September 2014

Volume 43, Issue 3

Illinois Association of School Social Workers

On October 16 – 18, 2014 the Illinois Association of School Social Workers held our

44th Annual Conference. I want to thank the conference committee for the hundreds of

volunteer hours that contributed to the success of the conference. This year’s confer-

ence committee is:

Conference Co-chairs – Cathy Bertrand and Keli Swierczek

Conference Assistant – Lynn Sloyan

Conference Development – Kari Smith and Sona Chalian

Registration – Tiffany Gholson and Rhonda Harris

Membership – Tamara Butler and Kathryn Nirde

Local Arrangements – Sona Chalian

Exhibits and Sponsors – Rise’ Davis

Moderators – Sonya Perez and Janet Craig

Awards – Michelle Washington

Auction – Lindsey Okray

Hospitality – Victoria Rivera and Elizabeth Cervantes

Member Store – Gail Groff and Lindsey Trout

Brochure – Sheri Olson

CEU/CPDH – Sonja Collins Fordson

Special Event – Carlos Evans

Treasurer – Teresa Alvarado

Executive Assistant – Cindy Kearney

Continue—>

IASSW IS DEDICATED TO IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF LIFE AND EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN

BY ENHANCING THE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF SCHOOL SOCIAL WORKERS.

One individual who was not on

the conference committee but

who contributed to the smooth

execution of registration and

workshop selection was our

Technology Chair, Scott

Carchedi. Scott spent countless

hours over the summer rede-

signing the IASSW website.

These changes made the web-

site more interactive and of-

fered an abundance of infor-

mation that had only previously

been shared through paper dis-

tribution. Additionally, the

website allows members to

renew their membership online

and receive an email reminder

when the membership needs to

be renewed. Registering for

conference workshops online

and submitting payment by

credit card have allowed

IASSW to be in practice with

other professional organiza-

tions. I am grateful and thank-

ful for all the time and energy

that Scott has contributed to

IASSW and its members.

2

Workshop Reflection

Region 17 held a full day workshop in September. The morning ses-

sion was presented by Karen Stipp, a social work professor at Illinois

State University. Karen discussed in detail the changes from the DSM

IV TR to the DSM 5. She discussed a lot of changes, including:

Changes to the axis system: Axis I, II, and III have been combined

into one axis to promote the dichotomy between mental and physi-

cal disorders.

Many changes were made to specific disorders as well. Some of

the highlights include the change in terminology from Mental Re-

tardation to Intellectual disability, Autism Spectrum Disorder now

encompasses Autistic Disorder, Asperger’s Disorder, Childhood

Disintegrative Disorder, and Pervasive Developmental Disorder,

the bereavement exclusion was removed for Major Depression

Disorder, and the criterion was altered for Attention Deficit Hyper-

activity Disorder.

Many other changes were discussed.

The workshop was highly educational and an asset to those in attend-

ance, I would highly recommend attending a workshop on DSM 5 if

you haven’t already.

The afternoon session focused on referrals for emotional disability and

was presented by Rise Davis, Cindy Hunt, and Stacy Poland. The pre-

senters differentiated between Conduct Disorder, Oppositional Defiant

Disorder and Emotional Disability, as well as the assessments available

for determining eligibility under the ED category. Some of the assess-

ments discussed included the Differential Test of Conduct and Emo-

tional Problems, the Personality Inventory for DSM 5, the Strengths

and Difficulties Questionnaire, the Behavior Assessment System for

Children-Second Edition, the Children’s Depression Inventory, the

Piers-Harris Self-Concept Scale, and the Revised Children’s Manifest

Anxiety Scale.

Great information was provided during both sessions. A big thanks

goes out to all the presenters and to everyone who came!

Contributed by: Nicole Ekiss is from region 17 Decatur- Springfield

There were many conference

sessions that addressed the

theme of this year’s conference:

“KEEPING CHILDREN IN

SCHOOL.” All of our interven-

tions, words of encouragement,

collaboration with teachers and

other staff and leadership in

mental health issues are directed

at helping students manage their

social-emotional selves so they

can participate in learning and

find satisfaction at being in

school. Helping students to stay

in school and navigate their

school day is essential work that

is the real bedrock of learning.

