Archives: CBU Faculty

I have been thinking a lot about stillness over these past few months. The louder culture yells, it seems, the more desperately I desire a deep quietude of the soul.

In one version of this blog, I examined this desire for quiet considering Biblical proclamations to be still before the Lord (e.g., Psalm 37:7). I spent time thinking through how Biblical stillness does not mean we do nothing as stillness before God is not the same as “unplugging” in the modern call for self-care. No, I believe that stillness before the Lord is more like Jesus’ explanation of the Sabbath (Mark 2:27), giving space to prepare us to act consistent with the greatest commandment (Matthew 22:36-40). Because I am not a theologian, I was planning to connect this to mindfulness; mindfulness is a connection to the present, a means to give us eyes to see and a willingness to act toward justice.

And yet, that is not what this blog is about. I still think there is something to those ideas but the more I wrote the more I realized those ideas were not the primary thoughts about stillness swirling around in my head. My current desire for stillness is less about mindfulness and more about humility. Humility as the calm amid cultural storms.

As a psychologist, I am interested in thinking about humility from a scientific perspective. This means we need to start with measurement. Measuring humility is a notoriously difficult task. How do you measure whether someone is humble? If you ask participants “How much do you agree with this statement? I am a humble person,” how should you interpret the results? Someone who is legitimately humble should agree, right? But in agreeing, are they somehow less humble? What about the truly arrogant person who is the “most humble of everyone” in their own eyes? It’s a thorny issue, one that has garnered quite a bit of research lately.

One of the more recent psychological definitions of humility comes from Worthington et al. (2017). A humble person is defined as one who is other-oriented, modest (not self-promoting), and someone who accurately represents themselves. So, if I have three gold medals earned in underwater basket-weaving world championships, it would not make me arrogant to accurately portray my expertise in this time-honored tradition. However, the other elements of humility would require that I do so in a way that is not self-aggrandizing and in a way that keeps others as my focal point. (i.e., “Friend, I see that you keep losing your car keys. I have developed some skill in underwater basket weaving. Would it serve you well if I made you a basket to store your keys?”)

In this article, several empirically-supported practices for developing humility are described along with some key reasons why we might want to develop more humility. Humility, it turns out, is a boon to mental well-being. For example, humble people tend to better navigate life’s stresses and challenges. They also tend to exhibit other traits and practices that also have a host of positive benefits—gratitude, generosity, prosocial behavior, among others. If you stop to think about it, some of this might make sense. These kinds of practices are built into the definition of humility. If we are not so focused on ourselves, but wondering how we can serve others, these practices naturally follow. Moreover, humility shows its benefits even in places where we might wonder if a bit of self-promotion might be beneficial. Consider CEOs. As the leaders of their company, we might think that a little bit of “look at me, I’m leading and I’m awesome” might not be so bad. And yet, research shows that humble CEOs are better leaders and more innovative than less humble CEOs.

I think a great deal of the chaos in our culture might be attenuated with a bit more humility. But even this statement needs some additional explanation as Worthington et al. (as well as other researchers) distinguish between general humility (as described above) and more specific instantiations of humility. One of my favorite types of humility is intellectual humility. (Note: favorite doesn’t mean it’s easy or that I’m somehow the most awesome of this kind of humility…)

Individuals who are intellectually humble are willing to admit that they might be wrong and that there are things they don’t know. (Hi, my name is Erin and there is a whole lot of things that I don’t know.) Intellectually humble individuals will change their beliefs when presented with evidence that their beliefs are wrong. (This one is harder for me.) According to this study, intellectually humble people tend to be curious, open to new ideas, and reflective. They are willing (and able) to sit in the “gray zones,” where things are not known with certainty (which, if we were honest, describes most of the things we “know”).

One might look at this list and think, “so, intellectually humble people must not have opinions; they must just appease and agree with whatever group they are in, right?” No. Intellectually humble people hold beliefs with the same kinds of convictions as other people, they just do so with more nuance, recognizing (or at least being open to someone else’s recognition) the limits of what they know. This means that, when there is high quality and robust evidence supporting their beliefs, an intellectually humble person will hold to their belief; their beliefs do not change with the wind. But they will do so in a way that serves others (i.e., listening, engaging, and calling others to the whole scope of the evidence on an issue) and is authentically open to evaluating new evidence that might not be consistent with their beliefs.

One of the great tensions Jesus modeled can be seen in intellectual humility. As Christians, we are to be thoughtful, to have reasons for our beliefs (e.g., 1 Peter 3:15), but these reasons are not to be wielded as weapons to interfere with the greatest commandment, to love God and love others (Matthew 22:36-40). On the flip side, loving others does not mean that “all opinions are equal” or that “everyone can believe what they want,” developing their own truths (or so-called ‘alternative facts’). The intellectually humble hold their beliefs with reason and conviction, with a willingness to re-evaluate with evidence, and with the goal of being a better neighbor (not beating their neighbor with their facts). We are called to something more than this. We are called to speak truth in love (Ephesians 4:15).

Let me now try to circle back to the peace—the stillness—that my heart craves. As I reflect on the quality and tone of conversations in our culture in this present moment, I am deeply aware of the lack of humility (generally) and intellectual humility (specifically). Nuance does not make good click bait and we are often too hurried for the depth of thinking that marks intellectual humility. I cannot change culture on my own, but I can—with God’s help—search my heart (Psalm 139:23-24). I can commit to a process of holding beliefs with a sense of curiosity and openness, to admitting that I might be wrong. I can confess my arrogance and turn my eyes toward others (Philippians 2:4), accurately, and modestly, portraying and leveraging my strengths for the benefit of my neighbor, always learning, always loving. This is difficult, but this is part of my calling. If you feel this is part of your calling as well, a good starting place is an open and honest acknowledgement that what we believe now is most likely a combination of things that are true and things that are false and that we can—and should—allow our minds to be changed with new evidence (empirical, revelation, tradition, community, experience, etc.).

