The newly formed IARP Social Media Task Force launched its first activity earlier this month with a
Facebook page officially endorsed by the association. The new task force consisting of a dozen IARP members has as its principal members students many of whom are new to the Association. The task force, headed by Kristi Miller, past president of IARP Alabama, also includes Katherine Dunlap, IARP director of marketing membership, Amy Vercillo another IARP board member with excellent credentials in social media and veteran forensic section member Paulette Freeman from IARP Nebraska.
When asked to comment on the future direction for the social media task force Michael Duncan of Winston-Salem State University made the following comments.
"First, let me thank you for allowing myself and other student members to join in on the discussion; this shows me that IARP truly is committed to our professional growth and education.
Some things that I would like to see happen for next steps in the social media process is concentrate on one outlet, develop it as a template for the local chapters, and make it the very best that it can be. So many times we try to "spread" ourselves, and resources too thin and often fall short of being the very best that we can be. Branding and consistency is the key to any successful organization. After all, if we go to a McDonalds in Taylorsville, NC and then visit one in Las Vegas, Nevada we expect the same menu items to be prepared the same way.
Next, I think that we are losing many of our students to other graduate programs due to the feeling of not being a relevant field to most younger people. They really don't understand what our profession is about or the many exciting paths they can choose. Most of the undergrads I have spoken with are in Rehab Studies because they could not get into programs like nursing, OT, PT, etc... I believe if we show them what the path of a lifetime looks like in pictures from real life experiences that it may spark a desire to "help" others and stay in the field.
I hope we follow through with a "member spotlight," or some other program to show what success can look like, how it was achieved, and how we can obtain that dream for ourselves. I feel that we all have much to learn from one another and the best way to do that is to "break the ice" and start a conversation with someone. What better way than to see the pathway of a lifetime right in front of our eyes through social media."
Marvin Bellows, a graduate student at University of North Texas offered his insights for this article. He said, in part, that "rehabilitation counseling in some states seems to be falling out of being a separate profession and is being picked up by Community or Mental Health Counselors. I hope that we can draw enough attention to the profession to keep this from becoming a trend, but it will be especially hard as CACREP takes on some of the primary roles in directing the professional identity and development of Rehabilitation Counselors.
The Facebook page was great; one of the main concerns that I have with the state specific pages is in carrying that brand forward. I think that we could do a lot with the "path" or "steps" theme. I know as a Texan I probably have a bit more in way of identification with my state, but I know that I would really attach to a state brand if the main image being used is one that is familiar to my state. For instance, Steps to the state capital building, one of the Dallas metro mix-masters, or something along those lines.
There was also some talk about using the Rehabilitation and Disability Case Management (RDCM) section of the IARP Connect as a springboard for showing professional involvement and career paths. As a student, I didn't sign up for the RDCM section because I'm not really all that interested in case management; I felt that having mentorship opportunities from the forensic side would be more valuable. I don't know how many other students selected the Forensic option for sub-group membership, but I think it may be a mistake to not address that group of people."
Marvin also suggests spotlight interview stories were mentioned, and I think that's a great idea, I'm just not entirely sure that keeping it relegated to text is the best path forward. Social work has two popular podcasts and just today one of those podcast's Facebook page linked to the new American Psychological Association Podcast. Counseling has a podcast, but Rehabilitation Counseling has been largely ignored by it. I even have a plan moving forward to develop a podcast series out of my university and should have a sample podcast made up by early spring. Perhaps this is something that IARP would be interested in being involved in, either directly or by serving as an intermediary contact for potential interviewees. "
In a posting to IARP Coffee Talk, Paulette Freeman made a strong pitch for members "input as to other ways or things that could be featured to stimulate activity, visits to the Facebook site and open the communication lines for everyone.We would love to have your discussion and ideas! If you are not on FB, you can access the IARP page through the IARP website."
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