How Smartphones Are Impacting Young People

Source: www.unsplash.com

The issue of allowing smart phones in the classroom is being discussed across the country, and the response to this issue is an evolving story. In some cases, restrictions are being chosen by individual school districts and/or through state legislation. This blog is authored by Guest Blogger, Tim Whitaker, Executive Director at Mighty Writers.

Tim Whitaker

The number one book on the NYT nonfiction bestseller list for the last 23 weeks is titled "The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness." Bottom-line thesis of author Jonathan Haidt's runaway hit book?

Digital life — particularly the use of smartphones — is making kids deeply, intensely unhappy.

The addiction to smartphones — along with the obsession with Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and all their cybernated brethren — is leading to sleep deprivation, compulsive disorders and mental illness in general. All familiar, especially if you have a young person in your life and have witnessed obsessive digital use up close and personal.

Digital obsession is something we think a lot about at Mighty Writers. We see firsthand how cell phones pull kids away from their instructors, mentors and peers; how a buzzing alert in a pocket can distract a student from caring about what they're thinking or writing.

This month, at the start of the school year, we banned the use of cell phones in our after-school program. It's a small step, one adopted by the Los Angeles school district, but we think a necessary one.

Still, there's a part of us that can grow defensive on behalf of our young Mighty writers: Why pick on the kids? How many times have we grown-ups had an in-person conversation interrupted by a friend who feels it necessary to answer their cell phone — "Excuse me, this will only take a minute"? Or how many of us have picked up our phone to take a quick run through TikTok or Instagram and 45 minutes later find ourselves still scrolling through images and messages that are mostly instantly forgettable?

Digital life has affected us all, kids the most, fair to say, because their minds and viewpoints are still evolving. They need smart, insistent and kind guidance, none of which they're going to find on a screen. Author Haidt calls for societal and policy changes, including delaying smartphone use until high school.

So much to think about.

What goes unsaid is the double whammy of the times we're living in — where threats and assassination attempts are becoming commonplace, where schools have active shooter drills, where immigrants are demonized and unsupervised play for kids has been scrapped in many communities out of generalized fear. It's a lot. For kids, especially, for sure. We're in uncharted territory. It's why we desperately look to change the subject with words that could bring a smile.

MORE ABOUT...

Tim Whitaker began his career teaching fifth and sixth grade in Philadelphia before becoming a writer and editor. He was the editor of Philadelphia Weekly (1994-2008), and previously the editor of PhillySport and Pittsburgh magazines. Whitaker was a head writer at NBC Radio and has written for PBS, The New York Times, Washington Post and Philadelphia Inquirer. He was the executive producer of an award-winning audio documentary on the history of soul radio in Philadelphia and the author of the book “Crash: The Life and Times of Dick Allen.”

Mighty Writers is a nonprofit organization dedicated to "teaching kids to think clearly and write with clarity." They offer many writing programs such as Literary Arts Workshops and an Afterschool Academy. They evolved during the COVID pandemic and now offer multiple food distribution centers to low-income neighborhoods. Established in 2009, they serve communities in and around Philadelphia, PA; in Camden, Newark and Atlantic City, NJ; and in El Paso, Texas.

UPCOMING WEBINAR

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Youth Vote 2024: Voter Registration

Source: The League of Women Voters

By Sam Piha

Did you know that in many states young people can pre-register to vote at the age of 16-17? Student organizers and adult volunteers work collaboratively with schools, organizations and events to coordinate voter registration drives that target high school and college students. To learn more about organizing voter registration drive, click here. You can also share a video by young people on voter registration drives by clicking on the image below. 

Source: Our Time is Now: CA Pre-Registration PSA  

Bring Voter Registration to Your High School

“High schools are the most efficient and equitable system we have for getting young people registered, particularly the 40% who do not attend college.” [i]

Source: Ed Week

Paper and online registration drives can occur during classes, lunch periods, school assemblies, school orientation days, school club days, marches, etc. After students register, they are challenged to recruit other youth to register and/or to organize new registration drives and are encouraged to vote in every election. To learn more and access a guide for organizing a registration drive, click here.”

“We registered 103 students in 2.5 hours at one high school with the help of a student League member who attends the school and a social studies teacher and his students.” [ii] - member of the League of Women Voters of Henderson County (NC) 

“The Civics Center is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that empowers high school students to hold peer-to-peer voter registration events in their high schools. When students invite their peers into the democratic process, they build civic engagement, develop leadership skills and strengthen our democracy. We are committed to nonpartisanship and an inclusive spirit of voter registration. We also prioritize collaboration with school faculty and administration as well as local election officials.” 

Here are the process students will use to organize a voter registration event in your school:

1. Attend a 45-minute online workshop held by The Civics Center which outlines the importance of youth voter registration, the process of planning an event in your school, and how to register to vote and help others to register in your state. Find a workshop for your state on our website.

2. Gather volunteers from a club, honors society, class, or group of friends. 

“I organized a registration drive at my school all by myself. It wasn’t the best time of the year due to AP testing, but I was able to register 99 of my classmates. I also volunteered at other schools’ registration drives. I think we need to get a lot of young adults voting because then if politicians want to be re-elected, they will have to advocate for our views.” [iii] – Michael, high school student  

3. Coordinate with the school administration to pick one or more dates, times, and locations to hold a voter registration event. Voter registration is usually conducted either with tables and clipboards during a lunch period, or through student-led presentations in a homeroom, advisory, or class period.