I desire stillness. More specifically, I desire stillness to produce clarity. May the weight of glory bring humility and foster a stillness in my soul to distill culture’s competing shouts about truth as I steadfastly search the cloudy mirror for Jesus.

UPDATE: After this blog posted, I came across this quote from Andrew Murray in his book, Humility. I thought it worth sharing here, relative to the connection between quietude and humility:

Humility is perfect quietness of heart. It is to expect nothing, to wonder at nothing that is done to me, to feel nothing done against me. It is to be at rest when nobody praises me, and when I am blamed or despised. It is to have a blessed home in the Lord, where I can go in and shut the door, and kneel to my Father in secret, and am at peace as in a deep sea of calmness, when all around and above is trouble.

By Dr. Robert Pate

I wish I had a nickel for every time one of the ladies on ABC’s The Bachelor has said, “I literally died.” No, you didn’t. Despite their often ridiculous behavior, I feel bad for the contestants. In addition to editing content to show mostly conflict/angst, contestants are put in a nearly impossible social situation, given few helpful resources, cut off from their support networks, and we only get to share in their experience through technology. So of course they break down and cry, experience increased social conflict, and have a hard time coping! Feel familiar to anyone? If this doesn’t sound like your 2020 experience, maybe you and I were “social distancing” differently!

Either way, I often take away similar thoughts from the hyperbolic social interactions curated for our enjoyment. What I consistently notice is that we were made to be with people and connect in safe, secure relationships. We are meant to have our own space to reflect, rest, and pray. We thrive when we can express our thoughts and feelings with others who genuinely care about us, and who are open to letting go of their own feelings for a few minutes to stay present with us. We all experience joy, sorrow, hurt, betrayal, and the desire to be loved. We are made to have fun. We are made to look each other directly in the eye, to hug, to eat and drink together, and a host of other things we’ve been limited in doing the past 12 months. These activities help us to be in a healthy personal state of mind to be available for others’ needs, and to connect with healthy others in our lives. This connection is related to the concept of attachment, which includes the idea that when we have at least one safe person we can lean on, a secure base from which to explore the world, we can take greater risks and generally regulate our emotions better. This, of course, is related to all kinds of positive life and relationship outcomes.

If you’ve struggled with the loss of any of these things, I hope you have been coping well. I hope you have found creative and safe ways to stay connected with your friends and loved ones. But we can only handle so much screen time before we need to change things up (screen life hack: look out a window or at least across the room every 15-30 minutes to help your eyes avoid strain). Many small distractions can temporarily help us deal with the social/relational losses of the past 12 months, as well as the modifications to our learning environments. I won’t focus on them here, but a few might include standing up from your desk/bed/couch to walk around your dorm, bedroom, or office space. Try stretching for 30 seconds between meetings. I often do 20 pushups between therapy clients and find it helpful in waking my body up after several hours straight in a chair.

But as helpful as these short-term distractions can be, they may not help with the long term mental health needs that many of us have experienced during the pandemic. While the strategies below may be helpful during this national crisis, remember they are also helpful when things get back to the old normal. I hope you are able to employ one or more of them during the remainder of this semester as we look ahead to summer and the eventual return to an in-person everyday experience.

1. Plan a mini-vacation: Having something to look forward to, however small, can help ward off the depression that comes from the monotony of staring at screens all day, the loneliness that often accompanies isolation, and the boredom of being in the same environment all the time. A vacation could simply be taking a day trip to the local mountains with a friend or family member to hike around Lake Gregory in the Crestline area. It’s beautiful up there, the air is fresh(er), and it’s good to get out and exercise. You don’t have to fly to Hawaii to be on vacation! Maybe just take a road trip along the coast for a few hours, grabbing breakfast in Newport Beach heading down to San Diego for a late lunch, and then enjoying the drive back up the coast toward Riverside in the evening. The point is to plan something fun that you can look forward to. It’s better to have three or four small vacations each year to look forward to than one major trip.

2. Have a weekly activity that you do with someone you can build intimacy with over time. It’s important to have trust, safety, and a record of consistent vulnerable communication with at least one person in your life. You can do the same activity each week or mix it up. The key here is to get out and do something you don’t normally do, so the activity is special. Something you can look forward to. Maybe it’s a one mile walk around the campus and surrounding neighborhood. Maybe you get off campus and head to a park to throw a football or frisbee around. Whatever you do, make sure it’s something that allows you to talk without too much distraction.

3. Take a cell-phone holiday regularly. This could be a certain time of day that you set aside your phone and just engage 100% in whatever you are doing. Maybe it’s during dinner, or right when your classes or work are completed for the day. I recently celebrated Valentine’s Day with my wife, and forgot my phone at home. We had a great time, and, being the distractible person that I am, I was able to focus better on her. There’s just something about not even having your phone around that can feel very freeing. Try it sometime.

4. Come up with your own strategy! Do something out of the ordinary on a regular basis. If you regularly pray and/or meditate every day, have one day each week where you do that in a new location and for a longer period of time. Maybe you want to start employing one of the spiritual disciplines and journaling about it. Whatever you choose, find something that works for you, that you enjoy, and that will help you cope with whatever has come up for you this past year. This isn’t homework. It’s supposed to be fun, and it’s supposed to be for you.

Don’t let yourself get to the point in your coping strategies and relationships that you end up being the catty contestant with diminished emotion regulation and communication skills saying ridiculous things like, “I literally died.” Nope. You’re still here. But you do need to get more serious about and creative with your self care!

Feel free to comment below with a strategy that has worked for you so others can try it out!