We hope to see all of you at the

45th Annual IASSW Conference

in Bloomington, Illinois on Oc-

tober 22-23, 2015 at the Marriott

in Bloomington, Illinois.

Contributed by: Tom Tebbe

IASSW President

Continued from

page 1

3

I recently attended a training that looked at building comfort and relationships with clients, including clients of differing back-

grounds. During the course of the presentation the speaker talked about the Feedback Informed Treatment model (FIT). The

model focuses on the nature of the connection and relationship between the therapist and client. The central principle is to regu-

larly and explicitly gather feedback from clients about the ongoing therapy and their relationship with the therapist. In spirit it

seeks to foster an ongoing effort by the therapist to reflect on and alter their practice by considering the feedback and observations

of their clients. Clients are oriented to the methods so as to understand the valuable role they can play in improving their treat-

ment as well as assisting the therapist in better serving their needs.

I was curious to learn more about these techniques so I spent some time doing some additional reading. During this research I

soon found the two popular measures associated with the FIT model. They are the Outcome Rating Scale (ORS) and the Session

Rating Scale (SRS). In keeping with the philosophy of quick and regular feedback, both are very brief and are intended to be used

often, as often as before and after each session. The ORS is completed by the client at the start of the session and focuses on their

sense of well-being in four general areas. These areas are overall, personal well-being, family and close relationships, and social

relationships such as work. The SRS is completed at the end of the session and asks for feedback about the session and the thera-

pist. It asks the client to rate their experience of four components of the session; the goals and topics of the session, the approach

and methods used, the connection between therapist and client, and the client’s overall impression of the session. I even found a

YouTube clip of a role play of a therapist using the SRS here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ag7AybUh1Ik

I wondered if these techniques would be of benefit to my students. Central to our treatment model is to reinforce the critical role

our students’ play in both their academic process and their efforts to improve their social emotional functioning. These FIT prac-

tices might serve as another reminder for them to be an active leader in their own treatment and highlights their impact in shaping

interventions and outcomes. On the surface it ensures that the work in sessions stays focused on the areas in which the student is

invested and feels are of central importance. It could foster engagement and demonstrate concern and interest in them as individu-

als. Developmentally it meshes with the adolescent process of individualization and developing autonomy. It also allows the

student to be in the role of the expert and teacher, reversing the power dynamic they experience for most of their day at school.

Finally it could also offer the opportunity to repair damage or small rifts in the relationship that might otherwise might not be ad-

dressed and cause strain in the relationship. I have found that instances of accepting responsibility for mistakes and problem solv-

ing to repair a relationship with a student can be very valuable modeling for students.

I found two research articles reviewing the ORS and SRS to be very interesting. The purpose of these studies was to compare

these brief rating scales with longer and more established measures such as The Outcome Questionairre-45 (OQ-45) and the

Working Alliance Inventory (WAI). Both of these have shown to be both valid and reliable measures of client functioning and

alliance quality. The question posed in the research was would much briefer assessments such as the ORS and SRS prove to be

consistent with the results of more detailed and established measures. The results indicated that both the ORS and SRS yielded

strong reliability and concurrent validity. They also suggested that based on the strong inter-item correlation, the SRS items might

actually be assessing a common underlying component of alliance quality.

After reading these articles, I began to shape how I might apply this to my work with students. I have designed a simple system

that I will pilot for the next quarter of our school year. Outside my office I have placed a small table with an opaque jar. Next to

the jar are two dishes. One has red, yellow, blue and green gaming /poker style chips. The other has small strips of construction

paper of the same colors. I have asked my students to provide feedback about our sessions by simply dropping the appropriately

colored chip/paper into the jar after our time together. The colors form a continuum similar to the scales used for the SRS items.

The question posed for the students to respond to is “How well do you feel we worked together this session?” Both the question

and an explanation of the colors are posted above the table. The continuum is displayed with red at one end signifying very poor-

ly and green at the other signifying very well. The full continuum is red, then yellow (session was mostly negative but a few posi-

tives), blue (session was mostly positive, with some negatives) and green. At the end of each day I will check the jar and tally the

results.

