School Social Work
Overview
School Social Workers are trained mental health professionals who provide leadership and services to schools on multiple systems levels, including individual and group supports, policy and system improvements, and collaborations across systems. School social workers engage an ecological framework to remove barriers and improve the fit between a student and their many environments, both supporting environmental conditions that foster growth and development and expanding individual strengths. With a focus on relationship and community building, school social workers help students, families, colleagues, and systems leverage strengths, build resilience, and thrive.
School social workers take action to promote social justice and employ a trauma sensitive, culturally responsive lens to the work. Leaders in advocacy, ethical practice, collaboration, and innovation, school social workers maximize resources and create new coalitions. School social workers support the learning and growth of colleagues through training facilitation, coaching, and consultation. School social work interventions reduce barriers to learning, especially those that stem from outside the school building, enabling students to be physically, mentally, and emotionally present and ready to learn in the classroom.
Role in Schools
School Social workers are a link between the home, school and community in providing direct as well as indirect services to students, families and school systems to promote and support students' academic and social success. They help students assess strengths and needs to problem solve and remove barriers to learning, especially those that stem from outside of the school or arise from mental health challenges. School social workers have a specific ethical obligation to serve students from the most vulnerable, and marginalized groups. Their work includes providing related services for students with IEPs, conducting social developmental histories, and engaging families through home visits. School social workers act within and between multiple systems levels to provide a continuum of supports to students and systems with a focus on prevention and wellness promotion.
Some examples include:
· Individual - support, resource connection and referral related to mental health challenges, truancy, pregnancy, disabilities, identity, racism and oppression, out-of-home care, drug or alcohol use, family challenges, poverty and homelessness, delinquency, trauma, child abuse, human trafficking, crisis, advocacy, special education related services
· Group - grief and loss, trauma impacts, empowerment, leadership, students living with parental substance use or mental health challenges
· System - leaders, coaches, and advocates of school mental health system work, trauma sensitive schools including culturally responsive practices, compassion resilience for staff and organizations, whole-school attendance, behavior, and disciplinary practices, community collaborations, family engagement, pupil records and confidentiality, ethics and boundaries, and liaisons with professionals in child welfare and youth justice.