Dr. Raquel Ellis

I have had some amazing mentors in my life. However, there are two that stand out as leaving an impressionable mark on my development as a researcher. The first was one of my MSW program instructors, Dr. Jean Granger. She was also the associate director of the MSW program at the time. I developed a good student-faculty relationship with her during my practice class, and she subsequently invited me to serve as her graduate assistant. I was hesitant to accept the offer because I was very intimidated by her. She held high expectations of her students and was a tough grader of assignments. Her story was also intimidating. She completed high school early and enrolled at Fisk University, a historically Black university, at the young age of 15. By the age of 19, she had completed her MSW degree. In hindsight, I am glad I accepted the position as I was able to learn so much from her while supporting administrative and research projects that she led.

Once I started to identify faculty members to serve on my MSW thesis committee, it was a natural fit for me to select Dr. Granger as my committee chair. I conducted an exploratory study on the help-seeking behaviors of African Americans who lost a parent during adolescence. Using a snowball sampling approach, I surveyed individuals who met my sampling criteria. Upon completion of my thesis, Dr. Granger encouraged me to write a journal article based on my study findings. I never imagined that I could publish in an academic journal. I did not think this was attainable as a graduate student and I was quite intimidated by the idea. However, my mentor assured me that it was and that she would guide me through the process. We worked in collaboration and co-authored an article that was ultimately published in the Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal. This published article, along with a strong letter of recommendation from Dr. Granger, facilitated my acceptance to several PhD programs.

The program that I ultimately decided to enroll in was the PhD in Social Work program at the University of Illinois at Chicago. It was here that I met another research mentor who made a big impression on me. He was a social work professor in my doctoral program, Dr. Jim Gleeson. I interviewed for a research assistant position with him just before starting my doctoral studies. He had a handful of research assistants supporting a large federal research grant that examined individual and social protective factors for children in informal kinship care. Nearly all of them were students of color, which made me feel at home and gave me a sense of belonging. Dr. Gleeson created a warm, family-oriented environment. I gain ample research training and experience under Dr. Gleeson’s supervision, which continued as he served as my dissertation committee chair. Dr. Gleeson encouraged me to publish my dissertation findings in a journal article and thanks to Dr. Granger, I felt much more equipped to independently draft a journal article. My efforts were successful as the article was ultimately published in the Journal on Public Child Welfare. These experiences prepared me well for securing employment at a research firm post-graduation.

When I think about the traits of both mentors, a few commonalities come to mind. They both took time to learn about me as a person, were very giving of their time to invest in my learning and professional development, and were always very encouraging in their interactions with me and other students they mentored. They were also passionate about using research to gain a greater understanding about issues that face vulnerable populations and using this information to improve lives.

Over the course of my career, I have striven to be like those who have mentored me. It is my hope that I can help all my students see the value of social science research and nurture those who desire to make research a part of their future careers.

By Dr. Sophia S. Mun

Since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, older adults have been identified as the most vulnerable age group to the virus. Reactions to the virus’s spread in the U.S. vary, ranging grocery stores offering specific shopping hours for elderly customers to provide additional protection to the opposite extreme of nicknaming COVID-19 “the Boomer remover.” There are many reasons people have these different responses. One of these reasons is ageism.

What is Ageism?

Ageism is prejudice or discrimination against a particular age group, especially the elderly. Along with race and gender, age is commonly used to categorize and form stereotypes about others. As with other -isms, ageism involves a very pervasive us versus them thinking, and this fuels otherness and separateness. A unique thing about ageism is that age is the only category in which the members of the in-group (the young) will eventually join the out-group (the old) in the end. There is no exception to it, because everyone is getting old, right? More importantly, negative stereotypes about aging that people have been holding since they were young do not change or disappear but become internalized such that people hold those beliefs to be true about themselves as they age. Therefore, negative stereotypes originally held about other people become negative self-perceptions of aging in later life.

Origins of Ageism

Where do negative stereotypes originate? I often hear biased descriptions of older adults from my 5-year-old son and, it turns out, negative views of and attitudes toward older adults can start early in life. We are barraged from childhood on with the negative message that aging is undesirable (You might have seen birthday cards that poke fun of older adulthood.). In a modern society that values productivity, elders are seen as less valuable because we believe that older adults are less productive and efficient. Greenberg et al. (2002) suggested that age prejudice arises from a fear of our own mortality as well. They found that merely thinking about (or seeing) an older person tends to arouse anxiety about the fact that one has a short time on earth, and the fear associated with such cognitions tends to provoke the perceiver to dislike the individual (or group) who elicits such fear. Ageism is prejudice against our feared future self (Nelson, 2005).

Effects of Negative Perception of Aging on Health

One good reason to bring more attention to this issue is that negative perceptions of aging can take a heavy toll on our health. One of the most recent and largest examinations of the health consequences of ageism found that it harms the health of older people in 45 countries and across 5 continents (the study included over 7 million participants). The research team found evidence that ageism led to worse outcomes for a number of mental health conditions, including depression, and a number of physical health conditions as well as to a shorter life expectancy. It also could lead to a poorer quality of life, compromised social relationships, risky health behaviors, and cognitive impairment (Chang et al., 2020).

Reducing Ageism

Reducing negative perceptions of aging could be a significant factor in predicting better health in later life. It also deactivates otherness and separateness in our society. Negative perceptions of aging and older adults are prevalent in many societies, embedded in societal institutions and expressed in individual perceptions and behaviors. Therefore, unless we challenge this idea, it becomes part of our identities.

So what can we do?

Fortunately, we can still make a difference. There are a lot of approaches we could employ at the institutional level, but let’s focus here on what we can do on a personal level. We can start with an awareness of our attitude, language, and behaviors about aging and older adults. And let’s take the additional step of confronting our fears about aging and loss (physical, status, social, & economic). What is the truth about your fear?

