What School-Based Social Workers Do

• Assessing students’ biopsychosocial well-being The biopsychosocial approach attends to an individual in their fullest context: biological, mental, and relational. This holistic model allows school social workers to treat students and promote their well-being in multidimensional ways.
• Evaluate students’ most pressing challenges and identify viable treatment strategies Today’s students face exceptional social forces threatening their educational success, from the availability of harmful substances to the prevalence of bullying (in person and online). School social workers assess students at risk and, as needed, design and implement treatment to increase their self-determination.
• Make home visits Observing the student’s natural environment firsthand is critical to any accurate evaluation of the student’s needs. Domestic conditions and family dynamics shape not only how the student behaves and performs at school but also what interventions social workers can implement and what services they will seek to make available. Whether to find out why a student is chronically absent or to open lines of communication with families, home visits are central.
• Provide case management services School social workers learn and navigate often complex networks of school and community resources and supports. They refer students and their families to other agencies and collaborate with other professionals to ensure students’ physical, mental, emotional, and social needs do not go unmet. They monitor how the service packages they arrange perform, making adjustments as needed.
• Facilitate student and family access to financial and healthcare assistance programsUpon referral, school-based social workers can help students and their families avail themselves of wraparound programs to meet essential such concrete needs as food, clothing, medical care, and economic assistance. The social worker is the essential link between the school and outside sources of support.
• Deliver direct support and therapy to students One-on-one, in small groups, and with families, school social workers counsel students who face mental health challenges, adverse circumstances, and other barriers to their educational progress. Self-care and problem-solving skills, mastering social skills, regulating emotion in healthy and constructive ways, and setting positive goals may all receive attention in therapy sessions.
• Stage crisis interventions School social workers can deliver physical and psychological aid to students in emergencies and extremely adverse circumstances. They can help students exposed to violence at school or at home, for instance, or who struggle with suicidal or homicidal ideation. Social workers can also support the whole school community after campus violence or other disasters, assessing individuals’ safety and nurturing resilience.
• Educate and train others in the value of school social work Through workshops for school administrators, in-service training for teachers and staff, and direct consultation with parents and families, school-based social workers promote a better understanding of their role and skills.

School-Based Social Workers and the Multidisciplinary Team

Education and Training School-Based Social Workers Need