4. Register your school on The Civics Center’s website listing an estimated date for the planned event and the name and email of a faculty sponsor.

5. Receive a toolkit, Democracy in a Box, free from The Civics Center before the event. Democracy in a Box is a starter kit that includes pens, clipboards, stickers, posters, candy, and more supplies to help make your event as easy as possible and fun for participants. We ship Democracy in a Box to the designated faculty sponsor to promote effective collaboration within the school. 

6. Acquire voter registration forms. We go over this process in the webinar training; in many states, this is as simple as printing a PDF. In some states, it’s simpler to use online voter registration.

7. Hold the voter registration event on the selected date(s) using the materials in Democracy in a Box, and report back the number of registrations to The Civics Center via email. 

8. Return the completed voter registration forms to your local elections official within 2-3 days of the event.” [iv]

“We plan to host registration events, and possibly even parties; on election day, we plan to go with teens who are voting for the first time and to make a big deal of it (e.g., ‘It’s my first-time voting’ hats or sashes).” – Rebecca Fabiano, Executive Director, FAB Youth Philly

NOTE: After registration, a Get Out the Vote campaign can begin. Students are reminded about upcoming candidate forums and elections. Youth are also encouraged to create social events such as Flash Mob Voting (meeting at one location and marching to a post office with mail-in ballots) and election night watch parties.

END NOTES
[i] The Civics Center, Our Purpose
[ii] League of Women Voters, The League Empowers Teens Through Youth Voter Registration Programs
[iii] Youth Voter Movement, About the Movement
[iv] The Civics Center, Bringing Voter Registration to Your High School

Lights on Afterschool Planning Tool

Looking at Riley’s outer world in ‘Inside Out 2′

Source: ©Pixar Animation Studios

Inside Out 2 is the follow-up to Disney and Pixar’s Inside Out. Below guest blogger, Naomi Schaefer Riley, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, reviews “Inside Out 2”. It was originally published on Deseret News. This sequel, which was recently released, takes place inside the head of Riley, a 13-year-old girl who has just hit puberty.

Naomi Schaefer Riley

As in the first installment, this movie includes the personified “emotion” characters of Joy, Sadness, Anger, Disgust and Fear living inside Riley’s brain. But now, thanks to raging hormones, presumably, those characters are joined by Anxiety, Envy, Ennui and Embarrassment. Anxiety is the main antagonist in the new movie, and that’s not surprising, given how many teens (and especially girls) are suffering under the weight of that feeling these days.

There are plenty of clever moments in the movie, which turns our metaphors about the brain into a physical landscape with a “sar-chasm” and the “stream of consciousness.” But the most brilliant moment comes when we find out that Anxiety has taken over Riley’s imagination and is now employing all the little creatures who used to come up with fun stories or ideas to draw sketches of all the terrible possibilities that could result from any of Riley’s actions. If you’ve ever talked to a teenager paralyzed by anxiety, this is exactly what it seems like. You can keep telling them that those things won’t happen — or that if they do, things will still be OK — but they seem to come up with new worst-case scenarios faster than you can argue with them.

It is worth taking note of what’s going on outside Riley’s head, too. Because while one shouldn’t underestimate the power of puberty to make adolescents behave strangely, that has actually been the case for some time. Adolescents today, though, are experiencing an unprecedented mental health crisis. What is happening now that’s new? Is there anything in Riley’s outer life worth our notice?

The first thing you might notice about Riley is that she’s an only child. There are no siblings to compete with or horse around with or tease. She is an A student and a precocious hockey player. She has experienced, from what we can tell, almost no failure in her life. Her parents’ lives revolve around her. They both tuck her in at night. They come to her hockey games, wearing team jerseys and cheering her on. When she goes off to a weekend hockey camp, her mother and father are not quite sure what to do with themselves.

Riley does have friends, but the main activity she does with her friends is play hockey. If Riley has free time, we don’t see it. We see her buried under piles of homework and we see her at the ice rink, but that’s about it. This is all a recipe for anxiety. Riley is under a lot of pressure to perform and has experienced almost no independence. Though her parents are constantly trying to reassure her that they will love her no matter what, it’s hard to be the focus of all that adult attention.

Source: ©Pixar Animation Studios

At one point in the movie, even Joy recognizes that the steps she is taking to help Riley — getting rid of all of her bad memories — are actually hurting her. Those moments, when Riley has been embarrassed or done something that disappoints her parents, actually — to borrow a phrase — build character. It is notable that the word “character” does not appear in the movie. There are beliefs and dreams and memories and a “sense of self,” but character — something traditionally thought of as being forged through adversity — is not part of the landscape. It is not that Riley doesn’t work hard. She clearly does. But she is working as hard as she can taking directions from adults. She is playing high-level organized sports.

Robert Pondiscio, my colleague at the American Enterprise Institute, recently defended the importance of organized sports for shaping young people — noting “competitive sports remain unabashedly old school. Kids are held directly accountable. You show up, work hard and perform, or else you sit; the scoreboard is the last word in accountability and resiliency.” But it is also hard to dismiss the complaint that these activities are completely adult-directed and consume time that kids in previous eras would have spent figuring out how to play and get along on their own.