Aging is a natural, powerful, lifelong process that we are all engaged in. We need to learn from scripture about how to treat a part of ourselves and a part of our society. 1 Corinthians 12:20-25 highlights how we all play a role—different roles—in one unified body. There is no age asterisk. This is not about another specific group of people. This is about all of us.

1 Corinthians 12:20-25

²⁰As it is, there are many parts, but one body.²¹The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!”²²On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable,²³and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty,²⁴while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it,²⁵so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.

References

Chang,E.S., Kannoth,S., Levy,S., Wang,S.Y., Lee,J.E., & Levy, B. (2020).Global reach of ageism on older persons’ health: A systematic review. PLOS ONE 15(1). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0220857

Greenberg, J., Schimel, J., & Martens, A. (2002). Ageism: Denying the face of the future. In T. D. Nelson (Ed.), Ageism: Stereotyping and prejudice against older persons (p. 27–48). The MIT Press.

Nelson, T. (2005). Ageism: Prejudice Against Our Feared Future Self. Journal of Social Issues, 61(2). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4560.2005.00402.x

By Philip Breitenbucher, M.S.W.

We all want to be happy. Many say or think things like, “I will be happy when” or “I would be happy if.” In Dr. Erin Smith’s blog post, Tackling anxiety with gratitude (August 2020), she says, “Reflecting on what we have to be grateful for reminds us that beyond the difficulties of the present moment, there is life-giving hope, purpose, relationship, love, and acceptance.” Lots of people struggle with a lack of gratitude. As students and soon to be professionals, I want to encourage you to be grateful for the present and be thankful for what God has planned for you because it will bring you joy and happiness beyond anything material. 

After only three months of receiving my MSW (master of social work), I was promoted to a county leadership position in the field of public child welfare. My experience was not unique. We often hear from our graduates that they quickly promote into leadership positions within their organizations.  In fact, anyone working in the field of behavioral and social sciences will eventually fill a leadership role.  Whether that looks like leading a team or leading a group or even leading on a task, we all find ourselves needing to lead, and the question is, “how will you lead?” 

As a young twenty-something propelled into a leadership role working in the 11th largest county in the nation, I found myself often leading from a place of fear. I was fearful that I would not have all the answers. I was fearful that I would not be respected by the very experienced and talented individuals I was put “in-charge” of. Because of these fears, I tended to lead using a very directive style, uninterested in the personal lives of my subordinates (who I now refer to as “teammates” and the literature refers to as “followers” or “tribe” members). However, fear is not the best motivator when it comes to daily work because at the heart of fear is doubt, and doubt leads to uncertainty, and uncertainty kills motivation. 

Along the way, I was introduced to a style of leadership called Situational Leadership, developed by Hersey and Blanchard. Situational leadership requires a person to adapt their style to the demands of different situations, depending on the employee’s competence and commitment.  Situational leadership consists of two types of behavior patterns, directive behaviors (establishing goals and methods, setting timelines, defining roles, etc.) and supportive behaviors (asking for input, solving problems, praising, sharing information about oneself, and listening) (Northouse, 2019). As you could imagine, I was very comfortable using directive behavior, but I also effectively solved problems and asked for input. Using situational leadership, I became an excellent manager and administrator, and I promoted up the ladder. I was even recruited to direct several national initiatives on behalf of the federal government.  Once again, filled with fear and feelings of inadequacies (maybe a touch of imposter syndrome as described by Dr. Krystal Hays in her blog, Finding my way home: A journey through social work (April 2020), but I knew how to layout goals and objectives, set timelines, and monitor progress. 

In 2013, my life suddenly was changed forever. I became a father for the first time (I now have two daughters), which changed my identity. I was not just a professional, but I was a father of a beautiful daughter who I wanted to talk about. I found myself in meetings talking about my girls and sharing stories with others about their kids. Suddenly, my followers began to see me as a supportive leader.

While situational leadership is instrumental, one of the potential drawbacks is that it calls for leaders to use low supportive behaviors with highly committed and competent followers. As stated by Northouse (2019), leaders refrain from intervening with unnecessary social support. Using situational leadership early in my career was helpful, but it had limits and confinements. With this new identity as a father, I learned more and more about each follower and began to delegate and empower others. I was genuinely committed to achieving the organization’s goals and helping my followers achieve their purposes. I was transforming into an authentic leader. 

Authentic leadership is genuine and real and requires the authenticity of leaders (Northouse, 2019). Authentic leadership, developed by Bill George (2003), focuses on five characteristics: having a real sense of purpose, understanding one’s own values, developing strong relationships, having self-discipline, and being compassionate. According to the literature, becoming an authentic leader is a developmental process. It relies heavily on an individual’s critical life events (such as having children), which stimulates growth in four psychological capacities: confidence, hope, optimism, and resilience. 

In the book “Leading with gratitude: Eight leadership practices for extraordinary business results,” Gostick and Elton (2020) discuss the benefits of genuine praise and gratefulness.  They found that 98% of employees said they perform at a higher level when provided with encouragement.  As a developing leader, I found connecting with my followers authentically, delivering specific validation and gratitude for their work, improved their performance, and built morale and motivation within the team. Gostick and Elton (2020) state, “those of us who innately feel more gratitude are also better able to connect with those around them, make ethical decisions and be more sympathetic” (p.57). Dr. Smith (August 2020) describes the psychological benefits of being thankful and expressing gratefulness for the individual. I, too found, that gratefulness not only improved my performance it also enhanced my well-being.

As a new leader or an experienced leader, I encourage you to give gratefulness a chance. The trick is to be brave and authentic no matter what the critics (internal and external) say. 

