Introduction to Human Services Unit 9 Dawn Burgess, Ed. D

 School social workers date back to the late 1800’s.  They were called: Visiting Teachers, Home Visitors, Special Visitors, and Visiting Social Counselors.  By the 1940’s these positions began to specialize in more social work type jobs and broke apart from the teaching positions.  National Association of School Social Workers emerged

 What do school social workers/counselors do?

 Counseling on school campuses is conducted by 3 types of professionals: ◦ School Social Workers – typically MSW trained ◦ School Counselors – have a MA in school counseling and a background in teaching ◦ School Psychologists – have a Master’s or Doctorate in school psychology and are trained to conduct specialized educational testing

 Perform a variety of tasks: ◦ Assist children in managing any psychosocial issues that are creating a barrier to learning ◦ Work to develop, enhance, or maintain a close working relationship between student families and the school ◦ May work with general school population or with the Special Education department ◦ Work with multidisciplinary team to develop IEP ◦ Provides individual and/or group counseling, case management, crisis intervention, and education

 The struggle to define roles and responsibilities  Overlaps with the role of School Social Worker  Deals more with academic concerns and career guidance.  School Psychologist  A Nation at Risk (1983) and No Child Left Behind Act (2001) helped increase funding in school district’s budgets for school counseling.

 The “Achievement Gap” between the urban youth and the suburban youth.  Urban youth are far more likely to ◦ Drop out of school ◦ Fail to meet the minimum standard on national standardized test ◦ Have issues with excessive absenteeism There is also a big concern about obtaining and retaining qualified teachers in urban schools.

 All human service workers (social workers, counselors and psychologist) will encounter similar issues while working in public schools.  According to NIMH (1999) approximately 3% of children and 8% of adolescents suffer from depression  HSW must be trained to know what to look for and when a student’s mental health problem has evolved beyond the services the school can provide  There is a limit to the amount of mental health services that a school can provide to its students

 The Human Service Professional must evaluate anything that might be contributing to the student’s mental health status.  The student’s relationships with peers, family members and teachers must be evaluated.  Human Service Professionals must look at the entire context within which the student is operating. What does that mean?

 Human service professionals must advocate for diverse students. The student who does not “fit in” is vulnerable to bullying.  Human service professionals can assist teachers and administrators in recognizing and addressing discrimination and prejudices.  Assist with cultural diversity training  Develop culture competencies among counselors and other human service professionals.

 Students that are questioning their sexuality or are among the group of sexual minorities are often the victims of physical and verbal violence.  They feel different and isolated.  High rate of suicide  75% admit to being verbally abused and 15% admit to being physically abused.

 Students were very fearful after September 11 th  Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)  Vicarious Victimization  Students symptoms included: fear, worry, anxiety, sadness, anger and aggression.  Human service workers need to be trained to be responsive in the event of a future attack and need to be sensitive to the needs of students that still feel fearful in wartime.

 Continues to be a growing problem across US  Mostly found in high schools, but is present in middle schools as well  Human service professionals need to be able to identify signs of substance abuse and be prepared with the knowledge to intervene properly.  Awareness of outside referral sources  A systems perspective

 Mandated reporters of child abuse and neglect  Often have to determine if a call needs to be made to Child Protective Services  Disclosure  Compassion, support and encouragement  Promises should not be made – be VERY careful of statements like “It will be OK.”

 Rates have been on the decline, but it is still a serious concern.  Research on prevention points to: ◦ Religiosity ◦ Peer influence ◦ Appropriate parental supervision ◦ Good and direct parental communication ◦ SES ◦ Race ◦ Involvement in sports

 Referral for evaluation and assessment  Largest referrals coming from schools ◦ Larger class size ◦ Disruption  Significant challenges in the classroom  Classroom management  Human service professionals need to advocate for these kids.

 This is our final seminar….  What questions or concerns do you have to share with me?  The final deadline for all work is_____  Please remember that while I have been flexible all term with due dates, I cannot be with this final date. All work, the final project and all late work, must be turned in by midnight, _______.