Back to School Inspiration

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4 days ago
7 min read

Throughout my career, I’ve experienced 22 Back to Schools. Although it seems like we start earlier and earlier every year, we (in the South) do, in fact, start earlier than many of you. While our students begin school in early August, many of my colleagues across the country will not return to school until mid-August or after Labor Day. If you are still savoring summer, enjoy every last moment!

Although this is my 23^rd back to school, it has been a different experience this year. In the Spring, I was offered the opportunity to take on a new role and discontinue some of the tasks that had previously been my responsibility for 22 years. Although it was my request to do so and it comes with a lot of benefits, that means no more summers!!! Boo! Since I started my new role on July 1 as a 12-month employee, it wasn’t really back to school for me.

While I recognize that New Years is January 1 for many people and I still participate in the observances, I’ve thought of my new year beginning in July instead of January for the last several years. It makes sense because I’ve lived on a school calendar for nearly all of my life. Although I’ve given my best effort many years, I don’t seem to have much success with New Year’s resolutions that start on January 1. As my birthday is in early July, it just seems like a great time for a fresh start. I love the fresh start and high hopes of Back to School. In my view, it’s a wonderful time to think about what we want to be better or different this year and what we can do to get there.

Over the years, I’ve realized that setting goals is an incredibly important self-care strategy for me. Back during the early days of COVID, I watched a video that encouraged viewers to make a list of 300 goals/things they would like God to give them (https://tinyurl.com/3ehtfbzx). I started making my list and really struggled after I had about 75 or 100 things on it. Some people have big dreams, but I had historically not been one of them. I really struggled to write down a dream before my logical mind could tell me why it wasn't possible. I persevered and eventually completed my list of 300 things. Some of the things that I put on the list were nowhere on the radar of possibility at the time. There were no open doors to those things or even hallways that led to doors and there were also significant obstacles in the way. In 2022, I started writing the goal list each year in my planner. One of the things that I wrote down is that I wanted to write a book about self- care. In May 2022, I received an e-mail asking if I'd like to write a book about self-care and I signed a contract to do it that Fall. My book is a part of the Workshop Series that is a partnership between Oxford University Press and the School Social Work Association of America (SSWAA) and it will be published in November. Another goal that I wrote was that I’d like to complete the process to become a Nationally Certified School Social Worker (NCSSW). In 2022, I became the first Tennessean to complete the NCSSW process and the 7^th in the United States. This summer, I completed the recertification process required every 3 years.

I have high hopes for all of us for this school year. This year, I hope that you experience more well-being as a school social worker than you ever have before. I hope that you return to a school who values you for the incredible asset that you are and shows it through nurturing actions. I hope that you find new ways to nurture yourself.

As you return to school this year, please hear me and remember the following:

If you are a supervisor, I recognize that being given responsibility to supervise other SSWs does not eliminate the need for your own well-being to be nurtured. You can encounter quite a bit of trauma when engaged in the school social work profession whether you are providing direct service or not. As you continue caring for your own well-being, I challenge you to find new ways to nurture the SSWs who work for you. I mention supervisors first because SSW well-being can only be achieved through a partnership between individual self-care strategies and efforts on the part of our employers to provide healthy atmospheres where we can thrive. So much of the conversation has centered on self-care and I address supervisors first because the employer side of the equation has so long been minimized. I very much understand that sometimes all we can do is hold on to everyone’s jobs and not “lose” positions. If that is the case in your district, I appreciate you fighting for your SSWs and I honor your contribution to the profession. If you are a supervisor in a district where SSW positions are secure and you have the opportunity to explore other options to nurture your SSWs this year, I encourage you to do so. A very doable suggestion for one step for you and those you supervise for this year would be taking an assessment like the ProQOL (https://proqol.org/) that is free of charge and measures burnout, secondary traumatic stress, and compassion satisfaction. Whether you even discuss your results or not, you and your SSWs will at least have some idea of your level of well-being.

I want to share something inspirational that I was told while completing the NCSSW process: You ARE doing this work. Tia Marie Brumsted said this to NCSSW candidates to encourage us to avoid imposter syndrome. While we often can’t “fix” things that we wish we could, I know that you are frequently having a positive impact on students, families, co-workers, and others in your school community. In My Grandmother’s Hands, Resmaa Menakem refers this as your “settled, regulated nervous system” and recognizes its importance. I know that you are often the stable adult that buffers the trauma that others around you experience. You are going to do wonderful things this year and enrich the lives of many.

While the oxygen mask and empty cup metaphors for well-being have been helpful, I think they are incomplete. Many times, those images focus on the purpose of self-care being to continue to have the capacity to serve others. They caution that the danger of insufficient self-care is that we won’t be able to be present and helpful to others. While this is true, I want you to know that every school social worker is worthy of well-being whether anyone else ever benefits or not. I think that something my grandmother told me as a little girl is applicable here. I remember telling her that I wanted to help people when I grew up and I know she feared I would do so to my own detriment. She said, “You’re a “people”, too.”

If you are a fellow goal-getter, take some time to set some goals for the year.

Here’s a free self-care strategy that anyone can practice: Make it your goal to ask at least one person to share their self-care practices with you. I am always on the lookout for new strategies and have been doing this ever since I started studying self-care many years ago. I love hearing what other people do to promote their own well-being and even finding new practices that I can implement. Don’t forget about podcasts, books, and YouTube videos if you don’t feel like you know someone that you’d be comfortable asking.
Consider completing the process to become a Nationally Certified School Social Worker. I believe that completing the NCSSW process has opened many doors to me professionally and I think you’ll find the same to be true. To my fellow Tennesseans, I’d love to no longer be able to say that I’m the only one in our state!
When I wrote that goal to write a book on my list, there was no sign that I would ever have the opportunity to do that. So, in announcing that I've written a book that will be published this Fall (and sharing the pre-order link!!!), I want to urge you all to write down your "impossible" dreams. Maybe you’ll write down some work goals or maybe you’ll choose to go after some things that don’t have anything to do with your job and you just want in your life. Just write it down and don't worry about it. Just write it down and see what happens. You will be AMAZED how many things you accomplish and mark off your list and it will be absolutely WILD to watch how doors open to your dreams.

If you need some self-care inspo this year or you’re a supervisor looking for ways to nurture the SSWs who report to you, I’ve got you covered! I wrote a book, Y'all!!! And they're going to publish it! Here's the link: https://a.co/d/5BXdvvl

Lou (Scott) Paschall received her Master’s Degree in Social Work from the University of Tennessee and her Bachelor's Degree in Social Work from Middle Tennessee State University. Beginning her 23rd year of School Social Work practice, she is a Licensed School Social Worker and a Licensed Advanced Practice Social Worker (LAPSW). She also completed the process to become a National Certified School Social Worker (NCSSW) in 2022, becoming the first School Social Worker in Tennessee to earn the certification. Most recently, she wrote the book Self-Care and Organizational Practices for School Social Worker Resilience. She attended Manchester City Schools as a child and is honored to provide School Social Work services there. Her research interests are the ethical use of technology, supervision in School Social Work practice, Social Work history, play therapy, bibliotherapy, self-care and organizational supports for practitioner wellness, and animal-assisted interventions.