What a day...what a day

Today was especially long and I am feeling rather drained! Although we had a thought provoking discussion on cognitions and beliefs as related to treatment and causes of mental disorders in my morning class, my afternoon class seemed to last forever. My professor reported on some valuable findings from his research on school violence. I found it way difficult to manage sitting in a three hour lecture interpreting such findings, however. I am such a huge advocate for group work and dialogue during class time. After a while, I was fighting hard to further engage in the lecture by asking questions, maintaining eye contact with the professor, and thinking about how I could consider this research in practice as a school social worker. While I'm thinking about it, I will share one important finding from his research- It is likely that school climate, school structure, and the community in which the school exists greatly impact the severity of school violence as opposed to family composition and SES. Isn't that interesting! Based on these findings and due to more obvious reasons, more intervention is needed within the school system itself. Boy, is my work cut out for me! What a great way to implement some macro level work.

Even though I had a long day, attending two meetings, two classes, and currently preparing to work on my final assignments, I've acquired a heap of knowledge that I can use in practice as a school social worker! Yea!