Engendering Critical Conversations in Field Seminar: Key Strategies to Improve Student Engagement

Overview: This workshop will equip participants with strategies to engender critical conversations in field seminar. The workshop will introduce participants to the clinical team meeting agenda which participants may adopt and adapt to best fit their unique pedagogy.Proposal text: Engendering critical conversations during field seminar are a vital component of students’ learning process and development. However, first, one important variable towards engendering critical conversations are student’s engagement and willingness to participate. Often times students are experiencing academic stress, limited time for self-care, and juggling personal life obligations which may leave them worn-out and less motivated to engage in essential higher level processing and dialogue in the classroom. This workshop will introduce participants to key tools that may be adopted to aid students in being more willing to adopt and engaged stance and engage in critical conversations during field seminar. Strategies featured have been piloted in the classroom in which students have provided feedback such as, “I loved the way the classroom was structured, I never felt bored and always looked forward to class” and “I love the way that we ran class, I can see myself using the agenda in my practice when I graduate”. One of the key strategies involves the adoption of a clinical team meeting agenda (CTMA) adapted from existent clinical practice used in a dialectical behavior therapy program at a mental health clinics (Noll, Lewis, Zalewski, Martin, Roos, …& Reinhardt, 2020; Walsh, Ryan, & Flynn, 2018). The CTMA involves inviting students to engage in a mock clinical team meeting with their peers in which they are encouraged to provide each other with practical social work interventions, validation, cheerleading, and problem solving of ethical dilemmas (Fruzzetti, & Ruork, 2018). The CTMA is rooted in evidenced based practice as an identical form has been used in dialectical behavior therapy team meetings as an aid in addressing burn out (Walsh, Ryan, & Flynn, 2018). The CTMA is also founded in cognitive behavior theory and is guided by seven dialectical behavior therapy principles such as, “people are doing the best they can”, and “figuring out and changing the causes of behavior work better than judging and blaming” (Reynolds & Linehan, 2020). On key feature is that the CTMA also allows students the option to share their burn out on a one to five Likert scale and utilize effective communication skills in which they may share what they may need in an effort to decrease their burn out. This component has been anecdotally reviewed by students as a non-judgmental and friendly method to address burn out. One unique strength of the tool is that it allows students the opportunity to engage in dialectical thinking as a method of exploring ways to solve ethical dilemmas in social work practice (Robillard, Dixon-Gordon, & Turner, 2021). Participants in the workshop will be provided the CTMA for adoption and personal adaptation as best suited to their unique pedagogy.