed the weeks readings, a few articles and a chapter on feminism and the experience of being a black woman in academia. What followed afterwards was a completely unique experience. We talked about the reading and offered our reflections of what we read. Students were encouraged to share their backgrounds or life stories in relation to the material. Now, I consider myself to be a very diversity savvy person. In saying that, I recognize "differences" between myself and others, try to respect or at least consider how my interaction with that person may be affected by my social position (being a caucasian, middle class, educated, male) and am sensitive to those issues. However, today I was opened up to a completely new interpretation of what it means to be "different".

At first I had a really hard time hearing it, I am not a racist and I do not hold ideals that are racist in any way but yet without doing any of those I can make people feel marginalized. Take for example an adolescent black male who I am working with, I know who I am and how I see my client but he may interpret me differently and attribute negative views to me. I may be seen as a person of privilege whom there are assumptions about. Even though I see the role of being a social worker as helping it could still be seen as a position of power, that could be exerted as a form of control and therefore oppression.

It's been an enlightening day,
Tim.

Had the nature vs. nurture debate in class today.

Do people still believe in the nature argument? How about the criminal man? What I mean by this is someone who is born with a biological propensity towards crime. The answer appeared to be no today in class but there were a few stragglers with the idea that nature really can explain behaviour. Take for a moment a consideration of this age old argument that nature drives the actions of human beings. What exactly does it mean and what are it's implications? For reference, I'm not talking about basic biological drives like the need for water, food, shelter, etc. I am discussing the behaviours of human beings and the development of cognitive processes based on genetics or your birth. Cesare Lombroso wrote "The Criminal Man" in 1876 attempting to explain the causation of criminal behaviour based on physical attributes. To simply put, just by closely looking at human beings you can discern whether or not they are a criminal or will become criminal.


Lombroso studied 54,000 patients, ten thousand of which were military soldiers who Lombroso observed during war time, they were not offenders. Lombroso had little to no background knowledge of the many cadavers used in the study and used psychiatric patients not associated with criminal behaviour. Thus, many of these patients are useless to the study of criminal behaviour and not representative of the offender population. Lombroso found that atavistic or savage like physical features linked criminals together, their physical degenerative abnormalities.


The 1993 study, Effect of Socialization Factors on Decisions to Prosecute by Tuohy, Wrenall, McQueen and Stradling showed that police are more likely to initiate interactions with “different” looking individuals and will prosecute those individuals at a higher rate than “normal” looking individuals. Using this social theory we can understand that there would be a higher representation of these primitive or atavistic looking individuals incarcerated based on the behaviour of police and their decisions to specifically investigate and prosecute individuals with these specific physical attributes.


Thompson's 1990 study also stands in contrast to Lombroso. Thompson discovered that approximately half of the inmate prison population in the state of New York were disfigured. This reinforces the concept that there is simply a higher representation of physical abnormalities in prison, not that atavism is proof of causation. Further to Thompson's findings these savage or primitive looking individuals may have a higher risk towards offending due to the socialization of their body type and appearance within their own community. Consider for a moment a child who looks different, they may have an inability to “fit in” because they do not look “normal”. This is a serious threat to their upbringing. The offender may have been shunned by people in their community for how they look and pushed to the fringe of society, socially isolated by school mates, bullied, etc. Truly, environmental issues must play a role in the propensity for individuals to offend.


Ultimately, I'm trying to make an argument to understand the behaviour of individuals through their environment, upbringing and other "nurture" factors. Not that I have the time to blog about it this morning but given an understanding of these factors may also help the justice process involving offenders and the process of forgiveness. Seeing the factors that led to an individual committing a criminal offence may increase empathy of victims (in situations of irrevocable harm this may not be the case) and help the healing process for victims and lead to a restorative relationship.


Boo to positivism,
Tim.

Imagine finding exactly what you're looking for all at once, unexpectedly.