A final note. Like just about every other 13-year-old, Riley has a smartphone. We see her using it to take selfies, but the coach at the hockey camp takes all the phones away at the beginning of the weekend (Go, coach!). If Riley has this much anxiety without a phone, imagine what she would be like if she were constantly checking one. It is perfect that the only emotion associated with her own device is Ennui. Because, frankly, ennui was really not an emotion associated with teenagers until fairly recently.

“For elementary kids and tweens especially, the movie has proved to be an exceptionally great starting point for important conversations about anxiety and self-esteem. ‘These films are just such a great segue for talking about all the different kinds of feelings and really allowing for and normalizing them,’ says Jenn Wert, a parenting coach and educator who specializes in family relationships and communication.” [1]

For Gen Xers like me, and the Boomers before us, teen years may have been filled with the extremes of joy and sadness and anger, the deep desire for independence and especially risk taking. But rarely was it boring. What would it take to get us back to that kind of childhood? Turning our world inside out.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS FOR 'INSIDE OUT 2'

• “Who was your favorite character in Inside Out 2? Why did you like them?
• Can you tell me about a time when you felt like one of the characters in the movie?
• What do you think caused Riley to start changing what she believed about herself?
• Have you ever felt emotions that surprised you?
• Can you think of a time when you felt a mix of different emotions at the same time?
• How did Riley act when her anxiety was at the ‘control panel’? What did you think about how she responded to that feeling?
• If you were to make a movie like this with you as the main character instead of Riley, what other emotion might you add?” [2]

RESOURCES

• Previous LIAS Blog on Inside Out 1  

VIDEOS

• Webinar Recording: The Science Behind ‘Inside Out 2’
• ‘Inside Out 2’ Official Trailer
• Best Scenes in Inside Out 2 Headquarters! 

MORE ABOUT…

Naomi Schaefer Riley is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where she focuses on child welfare and foster care issues. Specifically, her work analyzes the role of faith-based and community organizations in changing the foster care and adoption services landscape. She also studies how race, class and family structure affect foster care placement and services and the impact of the drug crisis on child welfare. She is concurrently a senior fellow at the Independent Women’s Forum. She is the author of “No Way to Treat a Child: How the Foster Care System, Family Courts, and Racial Activists Are Wrecking Young Lives,” among other books.

The American Enterprise Institute is a public policy think tank dedicated to defending human dignity, expanding human potential, and building a freer and safer world. The work of our scholars and staff advances ideas rooted in our belief in democracy, free enterprise, American strength and global leadership, solidarity with those at the periphery of our society, and a pluralistic, entrepreneurial culture.

The Greater Good Science Center is unique in its commitment to both science and practice: Not only do they sponsor groundbreaking scientific research into social and emotional well‐being, they help people apply this research to their personal and professional lives.

 

END NOTES

[1] Ashley Austrew, A parent’s guide to ‘Inside Out 2’: What to know before seeing the movie with kids
[2] Tamar Davis, Talking to Kids About ‘Inside Out 2’

Voices from the Afterschool Field on Self-Care (Part 2)

Source: www.pexels.com

 

By Sam Piha

We interviewed several afterschool leaders on the importance and benefits of youth worker self-care. Below are their responses. This blog is an excerpt from our recently released briefing paper entitled, "Self-Care for Youth Workers."

Q: What experiences in youth work result in a need for self-care?

(LR): I think youth workers are pushed to their limit with capacity to reduce cost for programs; and especially now, the workforce is strained, so without enough staff, folks are pulling double duty. Beyond this, I think staff experience – at the very least – secondary trauma from the trauma their youth experience. Youth workers care so much about the work they do and the young people in their care, and this can be a heavy weight to carry, considering the challenges many of the youth they serve are grappling with. And, many staff are grappling with their own trauma as well. 

(LP): The issues that youth bring to our staff can be overwhelming and daunting; especially for our younger staff who are closer to the age of some of our older youth. The pandemic created situations in which our younger staff felt they could not provide the support needed, because they felt hopeless in solving complex issues. The older staff would assist and tell the younger staff to take a break, take care of yourself – “we understand this can be overwhelming.” Even our older staff needed time away, because they would give and give to the point, of exhaustion.

 

Q: In your experience, what works? 

(SS): Education, group discussion, assessment, and training. Also, building a nurturing organizational culture that encourages personal self-care and genuinely values and honors one another is essential. An intentionally, caring, educational community naturally promotes personal self-care as a healthy shared practice.

 

(LR): All in all, I think the issues are systemic – so, while I think helping individuals figure out how to navigate these challenges and care for themselves is good, I think helping individuals do self-care without addressing why wellness and mental health is such a major issue in our field is a major miss. We need to be looking at how we’re changing roles and positions and pay that results in sustainable jobs and livable wages if we truly want to see wellness in the field.

(LP): It begins with the depth of relationship with your staff. Have you created a safe, nurturing welcoming environment to help them seek self-care. We focus on an Indigenous worldview of self-care, that we are connected to everything and everything is connected to us. The culture of caring, kindness, and compassion in the Youth Institute is shared with all the staff in the afterschool program to ensure they are connected and in balance. Education and reflection (discussion) is our main strategy for

self-care from an Indigenous worldview.

 

Q: What do you do in your organization to address this topic? 