Here are a baker’s dozen of ways to develop a grateful life (Gostick and Elton, 2020)

1. Make a commitment to give undivided attention to your loved ones
2. Have three things for dinner
3. Be excited to see them
4. Give immediate feedback to family members
5. Give them a break
6. Be more grateful to your partner
7. Practice random gratitude
8. Be grateful for obstacles
9. Teach your kids to give
10. Serve together
11. Smell the roses
12. Thank the cranks
13. Write letters of gratitude

About the Author:

Philip Breitenbucher has over 20 years of progressively responsible experience in the management of public child welfare and community-based prevention services. Professor Breitenbucher currently serves as an assistant professor of social work in the Department of Social Work, College of Behavioral and Social Sciences at California Baptist University. In addition, Professor Breitenbucher serves as research associate for the Center for the Study of Human Behavior. Professor Breitenbucher is currently pursuing an educational doctorate in Organization Leadership.

References:

Hays, K. (2020, April 15). Finding my way Home: A Journey through Social Work (Part II). Center for the Study of Human Behavior. https://blogs.calbaptist.edu/cshb/2020/04/15/finding-my-way-home-a-journey-through-social-work-part-ii/

Gostick, A., & Elton, C. (2020). Leading with gratitude: Eight leadership practices for extraordinary business results.Harper Business.

Northhouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice (8^th ed.) Sage. 

Smith, S. (2020, August 24). Tackling Anxiety with Gratitude. Center for the Study of Human Behavior. https://blogs.calbaptist.edu/cshb/2020/08/24/tackling-anxiety-with-gratitude/

By Dr. Raquel Ellis, MSW, PhD

I’ve always had a passion for helping those in need and as an MSW student, I enjoyed learning about the many career opportunities available for me to live out my passion. As I started to focus my area of interest to child welfare, I settled on a career as a social worker for the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services(DCFS). I was blessed to be selected to participate in the California Social Work Education Center (CALSWEC) Title IV-Eprogram, which afforded me the opportunity to receive specialized training, complete an internship with DCFS, and receive a stipend to fund my education in exchange for a one-year commitment of employment at DCFS post-graduation. Since I planned to work for this organization anyways, I found this program to be a win-win.

In addition to my interest in child welfare, I gained a strong interest in research during my MSW program. This interest became stronger after engaging in a thesis project. I enjoyed the process of identifying a research topic and specific questions, developing a research plan to answer those questions, analyzing and summarizing the data collected, and reflecting on practice and policy implications of my research project.

Upon graduationin 2001, I followed my initial career plans by working for DCFS as a children’s social worker. It was definitely emotionally taxing work at times but also very rewarding. I cherished the experiences of walking alongside parents as they completed their case plan goals, being able to reunify children with their families, and engaging in permanency planning for children who were unable to return to their family of origin. However, in the midst of these experiences, I often reflected on the systemic challenges that made it more difficult for me to be effective and made it more difficult for families to achieve their case plan goals. Common questions that came to my mind were: Is there more that we could do to decrease the number of children who “age out”of the system without finding their forever home? How can we decrease the length of time that children spendin foster care? How can social workers be most effective in doing our job when our caseloads are excessive?

Eventually, I started to think back at my interest in research and it became clearer how I could merge my two interests to engage in work that sought to improve the system. So, after working for multiple years at DCFS, I eagerly applied to several PhD programs and ultimately decided to accept an offer to enroll in the PhD in Social Work program at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). Given that UIC was classified as an R1 university(meaning they are considered to have the “highest research activity”), I knew that it would be the best place for me to learn and gain substantive experience engaging in basic and applied research.

The next few years as a doctoral student were super exciting for me as I completed coursework, and engaged in research as a graduate assistant and through the completion of a nearly 300-page dissertation. Yes, I actually enjoyed pulling this long document together. After graduation, I moved to the East Coast and I continued merging my interests by directing large applied research projects during my tenure at Child Trends and Westat. Each project focused on testing new and innovative interventions that sought to improve outcomes for children and families that come to the attention of the child welfare system. I was honored to contribute to the evidence-base about what works to achieve positive outcomes for this population.

In closing, I achieved what I sought out to do and to this day, I have been blessed to have the opportunity to continue to merge these two interests through various graduate and undergraduate courses that I teach and scholarly activities.

By Dr. Sophia Mun

If there were a simple way to improve your academic performance, would you try it? If there were an easy way to help you live longer and more healthily, would you be willing to do it? If you said “Yes!” to either of the questions, you might want to read through this article.

Intro

When I studied gerontology a few years ago, there were some research findings that caught my attention. Wait, what? Gerontology? Geology? Geography? Okay—you might have not heard about gerontology. Gerontology is the scientific study of old age, the process of aging, and the particular problems of older adults. Let’s talk more about this in the next blog. Anyway, one fascinating study found that aging self-stereotypes (older individuals’ beliefs about older people) could influence longevity. The study showed that older individuals with more positive self-perceptions of aging lived 7.5 years longer than those with less positive self-perception of aging (Levy et al., 2002). There are more: positive age beliefs protected against dementia (Levy et al., 2018), and negative age beliefs predicted a greater cardiovascular response to stress and worse health behaviors (Levyet al., 2000; Levy & Myers, 2004). Overall, these studies suggest that living with positive thoughts about aging could improve our psychological and physical health. Amazing, right?

What is a mindset?

How can beliefs about ourselves help us be healthier and live longer? This is closely tied to the concept of the mindset. Mindsets are beliefs we hold about ourselves and our most basic qualities, such as personality or talent (Dweck, 2019). It is also a way of thinking about the world. In other words, it is a lens or frame of mind we use to understand ourselves and the world. Scientific research has gathered massive evidence about the power of mindset. Here is a study you would be very interested in. Blackwell et al.(2007) found that the belief that intelligence is malleable (growth mindset) predicted an upward trajectory in grades over two years of junior high school, while a belief that intelligence is fixed (fixed mindset) predicted a flat trajectory. Beliefs about ourselves can increase academic performance, too!