So, yesterdays post has been answered all at once thanks to Dr. Coady and Dr. Lehman's text, Theoretical Perspectives for Direct Social Work Practice. This is an optional book for an advanced theories class I'm taking. After a long day of making phone calls and emails to different institutes responsible for "therapy" training I went home, watched an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm, Suits and then was out cold. This morning I crack my optional text and read Chapter One; I'm immediately struck with the answer that I've been looking for, a generalist or eclectic practice for Social Work. This involves combining theoretical frameworks to create an informed practice with clients.

Eclecticism is especially interesting to me as a social worker because I believe this approach does not constrain a clients experience to one theory, forcing them to fit a mould or archetype. I interpret that as oppressive and not inclusive of the many different factors that may exist outside of the acknowledgement of a specific theories framework. Eclecticism also notes that a critical stance is taken by social workers on a scientific view in practice. This really strikes a chord with me, especially in an age where our actions are considered objective and important, our emotions are subjective and of little importance. That is wrong to me, I like having a critical view of "objectivity" as I feel that truly being objective is nearly impossible.

Back to studying, more later.

I have values and ideas but where do I go? Do I specialize?

I have spent a lot of time in my undergraduate studying the philosophy of Social Work, asking the big epistemological questions, how do social workers know what they know? Where do they get their information from, how do they inform their practice? Unfortunately I wrote my undergraduate research paper on the philosophy of Social Work as a science before finding the Social Work Podcast; I really feel the podcast is an exceptional source of information for Social Work students and practitioners. Now that the MSW program is in full swing I'm beginning to realize that not only does my discipline not subscribe to any one modality of therapy but uses many skills and therapies creating an eclectic practice. This is freeing and flexible, I imagine having a proverbial toolbox to draw from for a variety of situations and issues. From self-harming, suicide, depression, anxiety to bereavement, attachment or major personality disorders. Being

So, where do I fit in? The reality is I don't know and being eclectic is confusing when you don't have a foundation. I want to be recognized as a specialist with skills that are sought out or considered valuable, at least that is something aspire to. So, I will spend the next year researching institutes that offer training like the Toronto Psychoanalytic Institute & Society or the Jung Foundation of Ontario.

We shall see,
Tim.

A Social Work student making sense of their discipline.

I spent the past weekend with friends and family (the last of summer before academic go time). Some of them I haven't seen in a while, others are mainstays of my social life. Interestingly enough, I am always met with varying degrees of support towards my latest degree, a master of Social Work by both friends and family. It's no surprise to anyone that I'm pursuing this masters as I have worked in social welfare for the last six years. Despite this, I'm frequently asked by friends, "why Social Work"? Sure, I have had aspirations of being a psychotherapist for many years and a master of Social Work is an avenue towards that goal but yoga has been a major driving force in my life for the last three years and I have written my law school exams with great success. So, career paths are abound. Ultimately though, I find myself always drawn back to Social Work and specifically Social Work, not psychology or other related disciplines. At first glance it's not difficult to see the connection I have to Social Work. Friends and family say I have always been a sensitive person. I'm aware and conscious about others feelings, I find myself to be empathetic, a good listener but also a critical thinker and a true advocate for the underdog. When I researched Social Work values and ethics, I knew this was the right profession for me. They literally just popped out to me, I had that lightbulb moment. Now, this was more than three years ago so the pathway has come somewhat cluttered but finally, I'm here!

The first week of class has been interesting, I struggled with some feelings of impostor syndrome (not really a syndrome.. at least the folks who publish the DSM don't recognize it) as I felt I received admission out of pure luck and not my own merit. However, now that I'm surrounded by my fellow students I feel like I belong in the faculty and that I'm in the exact place in the universe that I should be. A little cheesy, I know but it feels good. My classmates possess values very similar to mine, they're all passionate about many different social justice and equality issues; some of which admittedly, I wasn't aware of. These are bright and exciting people with ideas and a lot of conviction to help people. Yes, to genuinely help people. These are my people, I have come to the right place. :)