(SS): EduCare Foundation teaches “Eight Skills for Heartset ® Education” tools for self-care through self-awareness, mindfulness, self-forgiveness, and empathetic listening. When these become our personal baseline, then we can create a kind and compassionate climate at school and at home that impacts, sustains, and elevates ourselves and children. As we develop a deeper positive regard (honoring and caring) for ourselves, then we can have a mindset and a heartset that really sees the best in our children and their aspirations. We can be ones who see the possibilities of their bright future, at times when they don’t even see it for themselves. From our growth heartset, we are compassionate sparks that support and lift both our young people and ourselves.

 

Organizationally, we do our best at EduCare to practice these tools for self-care with and for our staff. There is attention to structuring meetings to start with check-ins and centering activities (e.g.- mindfulness & gratitude), offering communication and self-care workshops, providing ample time off to

allow for nurturing ourselves and our families, and scheduling staff celebrations and acknowledgment activities for supporting one another.

 

(LR): We’ve had a lot of conversations in our organization about self-care over the years. It’s not easy in a small nonprofit, but we are committed to the people in our organization so continue to strive to grow and improve. I think organizationally wellness starts with workload. There is no self-care that will change a sole-crushing, impossible workload. This is probably one of the hardest shifts to make though, because the world outside us, i.e. funders, still expect us to do our work for pennies on the dollar, and staff often pay the price. We are doing our best to get to true cost in our budgets and grant requests, and hold the line with and educate our funders.

 

A couple additional practices:

• We have an annual health and wellness benefit that is essentially a bonus for staff to use to support their wellness. 
• We do a compensation and benefits review every three years to ensure we are paying competitive wages and a living wage to all staff.
• We give the week around Christmas off to the full team, which is beyond vacation and personal time.
• We have been experimenting the past two years with what we’re calling the “July Slowdown”, which means no external communication, no external meetings, just time for the team to slowdown, look inward, get projects done that they haven’t been able to get to (i.e. cleaning up files, clean desk, update curriculum) and work shorter days.
• We hold “flex” rules pretty firmly for salaried staff – if you have to work extra hours, you pay yourself back with time off.
• We spend time and resources accounting for our team relationships and staff culture, as we think this is critical for wellness, and wellness is critical for org success.
• Staff are co-designing these solutions, which I also think is important so that we can ensure needs are being met.

And of course, we have a bunch of mental health and wellness curriculum which incorporates wellness for youth but also for adults:  https://www.calsac.org/virtual-training#mh&w

(LP): We stressed with our staff that you need to be in a healthy mind and spirit before you help others, because the youth are counting on you to help them. Encouraging them to practice weekly self-care; by going outside, taking a walk, going to the gym, meditating, learn a new skill (non-work related).

Voices from the Afterschool Field on Self-Care (Part 1)

Source: All photos from www.pexels.com

By Sam Piha

We interviewed several afterschool leaders on the importance and benefits of youth worker self-care. Below are their responses. This blog is an excerpt from our recently released briefing paper entitled, "Self-Care for Youth Workers."

Q: Why should youth workers engage in self-care?

(AB): Positive relationships are key to health, school-engagement, and community. As youth workers and educators, we take care of the needs of students and families every day, but we often overlook our own self-care in the process. Additionally, there are many stressors in life that can be experienced on a daily basis, and it is well-known that stress can also be seen as contagious, if I’m having a bad day, my mood can contribute to you also having a bad day. Therefore, engaging in self-care in order to combat the effects of stress by releasing the stress in order to reset the body by engaging in self-care, it’s a way in order to refill your own cup! 



(SS): In order to give to others in healthy ways, youth workers need to remember to give first to ourselves. Only then can we give from the overflow. We take care of ourselves so we can take care of each other.

As we take good care of ourselves and fill our own cup, giving becomes an expression or act of compassionate service. We can give of the natural overflow. Acts of service to others, it has been said, are the highest form of loving. It is the nature of the unconditionally loving heart, a growth heartset,

to give. The joy of giving is a wonderful gift youth workers give ourselves. It starts however with a genuine necessity to taking care of ourselves. Self-care, rather than being a self-centered or indulgent practice, is truly the essential ingredient that supports our mental health and resilience allowing us to be more fully available for our young people.

 

As healthy, authentic role models, youth workers then can deeply assist our students as they navigate and strengthen their positive emotional and mental health. Our attention to our self-care is at the core.

 

(LR): Everyone needs self-care. We live in a society that expects us to push so hard with a disregard for ourselves, and this has so many negative results – i.e. mental health challenges, physical health issues, etc. Stress (unmanaged) is a major killer.

(LP): The pandemic elevated internal and external stresses that have increased mental health issues among our youth and peers. During this crisis, youth workers where on the front lines providing comprehensive services to meet the diverse needs of the communities and youth they serve. This created undo stress on youth workers, causing many to seek help for themselves. In our afterschool program, we mobilized our resources to ensure that staff had opportunities to step away and take care of themselves. We established extended lunches by eating outside to share and reflect on what issues and concerns that they needed assistance with. Staff become their support group through the pandemic.

 

Q: What have you seen are the benefits of self-care?