What science says

Science says mindset plays a significant role in determining our well-being and achievements because mindsets are responsible for our behavioral, physiological, and psychological responses (Crumetal.,2017). Mindsets influence what we pay attention to, what we’re motivated to do, how we feel and expect to feel, and what our bodies are prepared to do. And we make decisions every day by our responses.

What the Bible says

The Bible is clear about the power of our minds and beliefs. The Bible says our minds are powerful. Our thoughts and beliefs shape who we are and will become, and our faith decides what we will do in our lives. Mark 9:23 “’If you can?’ said Jesus. ‘Everything is possible for one who believes.’” Matthew 9:22, “Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, ‘Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.’ And instantly the woman was made well.” Matthew 9:29, “Then he touched their eyes, saying, ‘According to your faith be it done to you.’” In the Bible, belief is a golden key to make things work including miracles.

The power of mind (faith) in an uncertain world

Do you want to prosper in this uncertain world? What you experience today is product of your mindset; what you experience in the future depends on your mindset today. The only thing you have to do is to choose to have a positive mindset. God gave us free will to choose. Science has done great work to explain the power of belief, but there is still a long way to go. It may not give us the whole picture of the power of mindset, but I like leaving some mysteries unsolved—that is what faith is about. What we believe matters.

Changeyour mindset.

Renew your mind (Romans 12:2).

References

Blackwell, L. S., Trzesniewski, K. H., & Dweck, C. S. (2007). Implicit theories of intelligence predict achievement across an adolescent transition: a longitudinal study and an intervention.Child development,78(1), 246–263. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2007.00995.x

Crum, A. J., Leibowitz, K. A., & Verghese, A. (2017). Making mindset matter.Bmj,356, j674.https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.j674Dweck, C. S. (2019). The Choice to Make a Difference. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 14(1), 21–25. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691618804180

Levy, B. R., Slade, M. D., Kunkel, S. R., & Kasl, S. V. (2002). Longevity increased by positive self-perceptions of aging.Journal of personality and social psychology,83(2), 261–270. https://doi.org/10.1037//0022-3514.83.2.261

Levy, B. R., Slade, M. D., Pietrzak, R. H., & Ferrucci, L. (2018). Positive age beliefs protect against dementia even among elders with high-risk gene.PloS one,13(2), e0191004. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0191004

Levy, B. R., Hausdorff, J. M., Hencke, R., & Wei, J. Y. (2000). Reducing cardiovascular stress with positive self-stereotypes of aging.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences,55(4), P205–P213. https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/55.4.p205

Levy, B. R., & Myers, L. M. (2004). Preventive health behaviors influenced by self-perceptions of aging.Preventive medicine,39(3), 625–629. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2004.02.029

By Dr. Robert Pate, PsyD

Raise your hand if you are tired of staring at screens? Even reading this blog…it’s rough, right? You spend hours each day watching WebEx or Zoom classes, reading your textbooks online, scrolling through social media updates, responding to emails, writing papers, playing games, and, if you’re like me, setting your alarms for the next morning. We do all this, then we wake up and do it all over again. Ugh.

As much as I appreciate the wonderful things technology allows us to do, including remote learning, ordering food deliveries, socializing, and a thousand other things, it can get old pretty fast. My wife and I are part of a couples Bible study and we have been meeting every other week and working through the book of Exodus since early in 2020 before COVID-19 hit the USA in full force. As we’ve gone through the study together, we have consistently lamented the fact that we cannot gather together in person.

Two nights ago we covered the passages in Exodus where in God leads the Israelites “the long way around” in the desert out of his mercy, knowing that if they went directly through Philistine territory without first developing their identity as a free and empowered people in the desert, they would flee to “lesser evil” of their chains in Egypt. I don’t know about you, but pretty much all of 2020 feels like “the long way around.” I don’t know what purpose God might be working out in all of the myriad hardships so many people have suffered through this year, but I have to trust there’s something on the other side.

When I think about all the time we’ve spent staring at screens because of COVID-19, I am struck by both the emotional and sometimes physical pain I experience as I sit in my chair hour after hour at work and home, as well as the great benefits derived from making use of the available technologies to continue educating my students, helping my therapy clients, and connecting with friends and loved ones.

Perhaps you’ve found yourself in a similar position lately. You’re burned out, eyes dry and red, nerves a bit frazzled, and maybe feeling some of the loneliness creep in. After several weeks of remote learning, remote socializing, and developing a “new normal” for digital higher education this academic year, I hope you are finding ways to care for your emotional and physical needs. More specifically, if you are experiencing what some have termed “Zoom Fatigue” I hope you will consider the suggestions below for reducing the mental, emotional, and physical strain that our beloved screens can exert on us over time.

1. Take a break! If you’ve been in front of your screen for a couple hours of class already today, make sure to stand up, walk around, and get outside if possible anytime your instructor gives you a break. When possible, schedule screen breaks in your day. If there’s a “bathroom break” in a class/meeting and nature isn’t calling you at that point, get up anyway! Don’t sit in front of your device when you don’t have to. And don’t just exchange your laptop for your phone. Setting boundaries around screen time can be tremendously helpful. Stop looking at all screens for a few minutes. My wife, a molecular biologist who has read just about everything there is to read on COVID-19 and its impacts, passed along a recommendation she recently came across…every 20 minutes, spend 1 minute looking 20 feet away. This should help your eye muscles to focus in different ways and avoid exhaustion.

