Privilege It’s a Thing and We Should Care

Posted on Monday April 15, 2019 by Jacob Campbell.

Privilege is a topic that has been coming up and that I’ve been mulling over recently. I am a true believer that it is a topic that we should keep coming back to and reevaluating what our privilege is. When I was working on my degrees in social work at Eastern Washington University, I wrote a paper The Ethnicity of Non-Ethnicity: The Ethnic Autobiography of the Dominate Culture back in 2008.

I had been planning writing a review about Ta-Nehishi Coates audio book, Between The Worlds and Me, which I recently listened to (and I think think this blog post will suffice). Michiko Kakutani From the New York Times provides a good review of the book which is written as a type of letter to Coates’s teenage son about the realities, feelings, and symbolism associated with being Black in the United States. There were many points that stood out to me and gave me pause to think.

When coates was talking about his years growing up, and the safety of his body, really struck me that even with all of my travels and sometimes dangerous positions, that I’ve not really lived in it and my privilege that frequently they were positions I had put myself in. I was also struck by his comments about people who “think they are white.”

All in all, it was a powerful story and well worth a read or a listen. If you do listen to it like I did (and I must give a shoutout to public libraries and being able to download audiobooks), I love books that read by the author as I feel like I get even more of their voice. I was thankful that my mom recommended it to me.

While, I still haven’t finished the episode yet, I am still working my way through listening to Reconcilable Differences - Episode 101: Duke of Bits (Overcast Link and Website). I highly respect John and Merlin and appreciate their thoughtfulness in life and the way they broach all sorts of topics. In this episode they talk about both privilege and status and it was a great listen and through provoking. It is so important, as they said that people recognize that privilege is a thing and we have to keep reminding ourselves of that. The idea that how we can be fearless to be able to go about our life, and know that everything will be ok. That is so true for me and I can highly relate to saying that many times I can be fearless where not everybody else can.

One area I’m able to be somewhat fearless in is pursing more education. I’m sure I will write more about this as time goes on, but I’ve been accepted to the California Institute of Integral Studies Doctorate in Transformative Studies program. The mere fact that I can look into pursing this puts me in such a position of privilege. And while I don’t have the type of excessive privilege of the somewhat recent news about U.S. Charges Dozens Of Parents, Coaches In Massive College Admissions Scandal I still have a whole lot more than many people.

Is it Spring Yet? Duck Pond & River Fun

Posted on Saturday March 16, 2019 by Jacob Campbell.

It feels like Spring is finally here. We went to the Duck Pond at Columbia Park and fed the ducks.

I will say, after I was posting about buying bread to feed the ducks, a friend reached out to me and told me about the problems related to that, so you should consider feeding them something else. Fun video though.

Video shot on my GoPro and iPhone and Made by GoPro Quick using the song Straight West.

The 15 Hats (ahem, Roles) of Social Workers

Posted on Saturday February 16, 2019 by Jacob Campbell.

Social workers all wear a number of different hats, or function in a number of different roles for their practice. In this video we talk about 15 different roles that social workers frequently put on. We go through and talk talk about the roles of counselor, case manager, broker, enabler, enabler, educator, facilitator, mediator, negotiator, manager, analyst/evaluator, consultant, integrator/coordinator, spokesperson, organizer/mobilizer, and advocate.

References

Barker, R.L. (1995). The social work dictionary (3rd ed.). Washington, DC: NASW Press.

Yessian, M.R., & Broskowski, A. (1983). Generalists in human-service systems: Their problems and prospects. Prentice Hall.

Zastrow, C., & Kirst-Ashman, K. (1997). U_nderstanding human behavior and the social environment (4th ed.)_. Wadsworth Publishing Company.

Kirst-Ashman, K. K., & Hull, Jr., G. H. (2015). Understanding generalist practice (7th ed.). Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning.

Chechak, D. (2008 November 10)The roles of a social worker. Retrieved from https://www.scribd.com/doc/7852257/The-Roles-of-a-Social-Worker

Mutual Aid Model and Children with Special Needs

Posted on Thursday February 7, 2019 by Jacob Campbell.

Helping the populations that we work with be able to connect together, feel as if they are in the same boat with persons with similar needs, and giving them opportunities to provide assistance to those persons is a effective way to help people feel supported. Mutual Aid groups are useful for all different types of needs, includes families of youth who have special needs. We discuss what Mutual Aid is and some of the ways that we facilitate groups with Mutual Aid as social workers.

Changing Problematic Behaviors, Principles of Operant Conditioning

Posted on Thursday January 31, 2019 by Jacob Campbell.

Changing problematic behaviors is difficult. One evidence-based method for addressing difficult and disruptive behaviors whether at school or home is through reinforcing the behaviors that we want to see and punishing behaviors that we do not want to see. This general learning style is what is referred to as operant conditioning. For this video, we give some examples of how to provide these reinforcements and punishments.

ADHD Information for Practitioners, Parents, and Schools

Posted on Monday January 21, 2019 by Jacob Campbell.

A look into how to address Attention-Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) from the perspectives of clinicians, parents, and schools.

We focus on an article published in the Journal on Pediatrics in 2011 written by the Subcommittee on Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and the Steering Committee on Quality Improvement and Management. This article focuses on diagnosis, evaluation, and treatment.

Reference

American Psychiatric Association. (2013) Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (Fifth ed.). Washington: American Psychiatric Association.