(AB): Self-care is the practice of taking action to preserve or improve one's own health. Since a lot of us may have experienced some form of trauma, there are great benefits to identifying trauma and dealing with it through self-care techniques. For example, simply taking the time to participate in an artistic pursuit can be seen as self-care and make the heart rejoice! Self-care can help to combat anxiety, hopelessness or lack of motivation. There is indeed an interconnectedness of stress, self-care, and well-being. 

 

(SS): Educators and youth workers, as did many, went through a tremendously tough time during and post pandemic. The trauma, that they personally experienced along with the secondary trauma from working with their students who in turn were traumatized, caused great stress. It impacted their lives and their ability to truly give to their students in ways that the most wanted to. Self-care was a key ingredient for healing themselves and restoring their resiliency, fortitude, and commitment.

 

(LR): In our society, self-care is often branded as getting a mani-pedi or something like that. And while this is nice and all, I think self-care with depth are things like therapy, boundaries, self-reflection, etc...things that can help us navigate our lives and the world around us better – this is where I’ve personally experienced a true release and recovery. And with that in mind, these types of practices – and even things like exercise and healthy eating, are ways that we take time to invest in ourselves with the intention of a more restorative and balanced life. When we are making shifts like this – major shifts in habits/perspective, the results are transformative. We are able to engage in the world differently, feel differently in our day to day, and are able to support others better.

(LP): Staff are centered, rested, and focused to engage with youth. In many Indigenous communities, self-care is part of being “connected” – to self, to nature and to your community. We follow that same philosophy with our staff about being connected and understanding that we are related to everything, like a web. If one strand of the web breaks if effects everything else – it becomes unbalanced, you lose your way (focus). Self-care is a part of that balance of being connected.

Self-Care 4: Self-Care Assessment & Reflection

Source: www.pexels.com

By Sam Piha

Those in the helping professions, including youth workers, are vulnerable to stress, burnout, and professional impairment. 

 

This blog, the fourth in a five-part series, focuses on a self-assessment tool that can be used by individual youth workers or as a group exercise. Download this Self-Care Assessment/ Reflection tool for assessing self-care practices. This blog is also an excerpt from our recently released briefing paper entitled, "Self-Care for Youth Workers."

This tool is not exhaustive, merely suggestive. Feel free to add areas of self-care that are relevant for you and rate yourself on how often and how well you are taking care of yourself these days. When you are finished, look for patterns in your responses. Are you more active in some areas of self-care but ignore others? Are there items on the list that make you think, "I would never do that"? Listen to your inner responses, your internal dialogue about self-care and making yourself a priority. Take particular note of anything you would like to include more in your life. 

Source: www.pexels.com

After completing this assessment, staff members can pair up and exchange their assessment with their partner. They can discuss with the entire group and share their thoughts after reviewing their partner’s assessment. 

Self-Care 3: How to Prevent Burnout in Youth Workers

Source: www.pexels.com

By Sam Piha

 

Those in the helping professions, including youth workers, are vulnerable to stress, burnout, and professional impairment. 

 

This series of blog posts examines the role of self-care in the promotion of well-being among mental health practitioners and specific domains of self-care practice, including awareness, work/life balance, flexibility, physical health, social support, and spirituality. It underscores the importance of taking a proactive approach to self-care. In this post we explore how we can prevent youth worker burnout. This blog is an excerpt from our recently released briefing paper entitled, "Self-Care for Youth Workers."

“According to several studies, 21—67% of practitioners who provide psycho-emotional support in their fields have experienced high levels of burnout. This is because the nature of the work is one where ‘there’s a lot of use of self, which means that our emotional state comes into play in our connection and relationship with our client.’” [i] - Amos Ng, Outreach & Intervention Services at Trybe. 

According to Project GROW, “Youth workers told us that the need they see is so great, and often so urgent, that they ignore their own needs in order to meet those of others. Equally, the needs of vulnerable girls can seem so significant that it is easy to dismiss the needs and trials of fellow youth workers, whether staff or volunteers, as they seem insignificant in comparison. As youth workers, we can silence our own needs, and each other. This stoicism can lead to burnout, which does not serve our communities long term. Good youth workers will always be hard to find, and we need to ensure that the mental and physical health of these essential workers. Burnout makes a sustained approach to youth projects much more difficult. Yet even more significantly, it gives the girls we work with the idea that as women, our needs are not important. This creates a detrimental effect, as rather than learning the value of their worth though youth project, girls may internalize the idea that burnout is normal and struggle to advocate for their needs and rights in their families, communities and workplaces. As youth workers, we need to lead by example. 

Burnout can happen to all of us — and the more we care, the more we can set ourselves up to be unable to care anymore. This is especially so if we are working with young women and girls who are living in distressing conditions, or who tell us about traumas they have suffered. From hearing about others’ experiences, or witnessing bad things happening to others, we can become traumatized ourselves. Vicarious and secondary trauma are real, and don’t simply happen to us because we are ‘weak’ or ‘oversensitive’ Additionally, listening to many stories over time can lead to ‘empathy fatigue’. We can become de-sensitized. 

