I think that my field placement this year has a lot of potential!

The school has a caring principal, a dynamic staff, and students who are hungry for attention. The principal also seems to really care that the "mental health needs"of his students are met and really supports the work of SWCOS in the school.

I have some fairly ambitious goals for myself in field this year. On top of being assigned 6 or so individual cases, I hope to run two groups. One dance therapy group for girls and one anger management/bullying group for girls (anybody ever seen the movie Mean Girls?) On my first day, there was a fight between two girls outside of my office...and on the second day, I saw one of the "popular" girls make fun of and then push one of the "not-so-popular" girls. Apaprently, there are a few "not-so-popular" girls who get picked on almost everyday by the "popular girls," and they used to all be friends in elementary school! My goal is to bring them together in one group in order to open the lines of communication, facilitate some self-reflection/identity time, and to hopefully help build back trust among these girls who "used-to-be" friends.

I have to complete a Learning Contract with my field instructor (who is wonderful!), and she will have to approve my proposal to run the two groups--I'll let you know if the "Mean Girls" idea gets approved.

If anyone has any ideas on how the "Mean Girls Group" can be effective--please leave a comment or shoot me an email. I would love to hear and implement your thoughts.