Centers for Disease Control and Prvention (2018, September 21) Attention-deficit / hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): Data & statistics. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/adhd/data.html

Wolraich, M., Brown, L., Brown, R. T., DuPaul, G., Earls, M., Feldman, H. M., … Davidson, C. (2011). ADHD: Clinical Practice Guideline for the Diagnosis, Evaluation, and Treatment of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder in Children and Adolescents. Pediatrics, 128(5), 1007–1022. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2011-2654.ADHD

Working with Vulnerable Populations, a Rationale for Social Work Policy Practice

Posted on Tuesday January 15, 2019 by Jacob Campbell.

Working with vulnerable population is a staple for social workers. Discussion about types of policy practice (including policy-sensitive practice, policy-related practice, and policy advocacy) and some real life examples of participating in policy advocacy through legislative advocacy, social advocacy, and policy analysis.

References

Figueira-McDonough, J. (1993). Policy practice: The neglected side of social work intervention. Social Work, 38(2), 179–188.

Jansson, B. (2014). Brooks/Cole empowerment series: Becoming an effective policy advocate (7th ed.). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole, Cengage Learning.

From the City to the French Countryside and Italy

Posted on Wednesday August 10, 2016 by Jacob Campbell.

A photo from the Balcony of Sheila and Dennis house in the Commune of Fabas in the Midi-Phyrénées of the French Countryside.

A Black Madonna or Black Virgin is a statue or painting of Mary in which she, and oftentimes the infant Yahshua are depicted with dark skin, especially those created in Europe in the medieval period or earlier. The Black Madonnas are generally found in Catholic and Orthodox countries. The term refers to a type of Marian statue or painting of mainly medieval origin (12th to 15th centuries), with dark or black features.

– Wikipedia

The city of lights was beautiful. You can find my photo album on Facebook, Paris, City of Lights. After spending four nights in Paris, we caught a train heading to Toulouse, in the Southern France region. In Toulouse, we didn’t really spend much time. We rented cars and spent a little bit of time getting some lunch and wandering around the Toulouse downtown for a bit. We tried to go and see the Black Madonna, but we couldn’t find parking. We rented two cars, mine was a manual. I hadn’t driven a manual transmission car since I was in high school, but after we got into the windy roads of the French Countryside in Midi-Pyrénées, I was glad that was my car. It felt exhilarating to be shifting through all of the roads.

A house in the commune of Aulus-les-Brains in the French Countryside.

Heading to the Commune of Fabas, we went to the wrong Fabas at first (putting us about 45 minutes in the wrong direction), but we finally made it to some of the most wonderful country I’ve ever seen. We spent four nights in the area. My mom, Geralyn and I stayed at an old family friend of my mother and I, Sheila and Dennis. They used to live in the Dayton Watisburg area where I grew up. They built a house, in the countryside with the most spectacular view. You can check out photos on Facebook album, French Countryside in the Midi-Pyrénées. We got the opportunity to do a lot of different things while we were there.

Steak Chevalier (Horse).

Before heading out on our trip, I was the least excited about visiting the countryside. I was thinking that I wouldn’t like it as much, because it is out of the city, but it was amazing! We spent one day touring various small villages, passes, and outlooks. The views from the some of the passes, and Lake Bethmal were breathtaking. We even picked wild huckleberries on the mountain side. I was amazed at the roads, and sites especially knowing that often times the Tour de France goes through these mountains. It made me tired just thinking about it. In the City of Seix, I ended up ordering horse (common food in France), it was good and tasted mostly like cow.

In 1858 Lourdes rose to prominence in France and abroad due to the Marian apparitions seen by the peasant girl Bernadette Soubirous, who was later canonized. Shortly thereafter the city became one of the world’s most important sites of pilgrimage and religious tourism. Today Lourdes hosts around six million visitors every year from all corners of the world. This constant stream of pilgrims and tourists transformed quiet Lourdes into the second most important center of tourism in France, second only to Paris, and the third most important site of international Catholic pilgrimage after Rome and the Holy Land. As of 2011, of French cities only Paris had more hotel capacity.

– Wikipedia

View of the Church at Lourdes in France.

An estimated 200 million people have visited the shrine since 1860,7 and the Roman Catholic Church has officially recognized 69 healings considered miraculous. Cures are examined using Church criteria for authenticity and authentic miracle healing with no physical or psychological basis other than the healing power of the water

– Wikipedia

Another one of the days, some of us went to Lourdes, France. It was a bit of drive, but is an interesting town. There are hundreds of people with diseases, handicaps, and different abilities that make the pilgrimage to Lourdes to seek healing. The church of Lourdes, is gorgeous and I’m pretty sure it is what Disneyland is modeled after.

We also had an amazing five course traditional French meal at the bed and breakfast the rest of my family was staying at. The food was amazing, and we sat, ate, talked, ate, drank, ate, and drank more for almost three and half hours. A wonderful experience.

A photo of Sheila, Dennis, and I at Lake Bethmal.

The next morning, we set off early, heading to Nice. When I told family and friends that I was going to France, everybody was worried because of the attack that happened about a month before our trip in Nice. It was unfortunate that we only got to stay one night in Nice, because it was a hip, vibrant, and fun town. We spent 10 hours driving from Sheila and Dennis to Nice, toll bridges, and craziness, but it was absolutely worth it.

Then it was a train to Florence with a stop in Milan. Our train was late arriving in Milan, and the carrier wouldn’t refund our ticket so we had to wait for another one and purchase it again.

In Florence we’ve had the opportunity see David, walk the streets, go shopping, I’ve gone out a couple of nights and gotten to experience some of the nightlife, and stay in an absolutely beautiful hotel (Kaft Hotel) with a terrace roof and restaurant and pool. We leave tomorrow to head to the last leg of our trip and Rome.