Helpful Tips:



Virtual Onboarding for UB MSW InternsTable of Contents TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u Helpful Tips: PAGEREF _Toc45178275 \h 1Goals PAGEREF _Toc45178276 \h 1Developmental Supervision – Stage One – What Students Need PAGEREF _Toc45178277 \h 2Sample Schedule PAGEREF _Toc45178278 \h 2Week 1 Agency Cultures and Values PAGEREF _Toc45178279 \h 2Week 2 Community Networking / Learning About the Community PAGEREF _Toc45178280 \h 3Week 3 Resources and Resource Development PAGEREF _Toc45178281 \h 3Week 4 Trauma-Informed Human Rights Perspectives PAGEREF _Toc45178282 \h 4Virtual Icebreakers and Team Building Activities PAGEREF _Toc45178283 \h 4Assignments: PAGEREF _Toc45178284 \h 4Assignment One: Defining and Describing Agency Services PAGEREF _Toc45178285 \h 4Assignment Two: Asking for Help PAGEREF _Toc45178286 \h 5Assignment Three: Community Assessment Assignment PAGEREF _Toc45178287 \h 5What’s Next? PAGEREF _Toc45178288 \h 6Ideas for Projects & Activities Completed Remotely PAGEREF _Toc45178289 \h 6UBSSW Resources PAGEREF _Toc45178290 \h 6Helpful Tips:Gather all of the materials a student may need and place in a shared electronic folder using free version of Dropbox, or Google Drive if helpful. Examples include organizational chart, phone list, meeting schedules, overview of services, policies and procedures, etc.Stay connected with students through email, chat and video conference. Consider identifying another student or staff member to serve as onboarding “buddy”.Establish schedule of communications, i.e. weekly supervision via phone or Zoom, daily check-in, deadlines for submission of writing or other assigned tasks via email or shared folderSet clear expectationsYou can’t over-communicate – the more interactive, the more students will be engagedModel continuous learning by requesting and responding to feedbackBuild in fun and downtime, i.e. utilize icebreakers with student groups, schedule weekly (less formal than supervision) lunch timesGoalsExplain the mission and vision of your organization.Provide an organizational chart if available; Explain the organization’s structure and what each department is responsible for.Define responsibilities and teach agency terminology that will be helpful to their new position.Allow them to meet members of various departments and individually interact with staff members.Provide pertinent information about operations, policies, and procedures.Provide an opportunity for interns to meet each other.Provide opportunities to learn about the community and the population served.Provide opportunities to learn about available resources. Allow time for interns to determine?their professional growth needs and learning goals they wish to achieve.Developmental Supervision – Stage One – What Students Need Permission to be learners; to understand learning styles To build self-awareness of strengths and limitations To identify support systems To discuss feelings and questions with field instructor To be introduced at the agency, to have a place to sit, to leave coat, papers Clarification of roles, expectations, and policies An orientation plan A plan to focus goals and meet general requirements To individualize placement To understand how to use supervision in planning and reviewing work Skills to start work assignments Sample Schedule Week 1 Agency Cultures and Values Introduction and welcome – Discuss agency culture and valuesActivity - Meet the Team – Student arranges phone or Zoom video conference sessions with agency representatives. Ask each individual to identify what they see as agency priorities, strengths, areas for future growth. Summarizes key learning.Activity - Review of agency policies and procedures, i.e. safety, use of social mediate, utilization of technology, etc.?Participation in staff / team meetingsVideo or other training – assign any agency training materials Evaluation – Complete the Describing Agency Assignment One for review with supervisor. Add to Learning Portfolio. (Set due date 1 – 3 weeks)Student Reflection: What are your early ideas about possible learning contract activities based on what you’ve learned about the agency? Where might you focus your professional growth and development? Tip: Remember to set up a schedule for weekly communication, and identify any submission deadlinesTip: Discuss appropriate level of student participation when attending agency staff meetings. Tip: Consider what supplies, technology tools, or software the student might need access to. Week 2 Community Networking / Learning About the CommunityActivity - Learn About Service Community / Population Served: If possible attend a community coalition/consortium meeting that is relevant to the services for the client population of the agency. Community observation- geographic, economic (indicators of poverty, housing, transportation, major employers), social, and political characteristics.Census data - racial/ethnic status, age and family compositions, occupational structure, family size, and poverty and unemployment levelsKey informant interviewsActivity – Identify community resources to include in Week 3 Assignment. Evaluation – Community Assessment Assignment Two Adapted from Hash, K.M., Chase, P.A. & Rishel, C.W. (2012). The community assessment: Students discovering strengths and needs in small towns and rural areas. Contemporary Rural Social Work, 4, 39-49. Retrieved from to Learning Portfolio. (Set due date 1 – 2 weeks)Student Reflection – What are possible advocacy issues related to clients served, and what are relevant policies? How might a social worker intervene in problems at the community level through organizing, development, and empowerment.Tip: Remember to continue schedule for weekly communication.Tip: Remember to be explicit about any deadlines.Week 3 Resources and Resource DevelopmentActivity – Begin learning about interventions - Observe field educator engaging with a client. Discuss techniques and interventions to reach client goals during supervision. Activity - Literature review on field-specific topics, i.e. effectiveness of an intervention, how interruption of services impacts mental health or economic stability, etc.Activity – Identify professional development resources related to population / servicesActivity – Identify UBSSW resources related to population / services, i.e. technology resources, podcastsActivity - Community networking and resource mapping – Uncover community resources by, for example, teleconferencing with various service providers. Develop a list of resources for clients with services offered, referral process, etc.?Evaluation – Complete the Asking for Help Assignment Three for review with supervisor. Add to Learning Portfolio. (Set due date - 1 week)Student Reflection – What resources may be helpful to share? Would a legislative policy review be a useful learning contract activity? Are there trainings you can attend that would be beneficial to your learning? Tip: Ongoing discussion of learning contract activities in supervision can be