Source: www.pexels.com

Here are some of the symptoms of burnout for you to watch out for:

• Physical stress e.g. feeling tense, palpitations, stomach problems, headaches
• Emotional stress e.g. nightmares, flashbacks or anxiety, anger, racing thoughts, feeling jumpy or easily startled
• Exhaustion, feeling overwhelmed, under pressure or powerless
• Needing sick days, feeling unable to rest or recharge
• Needing more time alone, away from others
• Feel disconnected from friends and family
• Losing a sense of self
• Loss of pleasure in daily activities
• Losing sense of purpose  

Here are some things that you can do to make sure you don’t burnout and lose the joy of your youth work: 

• Take regular breaks between work sessions, including to eat full meals and gain eight hours of sleep
• Set a regular schedule for yourself, and block out times when you will be available for calls, emails or meetings, and when you will not be available. Share these times with others you work with, so they are less likely to disturb you when you’re not working
• Be mindful of your own history of trauma, if you have one, and how this may impact you when listening to traumatic stories from youth you support
• Cultivate your own interests, hobbies and activities outside of youth work, even if it’s as simple as meeting a friend, taking a walk, or learning to cook a new meal
• Seek counseling if you feel you need it.” [ii] 

“Regularly disengaging from work to rest and focus on oneself has been shown to increase productivity, boost creativity and improve mental well-being, enabling practitioners to continue providing meaningful care and support for their clients.” [iii] 

END NOTES:

[i]: Amos Ng & Nathan Parreno, How to Deal with Burnout as a Youth Work Practitioner

[ii]: Wonder Foundation, How to Prevent Burnout in Youth Workers

[iii]: Amos Ng & Nathan Parreno, How to Deal with Burnout as a Youth Work Practitioner

Self-Care 2: Creating a Self-Care Plan

Source: www.pexels.com

By Sam Piha

Those in the helping professions, including youth workers, are vulnerable to stress, burnout, and professional impairment.  

This series of blog posts examines the role of self-care in the promotion of well-being among mental health practitioners and specific domains of self-care practice, including awareness, work/life balance, flexibility, physical health, social support, and spirituality. It underscores the importance of taking a proactive approach to self-care. This blog is an excerpt from our recently released briefing paper entitled, "Self-Care for Youth Workers."

“Self-Care 2: Creating a Self-Care Plan” focuses on the steps needed to develop an individual self-care plan.

“A self-care plan is a guide that helps you promote your health and well-being by prioritizing yourself. It can include activities that help you stay fit and healthy, relax, and relieve stress. Self-care can be preventative or reactionary, and can benefit your physical, emotional, mental, social, and spiritual health.” [i]

“I didn’t realize how much I needed a break from my daily routine to learn and to recharge.” [ii] - Youth Worker

Kirsten Posluns and Terry Lynn Gall write, “Think of your self-care plan as a roadmap -- with planned vehicle maintenance, travel activities and rest stops along the way. Steps to guide you...Don't be overwhelmed by the steps in this process! They are simple and straightforward and will help to guide you on your path.” [iii]  

“There’s no one-size-fits-all self-care plan. Each of us has to develop our own plan because each of us has our own unique life history.” [iv] - Lisa Butler, PhD

To develop your self-care plan, you will identify what you value and need as part of your day-to-day life (maintenance self-care) and the strategies you can employ when or if you face a crisis along the way (emergency self-care). 

 “1. How do you cope now?

Identify what you do now to manage the stress in your life. The Lifestyle Behaviors and the Transcript of Lifestyle Behaviors, (“Is your life causing you stress?”) assessment can help you to identify the coping strategies you currently use and whether they are likely to be good (or not so good) for your well-being.

Decreasing or eliminating at least one “negative” coping strategy can be one of the goals of your maintenance self-care; employing more "positive" strategies can be another.

2. What do you do for self-care now?

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The Self-Care Assessment will help you highlight the good things you are already doing for yourself and whether there is an imbalance in the areas in which you practice self-care. The items in this assessment can also give you some ideas for additional things you may want to do in the future to help prevent stress and burnout and to maintain and enhance your well-being. Make a note of the items that you would like to add (or add more of) to your self-care practice. In considering this, try to be sure that each domain of self-care is well represented. If you think of things that are not included in this list, just add them at the end.

3. Maintenance self-care: Adding self-care practices and eliminating obstacles

“Do more of what makes you happy. That would seem to be a good place to start.” [v] - Lisa Butler, PhD

"Maintenance self-care" refers to the activities that you have identified as important to your well-being and that you have committed to engage in on a regular basis to take care of yourself. My Maintenance Self-Care Worksheet and the Transcript of My Maintenance Self-Care Worksheet provide an opportunity for you to identify the activities you would like to add to your self-care practice in each self-care domain (“new practice”). 

“The most important practices are to develop healthy habits, create clear boundaries, ask for and accept help, find ways to center yourself for peace, and manage perfectionist tendencies—to be aware of what you are humanly capable of. But each person will have to explore the path and practices that best suit their needs. de Saussure maintains calm through meditation, for example, but acknowledges that this practice may not be everyone’s preference. Other coping strategies might be activities such as writing in a journal, talking to a friend, or going for a run.” [vi] -  Jade de Saussure, MSW, OMC, continuing education program coordinator and program director of the Fordham CASAC (credentialed alcoholism and substance abuse counselor).

It is also useful to identify possible barriers or obstacles that could get in the way of implementing and/or maintaining these new activities. Think about what you anticipate these barriers/obstacles to be (try to list at least 3 or 4 in the spaces provided), how you can address them, and how you can remind yourself to follow your plan. Write these solutions on the last page of the My Maintenance Self-Care Worksheet. If you have chosen to limit or eliminate a negative coping strategy that you currently use, note this as well. You can revisit this topic and revise your list as the demands of your personal and professional life change. 

