My DSW Journey

BLOG POST 1: INFLUENCING PUBLIC DISCOURSE Are there other ways of influencing public discourse that we haven't covered in the content of the course so far? Within our Grand Challenge , public discourse is the heart of what we should and can be doing. I have chosen to focus on ensuring the healthy development of youth. During the winter break, I accidentally stumbled onto a youtuber named Casey Neistat. Until that point, I mostly used youtube to share Ted Talks with my students or when I needed to learn how to fix something or use something. The notion of subscribing to or following a youtuber was so foreign to me. However, my 17-year-old son totally sees youtube through a completely different lens. For him, it is a platform to tell your story, to share your vision, or to connect with the outside world. One can compare it to that old person shaking their head in disapproval as the young person turns up the volume of their favorite rapper. While there are youtube videos on...

Greetings! My name is Grey Endres and I am a clinical social worker in the Kansas City metropolitan area. Presently I am a full-time lecturer at Missouri Western with the BSW program . In addition, I am a founding partner of Lifeworks Family Treatment group in Kansas City. In May of 2018, I began my DSW journey. I have chosen to focus on the Grand Challenge of ensuring the healthy development of youth given that child welfare fails to protect the children it is mandated to serve. WHY?? In September of 2014, I was hired by the Jackson County children's division to facilitate in-home couples’ therapy with a mom and dad who’s 15-year-old was in foster care along with her new infant son. On a Friday afternoon, just before beginning a session, their daughter and grandson were having a supervised visit, and I noticed that my client and her daughter were looking at homecoming dresses on the internet. I asked the young girl if she was excited to attend homecoming, and she resp...