Improving Professional Practice by using

Client Centered Rating Scales

4

I was unsure how comfortable the students would be with this process, which was the

reason for the alterations in the feedback process from the established SRS model. I

wanted to allow for more comfort to give opinions so I replaced the verbal processing

with the chip system. But I also wanted to capture more detailed and personal infor-

mation if the student was willing. For those who wanted anonymity, the poker chips

could provide a chance to provide some feedback. But for those more comfortable, the

colored paper could provide for a more detailed response. Ideally they could write re-

sponses that included the student’s name so this feedback could be applied in future

sessions. It could also provide additional written explanation for the rating or their

positive or negative reactions.

To help those willing to respond in more detail a sample of the SRS form was also

posted. This would allow them to consider the different aspects of the session and re-

spond as they felt appropriate. Added to the bottom of the form was a simple question:

“What would it take to move just one space up the rating scale?”. This question

seemed particularly powerful in helping to set the stage for change. It provides an op-

portunity to identify actions steps that are both realistic and manageable to create short

term change. It is a perfect segway into the ongoing work to further improve the thera-

peutic relationship and support we provide for students.

For more information on the FIT model, and the ORS and SRS rating scales see these

articles.

Brown, J., Claude, D., Duncan, B., Miller, S., Johnson, L., Reynolds, L., & Sparks, J.,

The Session Rating Scale: Preliminary Psychometric Properties of a “Working” Alli-

ance Measure

Journal of Brief Therapy, 3(1), 3-12

Campbell, A., & Hemsley, S., Outcomes Rating Scale and Session Rating Scale in psy-

chological practice: Clinical utility of ultra-brief measures Clinical Psychologist, 13(1),

1-9.

Contributed by: Robert Georges

Region 10 Representative

Cont. from page 3

LEGISLATOR OF THE YEAR

5

IASSW named State Senator Julie Morrison its Legislator of the Year for 2014.

Senator Morrison attended the Annual Conference luncheon with her husband,

Joe, to accept the award.

Senator Morrison is from Deerfield and represents the 29th District, which covers

part of the northern suburbs of Chicago. She was first elected to the Illinois Sen-

ate in 2012 and took office in January, 2013. She serves on several key Senate

committees including Education, Human Services and Appropriations.

A native of Beardstown in central Illinois, she attended Knox College and served

as the West Deerfield Township Supervisor from 1997 to 2013. She was ap-

pointed to the Advisory Council for DCFS and served until 1996.

Senator Morrison was honored because of her commitment to the welfare of at-

risk children. She was appointed in 2013 to chair a special subcommittee of the

Human Services Committee on DCFS issues. After chairing a number of sub-

committee hearings, she developed an agenda of legislation designed to protect

children and promote the accountability and transparency of DCFS.

One bill she introduced that was signed into law last summer, SB 2909, ensures

that DCFS follows certain accountability procedures when it develops and imple-

ments safety plans for children when the agency is investigating a report of abuse

or neglect. She also was the lead Senate sponsor of HB 4407, which expands

procedural safeguards for parents and children in the Early Intervention pro-

gram.. HB 4407 has also been signed into law.

We congratulate Sen. Morrison on her award and look forward to working with

her in the future.

Contributed by: Phil Milsk

6

First, Cathy Bertrand is from Region 5 (DuPage) and is our current lead conference chair. She re-

ceived her BSW from Aurora University and won the George Williams Award there. She received

her MSW from Loyola. She works in Plainfield Public Schools and is married, has three children

and a Chihuahua. She has been on the board since 2007 and accepted the role as Vice President

when there was an unexpected vacancy. We thank her for her hard work and dedication to the

board and conference committee.

Lindsey has been on the IASSW board since 2010. She lives and works in region 2

(Champaign). She has worked as a social worker in Villa Grove and is now at Urbana Early

Childhood School. She received her MSW at the University of IL- CU in 2009 and earned her

M.Ed in 2014. She is married and has a daughter. Lindsey has previously been the webmas-

ter and played an important role in getting IASSW on social media. She can often be seen

helping sell t-shirts and IASSW wares at the IASSW store at conference. Thanks for your

dedication and innovation.

Robert Georges is from region 10 (North Cook) He took over as regional rep for Tom Tebbe,

our current president. He works at New Trier High School at the Learning Center, which serves

high needs students with emotional disabilities. Previously he has worked with juvenile offend-

ers in a psychiatric hospital setting and has other experience in juvenile justice system. He is

interested in cognitive behavioral therapy, motivational interviewing and milieu treatment

models. Robert has held many successful regional workshops too. Please thank him for his

work in the region and on the board.

