Unmotivated Students? Try This!
In my Facebook community for school social workers and mental health providers, I regularly ask what topic is most pressing in terms of their need for support in right. This past week, the resounding response was MOTIVATION.
As someone who has spoken, coached and trained on working with at-risk youth for years, and a self-professed lover of the ‘tough’ kids, it’s not uncommon to hear people talk about motivation. The typical assumption is that if kids were motivated they would be more engaged in lessons, take more responsibility for their actions and outcomes and even improve their behavior. Many times, this is not the case as the truth is kids are in fact very motivated, just not for or by the things associated with school.
But of course the current events of 2020 do add a twist to how the topic of motivation needs to be addressed. Self-motivation, or intrinsic motivation is absolutely still the goal, but for counselors who are tasked with tracking and addressing attendance or those who recognize non-compliance as a marker of a greater need, motivation is even more pressing. If the kids who desperately need mental health support won’t even engage in the only method we have, the results can be disastrous. I’ve seen several professionals note increases in suspected cases of depression and completed suicide rates.
Being trained in motivational interviewing years ago, and drawn to the coaching feel of the modality, I think the modality is incredibly underutilized in the school setting, so I shared my school based approach in this week’s video.
Also included in the video, which 3 questions are kids literally BEGGING for you to answer and how you can inject fun in even the most dull distance counseling session. Check the video below and get all the juicy details.
Resources mentioned in the video:
The FREE School Social Worker and Mental Health Provider Group
The School Based Session Planner (On Sale now for $7)