4. Emergency Self-Care: Be Prepared

So far we have focused on maintenance self-care: the kinds of things one does regularly to reduce stress and maintain and enhance well-being. But planning out what you would do under extremely trying circumstances, even though they are rare, is also important. To do this, develop a framework using your Emergency Self-Care worksheet before you are faced with a crisis or feel overwhelmed. Think of developing your emergency self-care plan in the way you would think about preparing for other possible emergency situations: it is important to figure out your plan in advance when you have the time, wherewithal, and concentration to do so effectively!

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5. Make a commitment to yourself

Remember: Just like the flight attendant says, you need to put on your own oxygen mask first before you can be of help to others. So, take a moment, think it over, and then make your personal commitment to your own self-care. You deserve it! If you find making a commitment to be a challenge, then take some time to explore your reservations. Do you have a tendency to put the needs of others first? The truth is that your self-care is not only essential to your well-being, but it is also a necessary element for you to be effective and successful in honoring your professional and personal commitments. Preparing a plan is important; it identifies your goals and the strategies to achieve them. However, your success in implementing your plan is ultimately based on the level of commitment you make to your self-care.

6. Share your plan

Once you have developed your plan and made your commitment, remember that friends, family, peers, and/or colleagues may be good additional resources for exchanging new self-care ideas/strategies and to provide support and encouragement. Consider taking your commitment a step further by joining or starting a support or discussion group (see Tips for Starting a Support or Discussion Group).

7. Follow your plan

“Start slow. Take baby steps and don’t feel flooded or overwhelmed by a long to-do list for self-care. Pick one thing and work on that to start.” [vii] - Lisa Wessan, LICSW 

“Now that you have completed the assessments and worksheets described above, you have identified the core elements of your personal Self-Care Plan. The final step is to implement your plan and keep track of how you are doing. Keeping track of your progress will help you recognize your successes and identify and address any difficulties you may not have anticipated. Don’t forget that you can revise your plan as needed. Remember, also, to employ your emergency plan should emotionally difficult circumstances arise.” [viii] Don’t Wait - Start Planning NOW! 

END NOTES

[i] Google AI, “Self-Care Plan Definition Prompt”
[ii] School Social Work Association of America, Nurturing the Nurturer: School Social Workers & Self-care
[iii] Kirsten Posluns & Terry Lynn Gall, Dear Mental Health Practitioners, Take Care of Yourselves: A Literature Review on Self-Care
[iv] Kate Jackson, Social Worker Self-Care —  The Overlooked Core Competency
[v] IBID.
[vi] IBID.
[vii] IBID.
[viii] Kirsten Posluns & Terry Lynn Gall, Dear Mental Health Practitioners, Take Care of Yourselves: A Literature Review on Self-Care

Self-Care 1: What is Self-Care?

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By Sam Piha

Those in the helping professions, including youth workers, are vulnerable to stress, burnout, and professional impairment. 

This series of blog posts examines the role of self-care in the promotion of well-being among mental health practitioners and specific domains of self-care practice, including awareness, work/life balance, flexibility, physical health, social support, and spirituality. It underscores the importance of taking a proactive approach to self-care. 

“Self-Care 1: What is Self-Care” focuses on learning more about what is self-care and reviews the benefits and obstacles to self-care.  

“Youth work is a profession of the heart. Most people come into the field because they are dedicated to and passionate about making the lives of young people better. Those same motivations make self-care an important topic.” [i]

WHAT IS SELF-CARE? 

“The term self-care refers to activities and practices that we can engage in on a regular basis to reduce stress and maintain and enhance our short- and longer-term health and well-being.”—  University at Buffalo School of Social Work: Introduction to Self-Care

Most professionals in this line of work easily recognize the importance of taking care of young people in our communities, but unfortunately do not recognize the importance of taking care of ourselves until we are simply overwhelmed. This is why self-care should not be seen as a one-time or reactionary event, but rather part of our everyday maintenance and well-being.

Source: Pinterest

“Just like you do on a plane, you need to put on your first before trying to help others. ” [ii] - Dean Nancy Smyth

“Self-care as an ongoing practice is a method for not only preventing negative outcomes among mental health practitioners and their clients, but also appears to promote flourishing. This review of the literature suggests that fostering areas of self-care, including awareness, balance, flexibility, physical health, social support, and spirituality can help prevent the downward spiral of stress, burnout, and professional impairment, and promote an upward spiral of well-being for mental health professionals.” [iii] 



BENEFITS OF SELF-CARE

According to University at Buffalo School of Social Work, “Practicing self-care will help you:

• Identify and manage the general challenges that all hard-working professionals face, such as the potential for stress and burnout or interpersonal difficulties.
• Be aware of your own personal vulnerabilities, such as the potential for re-traumatization (if you have a trauma history), vicarious or secondary traumatization (if you work with individuals who report their own traumatic experiences), and compassion fatigue (which you can develop from a combination of burnout and vicarious traumatization). 
• Achieve more balance in your life, by maintaining and enhancing the attention you pay to the different domains of your life in a way that makes sense to you.