Tracey Parker is a regional rep for region 13 (Rockford). She has been a school social worker

for 14 years and has worked at two elementary schools in Rockford for three years. She has also

worked in public and mental health settings. Tracey is an LCSW and recently received her Type

75 certificate from NIU. She graduated with her MSW in 2001 from the University of IL- UC.

She is married and has two children. She enjoys spending time with her family traveling, boat-

ing and attending her girl's sporting events. Please thank her for her work on the nominations

committee and in her region. Your regional reps would like to hear from you. Send them an

email with comments, concerns and compliments!

Risé Davis, VP of IASSW

Spotlight: Regional Representatives

Sarah Kim (pictured left) is the newest regional rep of region 2 (Champaign). She works at

Wiley Elementary School in Urbana. She received her MSW from U of I- UC and has previous

experience in early childhood education, developmental services for adults and psychiatric/

behavioral health. She is married and has an amazing husband and three active sons. She also

loves chocolate. Sarah serves on the nominations committee as well as being a regional repre-

sentative.

7

School Social Worker of the Year

IASSWs 2014 School Social Worker of the Year is Heidi Grove. Mrs. Grove works in

Champaign Unit 4 School District at Booker T. Washington STEM Academy. She was

nominated by a large cross-section of staff members in her district, in addition to stu-

dents who have worked with Mrs. Grove. Heidi was nominated due to her dedication

to her school community. She goes above and beyond for the students, staff, and fami-

lies of her school community, and she is able to identify the positives in any situa-

tion. We congratulate our 2014 School Social Worker of the Year, Heidi Grove!

Contributed by:

Michelle L. Washington, MSW, MA

Citizen(s) of the Year

IASSWs 2014 Citizen(s) of the Year is the Lockport Firefighters Union. In addition to

their duties as first responders, the members of this department utilize thier own time

servicing the children and families of their community. The raise money for the Illi-

nois Fire Safety Alliance "Burn Camp", collect money and food for the Lockport food

panty, cook for families at the Ronald McDonald House, and coach children's sports

teams within the community. We congratulate our 2014 Citizen(s) of the Year, Lock-

port Firefighters Union.

Legislator of the Year

IASSWs 2014 Legislator of the Year is Senator Julie

Morrison of Deerfield. She has a long history of working

in congress to advocate for children's welfare. She serves

on many Senate Committees including Human Services,

Education, and the Statewide Advisory Council to DCFS,

where she works to improve the lives of children and stu-

dents throughout the state. We congratulate our 2014

Legislator of the Year, Senator Julie Morrison.

Don’t forget to vote Nov. 4th!

ILLINOIS ASSOCIATION

OF SCHOOL SOCIAL

WORKERS

Be the change

you would like

to see in the

world.

-Mahatma

Ghandi

Illinois Association of School Social

Workers

Primary Business Address

PO Box 634

Algonquin, IL 60102-0634

Fax: (847) 658-8223

E-mail: newsletter@iassw.org

Thanks

from Mike Langendorf!

I want to thank Lindsay Okray for her tireless work in collecting items for the PAC

auction. Thanks to her hard work and perseverance we were able to raise over

$1800.

THANK YOU LINDSAY!

Also many thanks to Tamara Butler, Donna Johnson, Elizabeth Cervantes, Sandie

Kopels, Carlos Evans, Carol Sebian and Victoria Rivera for their help at the auc-

tion. Of course thanks to membership for spending their money!

As far as candidates, the IASSW Board has a policy of not endorsing candidates.

We do encourage all our members to vote. The IASSW PAC did send some mone-

tary support to Governor Quinn, Sheila Simon, Kelly Cassidy, Sam Yingling, Mike

Smiddy and Moira Dunn.

We do recommend that you do some research on your local elections and listen

carefully to Governor Quinn's comments supporting public education versus Bruce

Rauner's desire to privatize.

Feel free to contact me or Phil Milsk with any questions about the election.

VOTE on or before November 4th!

Michael Langendorf

IASSW Legislative Chair - PAC Treasurer

crdmike@aol.com

philmilsk@aol.com

Special Event :

Fun Run!!!