2. Exercise! This can look any way you want. Stretching, walking around your room, walking to Wanda’s, playing a sport with a few other students (still possible even if social distancing/wearing masks), just do something! Maybe some push ups? A solo dance party? (I won’t share a picture of me doing either, though I hear laughter is good medicine.) This should improve your circulation and help your joints to not stiffen as much throughout the day. Remember, your body is used to walking to your car, walking to the next class, walking to lunch, walking to class again, and walking back to your dorm/car.

3. Play! If you can find a game to play that does not involve a screen, great, but if that’s the only option you’ve got, that’s still helpful. Engage your mind in creative tasks. Downloading information constantly is helpful, but only to a point. Hopefully your instructors are providing some critical/creative thinking experiences in class, but either way, find time to build/solve/create something. Maybe put together some IKEA furniture, build some Legos, spend a few bucks to create a flower garden for your window sill, etc. The point is to do something fun and creative to keep your spirits up, even if you can’t do your preferred leisure activities like attending a concert, intramural sports, spending time at the gym, or taking an art class with friends.

4. Talk to someone about it! If you are finding yourself heading down a less-than-healthy path, whether mentally, emotionally, or physically, talk to a friend, instructor, pastor, family member, or maybe a therapist. CBU has a fantastic counseling center with plenty of therapists who specialize in helping people get through tough times. There are lots of other options for getting professional help, but the CBU counseling center can be a great place to start. It’s convenient and cost-effective. Consider giving them a call. You don’t have to be broken, crazy, or diagnosable to go to therapy. In fact, all of the students in my program (I teach in the Doctor of Psychology, PsyD, program here at CBU) are required to complete at least 40 hours of individual psychotherapy to help them be the best therapist possible for their clients.

5. Finally, if you can, consider sitting outside for class/meetings/therapy/social time. I have some therapy clients I meet with through a software program designed to be safe for therapy, and a few of them will sit on their balcony, sit out in their car, sit at a relatively empty park, or anywhere else they can to be out of the house while we have our sessions together. Whenever you can get away from a desk, do it! Even standing at your desk can help. Just get out of the sitting position. I’m currently building myself a standing desk at my house for when I’m working at home. What can you be doing to help your mind and body?

This has been a tough season for most of us, and some much more so than others. Take a few minutes each day to reset your mind and body by changing the scenery, infusing some fun time, and getting physically active. We don’t know how long this will last, but as we take “the long way around” COVID-19, let’s make sure that we are as mentally, emotionally, and physically healthy as we can be on the other side. God bless you as you make your waythrough the rest of the semester!

By Dr. Kendra Flores-Carter

Phillipians 1:6 reads “that the one who began a good work among [us] will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ” Today I hear the word cultural humility in every meeting, conference, and seminar I attend. Diversity and inclusion seems to be a leading theme for many organizations trying to restructure their administration to meet the needs of marginalized populations. As a marginalized person of Color it is amazing to see all of the strategic planning around having a culturally diverse approach in program innovation, development, and implementation. But as always I have questions on how organizations can competently and effectively incorporate cultural humility in their program development.

Cultural humility refers to the attitudes and practices of working with individuals, groups, and families with a presence of humility. Additionally, it means taking a stance that is other-oriented rather than self-focused. Furthermore, it means investing in learning, communicating, offering services, and making decisions that considers the cultural dynamics of marginalized population intended to serve. Moreover, having a concrete understanding that in order to proceed with any type of program development or program planning an organization must be prepared to consider all these factors before moving forward to fulfill their targeted goals around program development to truly serve marginalized communities.

For many organizations and businesses its easy to include an inclusion and diversity clause in a policy or mention the idea of practicing cultural competency. However, practicing cultural humility is easier said than done. I say this because I seeso many programs today that are targeted towards helping and assisting marginalized populations but I rarely see people of Color in the forefront of creating those programs. How can businesses and organizations create diversity and inclusion programs without the voices of the people the programs are design serve?It’s quite baffling to me to see programs created time after time without the input of the intended population.

To truly exercise cultural humility organizations needs to take into account the lived experiences of the people they provide services too. The stark reality is that many leaders in organizations tend to believe the stereotypes about marginalized groups. Sometimes these biased beliefs are based on what was socially learned or what is shown in the mainstream media. Often times those realities are far from the actual true experiences of marginalized populations.

As a society it is important to understand that from the moment we are born we are socially programmed to believe a set of ideas about certain groupsof people. Sometimes even if it’s not the intent these ingrained beliefs are what controls or influence the decisions made as leaders of organizations. Therefore, it is very important that organization leaders check their biases and ensure that they facilitate an environment where all voices are heard when creating programs that serves communities or color.

Building programs that are targeted towards marginalized population should always includethe voices of those populations. When theirvoices are missing it leaves room for programs to becreated based on biased stereotypical beliefs rather than true facts. Likewise, assumptions are often made about marginalized groups based on media or social conditioning beliefs rather than getting evidence from a qualitative standpoint.Yancu & Farmer(2017) theorized the need for internal practices that leads organizations to have greater cultural awareness, reduced implicit cultural biases, and increased sensitivity to the power dynamics in cross-cultural interactions. Basically, if organizations are open to those principles program development would be much more inclusive.

I believe that practicing cultural humility is God’s working within our souls to give us authentic love and kindness towards others. Most importantly God want us to consider others before ourselves. In the end cultural humility could definitely be an asset to leaderswho may have come from privileged backgrounds with little to no understanding of the experiences of marginalized populations. When we know better we do better but we have to make that lifelong commitment to always be self-aware of our own biases before making decisions that affects the lives of othersthat are not like us.

Hi, my name is Erin Smith, and I’m a control junkie. For me, time is a puzzle solved with color coded calendars, carefully curated schedules, and heavily researched expectations over future events. I have learned that I can quell a lot of anxiety when I over plan and over prepare for what is to come (and what might be, could be, may eventually be).