Self-care is about enhancing your overall well-being. There are common aims to almost all self-care efforts:

• Taking care of physical and psychological health
• Managing and reducing stress
• Honoring emotional and spiritual needs
• Fostering and sustaining relationships
• Achieving an equilibrium across one’s personal, school, and work lives

“Each of us may differ in the domains we emphasize and the balance we seek among them. Each life is unique and has its own unique demands. Consequently, we each must determine what self-care means for us and how to apply it in our life.” [iv] 

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OBSTACLES TO SELF-CARE
Myths About Self-Care 

There are many myths about self-care and work-related stress that show up as obstacles to addressing these issues. Below are some common myths about self-care.

 

“Youth workers ‘fail to practice self-care because they become wrapped up in a state of mind that suggests that they need to work nonstop. They view self-care as an activity that they don’t have time for.’” [v] - Kathy Cox and Sue Steiner  

Among the obstacles experts identify as standing in the way of self-care are a lack of energy, too many responsibilities, and the fear of appearing weak or vulnerable.

“Begin to implement changes, even very small ones, to take care of yourself.” [vi] - Lisa Butler, Associate Professor, University at Buffalo School of Social Work

Among the obstacles experts identify as standing in the way of self-care are a lack of energy, too many responsibilities, and the fear of appearing weak or vulnerable.

END NOTES:

[i] Act for Youth, Self-Care for Youth Development Professionals
[ii] University at Buffalo School of Social Work, Introduction to Self-Care
[iii] Kirsten Posluns & Terry Lynn Gall, Dear Mental Health Practitioners, Take Care of Yourselves: A Literature Review on Self-Care
[iv] IBID.
[v] IBID.
[vi] Kate Jackson, Social Worker Self-Care —  The Overlooked Core Competency

Let Youth Lead

Source: FAB Youth Philly

By Guest Blogger, Rebecca Fabiano, Founder & President, FAB Youth Philly
(This was originally published on the FAB Youth Philly Blog for Youth Workers.)

Rebecca Fabiano

We know that Out-of-School Time programs are in a unique position to support young people in their demands for safer schools, equity and justice. For many of us, a social justice lens is at the core of our work with children and teens. Helping them develop their voice and providing opportunity for them to develop leadership skills is key to our approach in support of their moral, social, emotional and cognitive developmental needs. 

Whether it is through a project-based learning (PBL) approach, through service learning, in support of their social & emotional learning (SEL) or through college and career preparation with an emphasis on 21st Century Skills like communication, problem solving and team work. It's one of the things we do best. As youth are finding their voice and establishing their demands, we must continue to offer safe spaces for them. 

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This includes spaces where participants are looking out for each other and empower them to look for signs of depression, anxiety and trauma. Do you have a process whereby youth can get help when they think something is 'wrong' and a peer might be depressed or acting differently? Does your program encourage and embrace mistakes? 

Do you look for teachable moments as opportunities for growth? Life is an iterative process and sometimes we learn the most when a caring adult or peer is there to help us reflect on our experiences. Include young people in the rules- making; and include them in the process for establishing and upholding the consequences. Do participants know it's OK to be 'different'? Safety also means being able to make mistakes or to be different without fear or ridicule. Is your space decorated with artifacts that represent the people you work with? Are you using language that is inclusive and culturally appropriate? Are there mechanisms in place for everyone to come together as a community? Some programs start and each day collectively, others come together for special occasions or other traditions. The more we can come together as a whole, the more we can take care of each other. Provide time for your staff to come together to get support and for training if they need it or ask for it. 

While there are many other things you already do to keep youth safe, remember: always be honest. Because we work with children and youth of all ages, do it in a way that meets them where they are at. You don't have to have all of the answers or be right. Go back to the suggestion about creating teachable moments; when we show youth that we are learning too, and often learning FROM them, it is empowering. If we have a different opinion than a colleague or our agency or a difference in politics, it's an opportunity to learn and connect. 

Source: www.pexels.com

Something to keep in mind during this time: Schools may have a harder time doing some of the things that we do so well; what ways can you partner with schools during these times? Can youth provide peer to peer support? Workshops or training? Can your staff mentor or work on a project alongside a school teacher? While the OST field plays an important role is supporting and empowering youth, we must also take seriously their demands and put pressure on the systems and policy makers to meet those demands. When we do, everyone can be more safe, and our world more equitable and just. Read this statement from the National Afterschool Association on their stance on the #PowerOfAfterschool and their commitment to supporting the filed.

MORE ABOUT...

Rebecca Fabiano is the president and founder of Fab Youth Philly. For nearly 25 years, she has worked in various capacities across nonprofit and youth-serving organizations, served on boards and helped to build solid youth programs that engage, encourage, and create spaces for positive development. 

Fab Youth Philly (FYP) has a unique, holistic model for youth development. Their three-pronged approach to youth development is aimed at creating relevant, engaging, and empowering learning opportunities at the individual, professional, and community level. First, they provide innovative, award-winning summer and afterschool programs for teens with a focus on workforce development programming. Second, they connect with youth development professionals working with or on behalf of youth through their Center for Youth Development Professionals (CYDP), which offers competency-based professional development and networking opportunities. Third, they consult with other youth-serving organizations to provide a range of consulting services, ranging from curriculum development to retreats and small

conferences.