By: Kalin Goble
The services provided by social workers are crucial to creating and cultivating individual and family wellness. During this time of insurmountable stressors at home and abroad, social workers are pillars in providing vital mental health and behavioral health services. Services that can aid family members in navigating daily anxiety, worry, and trauma.
National Social Work Month
March is Social Work Month, and the 2022 theme is The Time is Right for Social Work. Over the past three years, extreme events like the COVID-19 surge have compounded on top of already stressful situations. Stressors such as job and professional pressures, family and relationships, financial issues, and developing news every day.
With more than 715,000 social workers nationwide, the services provided by those in this field continue to reach a large spectrum of clients – many of whom are a part of our military community. As March draws to an end, we acknowledge and thank the daily services of social workers. We also shine a light on OneOp’s continued support for providers as they advocate for their clients and care for themselves.
Events to Grow Your Toolkit and Network
OneOp works closely with our Department of Defense team members to create programming and opportunities for growth. In this work, we specifically keep in mind our community of service providers working on the ground to support military families in a vast array of contexts. We also know that this work impacts the personal lives of those providing support services, and offer many webinars and blog posts focusing on professional fatigue, provider wellness, and the importance of self-care as well.
Social workers can visit our Programming Clusters pages to see topics that may be especially relevant to areas of focus in their work, as well as targeted continuing education opportunities offering CE credit from The University of Texas at Austin, Steve Hicks School of Social Work.
Feedback from Our SW Community
Our SBCY Series was created to identify factors associated with children’s sexual behavior and assist clinicians in understanding appropriate assessment and disclosure processes involved when problematic symptoms are present.
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- I work with children who have experienced trauma and children with PSB, so it was great to get more of an understanding of the system. As a social worker/therapist, it was a very useful insight. I work with youth who have experienced trauma if a situation presents itself, I feel better equipped to advocate in the court system. – Juvenile Justice Responses to Youth in Conflict with the Law webinar attendee
- I recently started interning and developed some symptoms of secondary traumatic stress after developing a clientele [in my graduate studies as a social worker.] Hearing Dr. Esther Deblinger talk about it as normal, and ways to cope with it, gave me the proper knowledge to not feel alone in carrying the weight of others’ trauma. I will continue to educate myself on the different treatment approaches I take with my clients by practicing them in my own life, not only to achieve mastery on them but to engage in self-care and limit the weight of carrying others’ traumas on my shoulders. – Overview of Treatment for Children Impacted by Problematic Sexual Behavior of Other Youth webinar attendee
March is also TBI Awareness month! To observe this, we have 2 webinars with the Traumatic Brain Injury Center of Excellence (TBICoE) on Brain Health: Understanding Military-Related TBIs and Support for Reintegration after TBI: Strategies For Advocates, Care Coordinators, and Case Managers. Our first webinar with TBICoE focused on Self-Care for Military & Veteran TBI Caregivers and providers.
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- I learned that one of the best ways to overcome compassion fatigue is to give yourself more compassion. As a social worker, I often try to overcompensate by caring more for my clients and putting myself further on the back burner. I will apply what I learned today by checking in more often with caregivers in regards to their self-care as well as finding new self-care strategies for myself. – Interactive Self-Care Workshop for Military and Veteran TBI Caregivers webinar attendee
Stay connected to get daily resources and updates!
Follow OneOpFD on Twitter for daily resources, evidence-based tips and strategies, and upcoming opportunities for continuing education. You can also connect and stay updated with more programming through our OneOp Facebook and LinkedIn profiles!
We celebrate the work done by and the dedication of service providers supporting not only our military families but all families every day of the year. We know your work continues on through countless variables, and thank our social work community for being an integral part of our strengthening our overall military family readiness!
Blog Image: Photo by Ron Lach from Pexels
