Play: How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul
Play is the key to a successful life , March 5, 2009
| compulsive reader – See all my reviews |
This is one of the best books I have read recently. If I could give more than 5 stars, I would!
I’ve always believed “play” is the key to a successful life. The successful people I know enjoy playing( including my husband who is “the Kinesthete”, “The Explorer”, “The Collector”, “The Artist/Creator”, and “The Storyteller” according to Dr. Brown’s play personality) even though they are busier than average Americans. On the other hand, the people who have rigid attitude towards “play” (they even make family members feel guilty about it!) are not as successful as above, even though they “earned highest grades at the best schools”. This contrast becomes even more prominent when we become middle age. People who enjoy playing are not only more successful, but also happier.
Dr. Brown explains why this “‘nonproductive activity can make one enormously more productive and invigorated in other aspects of life” with scientific evidence and full of interesting anecdotes. It will persuade you not to feel guilty pursuing your dream or enjoying your life because it will make you and your kids more successful and happier.
Last time I checked Amazon had several of this very informative books available for immediate purchase but hurry it is fast running out and I do not know when they will have any more in stock!
Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul (Avery)
Best Price £9.83 or Buy New £12.59 Buy From Amazon
The Future of Social Work
The Future of Social Work
Being on the PTA has helped me to help again
I signed up to be a member of my son’s school Parent and Teachers Association and then for some reason at the first meeting put my hand up to be the Secretary. I thought it would last a year but soon found out it is for the whole of my child’s school life. I struggled with resistance and thoughts of resigning, how can a child protection social worker spend more time giving to others in the community? I am unreliable, I always have to stay at work late for some reason or another. To my surprise it has become a very rewarding part of my life; it helps me stay on top of what is going on for my son at school, as I know before he does what the term is going to look like. I can agree to give funds for school books and activities from money which I helped raise. But the greatest thing as a social worker for me is working and operating with others in “normality”, not in the context of people suffering or children who are at risk. It is a great balance for me, to see the world as a positive place with people and children working together, not because they get paid to, but as part of normal life, to make a difference to the lives of other.
As social workers, we need to have activities or experiences to help us counter balance what we see in our working lives.
Stay well
Warmest
Gradle
The Problem Manager
Julia had a problem manager. Her problem manager always wanted to give Julia more work than he gave Julia’s colleagues. Every time Julia was due to go into supervision with her boss Julia vowed she would complain and every time Julia said nothing about the unfair allocation. Eventually Julia was disciplined for the level of her sickness. Steve thought Julia was an excellent worker, one of the best in the group that he supervised. Julia seemed to relish allocation of complex cases and she completed them faster than anyone else. One day Julia went off sick for months and failed to communicate to Steve the reason for her sickness. The company lost good clients who only wanted Julia and Steve got reprimanded for the downturn in his work.
The moral of this story is that neither Steve nor Julia were aware or understood the impact of stress on them as workers in their organization, nor did they have effective ways of dealing with it.
Julia really loved her work but she began to do more and more which wore her down and then began to resent her boss and she could not tell him the effect it was having on her.
Steve had performance measures to keep up with and workers he could not rely on, apart from Julia. She helped him do his work well.
If you are in Julia’s position try doing the following:
• Communicate your needs appropriately and clearly; if you can not and you feel pressurized at work seek an understanding of how things can be rectified through company policies
• If you feel unwell due to the level of work request appropriate support
• Stay in contact with your manager even when you are off sick so that they know what is going on for you and can make alternative arrangements
• Although it is not up to you to sort out the issues concerning unfair distribution of work, you can ask why it is happening
As an employee it is important that you identify and deal with any issues of stress at work. Good communication is vital and it is a two way process. Which one of these tips will you take on at work?
Social Workers should work on taking a break
Just back from my holidays in St Lucia, and I did not touch a computer in 8 days! It was hard not to go into the hotel Internet room but I was good and resisted. I really fully appreciated my holiday and stayed present to the restful time on the beach, swimming and horse riding.
The process of unwinding takes place well before you reach your destination. If you have a highly stressful job, large amounts of responsibility or heavy workload you may be tempted through what you believe to be necessity to work up until the last minute or even work while you are on your break. Some people continue to work even if they are at home on sick leave. This defeats the purpose of the break or recuperation, but people feel they have less anxiety if they continue to work while away.