informed by student learning about the agency and community. Consider the student’s professional development needs, interests, and available learning opportunities. Week 4 Trauma-Informed Human Rights Perspectives Activity - identify and convey an understanding of community factors that promote racism, sexism, ageism and homophobia, particularly where these concern consumers of field placement agency.Activity - research topics of oppression, human rights and social justice and present in individual and/or group supervision on the relevance of these for social work practice on micro (self awareness and client interaction), meso and macro levels.Student Reflection – Are there activities you can engage in that would help raise awareness of trauma and its impact on health, mental health and social well by identifying and disseminating relevant materials and resources.Virtual Icebreakers and Team Building ActivitiesTake a picture: Take a picture of an item (could agree on a subject) in your work area or home and share a little history about the item. Have each person share what their first job was and what they learned about it or if there was something memorable about it.Using shared whiteboard (Zoom), have each person finish a sentence fragment: Example – “Over the course of the school year we will ___ together.” Have each person identify their theme song with a brief explanation. Each person can share a short clip from YouTube. Use online polling platforms such as Mentimeter or PollEverywhere to create questions that will give you a barometer of how people are feeling. Use the wordcloud feature to display responses. D-Icebreakers – Roll the dice and answer the corresponding questions: 1 – If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go. 2 – If you were stranded on a desert island, what three things would you want to take with you. 3 – If you could eat only one food for the rest of your life, what would it be. 4 – If you won a million dollar what this the first thing you would buy. 5 – If you could spend the day with one fictional character, who would it be. 6 – If you found a magic lantern and a genie gave you three wishes, what would you wish. Virtual Book Club – This is an opportunity to connect around relevant social work themes, but books can be fiction or non-fiction. Team members come together to discuss thoughts and feelings. Be sure to choose materials that can be read within designated timeframes. Assignments:Assignment One: Defining and Describing Agency ServicesThe purpose of this assignment is to help you understand your field agency in respect to the kind of problems it deals with, its functions, its structure and processes, and its service provider role within the community. It is suggested that you discuss the assignment with your field instructor before attempting to answer the questions.Describe a brief history of your agency.Describe the primary sources of funding for your agency.What are the major social problems your agency addresses?Within what general field of social work practice or social welfare is the agency identified?Is the agency public or private? What do you base this on?What service does the agency offer? What service does your particular unit within the agency offer (if applicable)? Are the services that are provided the primary purpose of the agency or secondary to some other services provided (e.g. public assistance, medical services, educational, etc.)?What population does your agency serve?What are the primary referral sources to your agency?What is the educational background of staff at the agency, i.e. what professions and disciplines are represented?What is the role of social workers in the agency?What other services exist within the community to solve the same social problems as your agency? How do these agencies/services work together? What problems arise between them?Identify organizations that provide legitimacy to your agency (e.g., United Way funding, an accreditation organization, etc.)What is the organizational structure of your agency? (Ask for a copy of the organizational chart. Make one if one is not available. Identify where you fit in). How does the agency evaluate the effectiveness of its outcomes?Identify the sources of data (e.g. consumer surveys, numbers of services provided, types of services provided, number of consumers who recidivate, financial reports) the agency uses in their annual report, presentations, or reports to funders.How diverse is the staff, board of directors, and volunteers?What qualifications would you need to be considered for employment at your agency?Assignment Two: Asking for HelpAll clients coming in for agency services are in a position to be asking for help from someone else. The purpose of the assignment is to develop an awareness of what it means to ask for help. The goal is for the student to have an increased understanding of what it is like to be in the “helpee” role and to depend on and need someone else.Write about an experience in which you had to ask for help, including: 1. A brief description of what you were asking for, why you were needed to ask for help, and of whom you were asking help.2.Your feelings about the need to ask for this help, your feelings about the process of asking. Comment on the feelings about yourself and also your feelings about the person from whom you sought help.3.Describe how you felt afterwards about the help that was or was not given. Describe your feeling about the person from whom you asked the help and why you felt as you did.Assignment Three: Community Assessment AssignmentStudents engage in a variety of learning experiences which can include: (a) collecting oral histories from community residents, (b) uncovering aspects of community culture and diversity, (c) examining formal and informal power structures within communities, (d) gaining hands on experiences with interviewing, (e) collecting and integrating both qualitative and quantitative sources of data, and (f) practice with constructing and delivering professional presentations. Professional presentations of the completed work may be given. Include photographs or video clips that help the community “come alive”. Drawing upon the information collected (as well as further research if needed), discuss the assets or resources of the community including: (a) individual assets; (b) organizational assets; (c) private, public, and physical assets; (d) informal assets; and (e) resources originating outside of the community. The greatest needs and challenges of the community and the community’s capacity to meet these needs are also to be included.What’s Next? Ideas for Projects & Activities Completed RemotelyUBSSW Resource: Sample Learning Contract Projects for In-person or Remote Field Learning, E.N., Cazanave, C., Louis-Caines,K. Campbell, M., & Wiest, C. (2020). COVID-19 and your social work placement: 19 ideas for overworked, anxious, yet determined field students and supervisors. The New Social Worker. 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