This characteristic is helpful….to an extent. But, when I am honest with myself, I know that this kind of control only gets me so far. (It also sometimes reinforces rigidity, which is not psychologically helpful, and sometimes it exacerbates my anxiety. Also not helpful….both topics for a future blog, perhaps.) An honest appraisal of the world, however, indicates that there are so many things, many important things, out of my control. This doesn’t mean that I’m powerless, only that there are limits to what my planning, preparing, and careful execution can produce.

Case in point: A pandemic.

Are there things that I, personally, can do to help mitigate the spread and impact of the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19? Absolutely. This is why I wear my mask, social distance, and wash my hands often. Taking control and ownership of these behaviors is important. At the same time, can I, personally, stop the coronavirus? No, not on my own. I think, more to the point, I personally cannot ensure the maintenance of life-giving breath to my body. I contribute to my health—yes!—but I am ultimately not in exclusive control of whether my life will continue.

For a self-confessed control freak, this stark recognition of what is not in my hands is really difficult. It probably shouldn’t be because this truth is not new, it’s just usually unobserved. A paradox of the Christian faith (one that, coincidentally, mirrors my understanding of human agency from a psychological perspective) is that what we do matters—we have control!—but we are not ultimately in control (at least not total control!). My pastor once referred to this tension for our control as “radical responsibility and radical grace”. There is so much nuance here, nuance that I think is important, but instead of focusing there, I want to share what I have been practicing this pandemic to help mitigate the anxiety that bubbles up when I am faced with so much uncertainty. This is not a magic pill, it’s not a substitute for professional mental health care, when needed, nor is it the only thing I do. With all those caveats, one thing that has been really important to me during this season of uncertainty, change, and difficulty is the practice of gratitude.

What is gratitude?

When we are thankful and expressive of appreciation, we are being grateful. Researchers can talk about gratitude as a disposition (relatively stable way of interacting in the world), an emotion (the physiological reaction that prompts an emotional experience of thankfulness), and as a mood (moods are more stable than emotions, but less enduring than dispositions). I think it’s interesting to differentiate these three experiences of gratitude because it means that even if you are not naturally (or “dispositionally”) grateful, you can still develop habits of gratitude that will impact your emotional experiences and longer-lasting mood states.

What does gratitude “do”?

In addition to the straightforward instructions in Scriptures to practice gratitude (e.g., Ps. 106:1; Col. 3:16; Heb. 12:28-29), researchers have noted that grateful people tend to be healthier (physically and mentally), more likely to attain their goals, and more helpful toward others, among other effects¹.

One of the things that gratitude does is that is refocuses yourself off yourself and, it turns out, when we think of ourselves less we tend to be less consumed with anxiety, distress, loneliness, etc. Reflecting on what we have to be grateful for reminds us that beyond the difficulties of the present moment, there is life-giving hope, purpose, relationship, love, and acceptance. 

I want to be clear that gratitude doesn’t make your problems go away. It doesn’t make you ignore the realities that you are facing. (That is delusion, not gratitude.) What gratitude does do is it promotes a form of cognitive reframing that gives you a different vantage point on your situation. During this pandemic I have doubled-down on my efforts to practice and express gratitude. This hasn’t made the pandemic and my associated anxieties magically disappear, but it has helped anchor me in my gratitude to God, to people made in His holy image, and to the beauty in the good creation we inhabit. Gratitude has helped me look at the same world with new eyes. With new compassion. With new energy. By looking for points of thankfulness and seeking ways to express it, I have moved myself from a place of anxiety over the unknowns and the fluctuations closer to a place of peace. Even if nothing goes as planned (I still do like color coded calendars, after all), I have so much to be grateful for, a gratitude that moves me to more fully see my neighbor and love my neighbor in word and in action.

How can you leverage gratitude in your own life?

I want to reiterate that practicing gratitude is a practice. It won’t come naturally to everyone. It’s also not panacea. I really wish I could tell you that for every anxious thought I reflect on one thing to be grateful for and *poof!*: anxiety gone. But that would be a lie. This is an ongoing effort. What I can tell you is that there are lots of good reasons to pursue the practice of gratitude—Biblical and scientific reasons.

Here are two ways you can intentionally practice gratitude. Try it. Tell me how it felt in the comments below.

1. An easy introduction: At the end of every day (for at least two weeks), reflect back on your day and make a physical list of five things you are grateful for. Think of your family, friends, pets, or when you received help (as starters).
2. A slightly more intense practice: Spend 15 minutes writing a letter to someone for whom you are grateful, but have never expressed gratitude to. Don’t worry about your spelling or grammar, instead be as specific and concrete as possible, detailing what this person did, why you are grateful, and the impact this person and their actions had on your life. If you feel so inclined, put the letter in the mail or schedule a zoom call and read it to them directly. Research shows that we tend to underestimate how gratitude will impact a person; if you feel inclined, share your gratitude and you and the recipient of the gratitude will reap positive psychological effects!  If possible, repeat this exercise several times a week.

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Notes:

1. Check out the work of Dr. Emmons, the preeminent researcher on gratitude: https://emmons.faculty.ucdavis.edu/. You may also find this (someone old, but still relevant) chapter interesting: Emmons, R. A., McCullough, M. E., & Tsang, J.-A. (2003). The assessment of gratitude. In S. J. Lopez & C. R. Snyder (Eds.), Positive psychological assessment: A handbook of models and measures (p. 327–341). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/10612-021 Copy available here: https://sites.hofstra.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/86/2019/11/Gratitude-chapter-for-Pos-Assessment-volume.pdf

2. If you are looking for more of these kinds of activities, check out https://ggia.berkeley.edu/