So a plan for preparing to go on holiday is what is needed. It worked for me.
Please let me know what works for you.
Gradle
Compassion Fatigue
Dear social work colleagues please see this request from an Art Therpy student, sounds very interesting
Hello,
My name is Alyssa Graye and I am conducting research for my graduate program in
Creative Arts Therapy. I am looking for participants for my thesis, entitled
Self Care and the Potential for Compassion Fatigue as Mediated by A Mandala.
It is a two-week study which includes filling out a brief questionnaire, taking a Compassion Fatigue Self Test after one full workweek, creating a mandala with directions and colored pencils that are provided by researcher for an additional workweek, and finally retaking the Compassion Fatigue Self Test. I will be sending all materials with a self-addressed pre-paid envelope to return the materials. There is no cost to the participants. All participants in the study will be anonymous and will be given a number for my statistical analysis. Detailed directions are also provided in the packet. All students in training and professionals in the mental health field and the field of art therapy are qualified to participate. I am hoping to further the research in my field and
also to have mental health care providers learn more about compassion fatigue
and the need for self care. If you are interested in being a participant, please email me back directly at agraye222@yahoo.com with your address to keep your information confidential. Your participation is greatly appreciated!
Thank you for your time,
Alyssa Graye
Agraye222@yahoo.com
What Laming said and why we should…but how?
There are lots of sites for sharing good social work practice, this site is for sharing taking care of social workers but I am going to break my flexible rule and do a quote straight from the latest and most topical issue in the UK; Baby P and Haringey social workers
“It is important to recognise the stressful and emotional context for social work and create an environment that enables social workers to share their feelings and anxieties without being labelled as inadequate” The Protection of Children in England: A progress Report, Lord Laming, March 2009
I think we have moved more to awareness, hopefully the next step will be to also care for practitioners not just letting students know what they might be in for!
Let me know what you think.
Warmest
Gradle
Review page
I have added a new review page to the blog and will be reviewing stress managment products for social workers to look at. Let me know of any products you suggest and that we can share with social workers who visit this community.
Warmest
Gradle
Social Networking Benefits Stressed Out Social Workers
I like to use social networking sites to keep in touch with my family and friends and to also spread the word about reducing social work stress, I also know that it is a way of reducing my stress on several levels.
As part of my research into what stress relieving techniques work for social workers I talked with some workers on my networks and manager in social worker settings.
Social networking sites for social workers suffering from or open to stress at work has resulted in a major finding for me; it can be an appropriate wellbeing stress buster if used wisely. As a social work professional connecting with family friends and even business colleagues on social networking sites can be a huge stress relieving advantage.
It is a way of reconnecting very quickly and efficiently with people who support you do your job from your own networks, networks which you can build up just to do that.
It can be very frustrating to be working for an organisation that has a policy of not enabling workers to access social networking sites on the company internet, but I understand why that might be, maybe they have not fully understood what some of the benefits and safeguards could be.
Social workers have to work long hours with very difficult situations, if they are able to build a supportive circle of friends around them to support them this should be encouraged. However it does need the support of their organisations to be in agreement that this is a worthwhile tool.
The disadvantages
Some social workers may take inappropriate advantage of being able to access social networking sites; they may not get on with their work or they may be running their life or businesses on company time!
The remedy
Organisations can have restricted access at various times, say before the working day as a lot of social workers have to come in early to work when the office is quiet, before the phones start to ring and service users come in on duty or for appointments.
Certain sites or activities can be monitored good policies can be put in place to help workers understand the issues
The advantages
Workers can use social networking as a way to offer support to each other and to relieve the tensions of the day. There are a lot of social workers who are now using these mediums to share information and to offer good and useful information; this also includes Schools of Social Worker and Universities and other statutory social work organisations. Workers can connect with family and friends around the world. Workers can arrange their social life and therefore ensure they have good breaks from their caring roles
Caution
Finally social workers should not allow the process of social networking to give them additional stress. You should continue to make sure you protect yourself on- line; choosing where you go and how long you spend on social networking sites wisely and making sure that you do not break the policies of the agency you work for.
Join me on Twitter if you want to stay in touch with Stress Relieving Techniques aimed for social workers.