SOAR to Success in SOCIAL WORK

SOARing on the Supervision Road

Getting ready to spend a day and a half with Licensed Clinical Social Workers (LCSWs) in the throws of supervision; I've been checking and rechecking my own supervision stock.

There are lots of levels to supervision. The supervision that I will be addressing on May 11 and 12 is important and special. In Louisiana, if you want to supervise new MSWs towards licensure you must meet certain requirements and take a 6.5 hour supervision wokshop to become a Board Approved Clinical Supervisor (BACS). My Friday, May 11 workshop will be with these LCSW's who are interested in becoming Board Approved Clinical Supervisors, and my Saturday afternoon May 12 workshop is for BACSs who want to continue.

Even though I'm living in France, I'm still able to maintain my licensure and my Board Approved Clinical Supervisor status. But because of time and face-to-face requirements, I've been unable to offer supervision to new MSWs toward licensure. I miss it. I love it. But beyond me; supervision toward licensure is an important element that ensures our professional values,  ethics, and essential skills are communicated to new, young, social work professionals. With these workshops, I strive to encourage a renewed excitement for supervision by offering tips, tools, and activities that show you it can all be fun and rewarding. Hope to see you in New Orleans, where we can SOAR on the supervision road together. Keep SOARing-Laury A. Bourgeois, LCSW-BACS, RSW (GB-UK)

Putting All the Pieces Together

I don't have quite as many pieces to put together for the upcoming workshops as there are shingles on these St. Cirq Lapopie roofs, but coordinating three separate workshops is a huge task no matter where you are.

Since I believe in using Pre/Post tests to measure knowledge on the various topics, evaluating every session and providing sample forms and participatory activities; a lot of trees are sacrificed in the copying that needs to be done. It's nice not to have to lug all that paper from France to New Orleans. I've been emailing powerpoints, forms and handouts by workshop over to LACSW's Lisa Strauss to be downloaded and copied. It's wonderful when all the players work together like a well-oiled machine.

There's been lots of coordinating to be done between me, the LABSWE, the LACSW and the Tulane School of Social Work. Even though supervision, ethics and cultural diversity are very serious topics; I strive to make all of my workshops, fun, meaningful, and useful to my participants. Another important part to the learning process is feedback to participants. You can expect to see results from all the workshops here on SOAR to Success in Social Work upon my return to France at the end of May. I'd love to see you in New Orleans, but if you can't make it for the workshops you can stay tuned here to learn more.-

Keep SOARing With Me-Laury A. Bourgeois, LCSW-BACS, RSW (GB-UK)

New Tricks-Exploring Ethical Engagement

One of the things I enjoy most when I'm preparing to offer workshops, is taking a topic that feels worn, tired and sometimes even beat to death; and discovering that there can be a new, fresh way to look at it. (Or at least a way that is new and fresh for me.) It challenges me to think out of the box.

As a Registered Social Worker in Great Britain, I receive newsletters from the General Social Care Council (GSCC) regularly. Their on-line March Issue of Social Work Connections had an article about their ethics offerings, with links to an on-line quiz with scenarios about dual relationships, and a final report and a research project, both on professional boundaries.

Their Professional Boundaries-Final Report introduced me to: the concept of "Ethical Engagement", a process whereby the ethical issues that underpin professional boundary dilemmas are regularly discussed and addressed. They "liken ethical fitness to physical fitness: like muscles, if ethical faculties are not regularly used and appropriately stressed, they atrophy." This means that there is ongoing ethics dialogue in supervision, team development, and in the every day practices of the organization. (p.8 & p.94)

I began to think about my history as a social work professional, going back some 40 years to when I began undergraduate school. I plan to close out the Saturday, May 12,  workshop: "Social Work Ethics in Changing Times" sharing our personal experiences with Ethical Engagement over time and leaving with a personal plan in place to ensure that we are ethically engaged in our careers from now on. It would be wonderful if you could join us in New Orleans for this workshop, but even if you can't...I encourage you to look at your own professional history and come up with your own plan for ongoing ethical engagement in your career.-Laury A. Bourgeois, LCSW-BACS, RSW (GB-UK)