Category: Reflections on Practice
No SSW Magic Required, Just A Commitment To Learn
First, you might feel like you don’t know anything starting this job straight out of school. Honestly, you know more than you think you do but it’s also time to watch, listen, and learn.
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Letter To A New Practitioner: Kirsten Brown Starts Our Series
Congratulations and welcome to one of the best jobs on the planet! You have the honor of working with some of the most amazing, hilarious, and resilient people – your students, their families, and your teacher colleagues and other school staff. There is nothing quite like the energy that school communities have, and the people you meet and work alongside will change your life. You will learn so much from them, you will be challenged by them, and they will motivate you to keep growing to do and be better both professionally and personally.
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Write for SSWN This Year: Call For Articles
What’s your article idea? What do you want our readers to know more about? We’re looking for a variety of work here, and here are some examples based on previous work we’ve published–submit your ideas to us and let us help you publish your own on SSWN this year.
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School Social Workers: Building Bridges for Collective Progress During a Pandemic
Serving as a school social worker during a pandemic is not an easy task. What makes it more challenging is trying to serve on an island or without peer support. As school social workers and members of the school social work network (SSWN), we chose to work collaboratively to lead a Professional Learning Community (PLC) throughout the summer.
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Re-Opening Our Schools In Unprecedented Times
At SSWN and SSWNetwork, we’re here for you in this unprecedented school year, and I wanted to share some resources and upcoming events that we hope will support you in your work this Fall.
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How To Do A Conference That Doesn’t Suck: The Oxford Symposium In School-Based Family Counseling
The Oxford Symposium in School-Based Family Counseling is a week-long symposium that pulls off the rare feat of being rigorous, inspiring, & fun. It also doesn’t suck. We just wrapped another Symposium, this time all-virtual, and I’m reflecting on what makes it so special. The power and warmth and longevity of the Symposium makes me think about why so many other academic meetings I attend regularly suck, & what can happen when they don’t.
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Notes on Becoming an Anti-racist School Social worker
This post features a lecture I gave on July 17th as part of Day 2 of the 15th Annual Loyola SMHAPP Virtual Summer Institute. In the video, I get into a variety of excellent anti-racist education resources that have contributed to my own efforts to take actions as an anti-racist school social worker and educator. But even though my talk was titled “Becoming an Anti-racist SSW,” it’s clear that this is a lifelong, daily task, not a final goal that any of us can reach.
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School Social Work & Racial Justice: Stand Up, Speak Up, Because Silence is Deadly
As a White school social worker who worked in an urban district that primarily serves students and families of color, I am still livid that another Black son…partner…brother…friend…father, was taken with the murder of George Floyd. I wonder how my former students and their families are coping. And with the whole wider world finally talking openly about systemic racism these past few months, I wonder how my former students might be reflecting on their own experiences at school. I too am reflecting back on my time in schools but possibly in a much different way than they are. Along with the ever-present feeling of “I should have done more”, I find myself asking “Why didn’t I?”.
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