School social workers an underutilized resource as mental health challenges in children sees increase

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Youth in America are experiencing a mental health crisis, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CDC reports that an increasing number of students are experiencing symptoms of hopelessness, depression, and anxiety, along with thoughts of self-harm.

One thing known to improve mental health among students is increased school connectedness—when students feel that the adults and peers in their school care about them as individuals in addition to their learning ability. Schools are working to improve their connectedness by adding social workers to their staff to help address the mental health concerns of students.

However, according to new research from The University of Texas at Arlington and Virginia Commonwealth University, many individual schools and districts are struggling with the best way to deploy these valuable resources so that students can benefit from their care. The study is published in the Journal of School Health.

"It's wonderful to see schools are taking student mental health seriously and adding social workers to help, knowing that improving mental health can improve learning outcomes, but our research shows that many districts are struggling on how to best use the valuable skills that social workers can provide," said Jennifer Murphy, lead author of the study and an assistant professor of social work at UTA.

The research team from UTA included Dr. Murphy, social work Assistant Professor Danielle Harrell, and Katherine Borge ('24, MSW), who was a graduate student at the time the research was completed.

"Right now, there is real confusion in many districts about the types of work school social workers can do," Murphy said. "In some schools, social workers are only used for activities such as eligibility assessment for special education services.

"But in other schools, we see social workers providing individual mental health counseling to students and their families. It's really all over the map how districts choose to employ social workers, and we're hearing that some districts are really struggling with the best implementation strategies."

Another challenge is that many administrators and families still don't realize that social workers are trained to provide mental health services.

"Although the specific roles can vary by state and by school district, the bottom line is that all school social workers are trained and degreed mental health professionals able to provide direct and indirect services to promote and support student well-being," Murphy said.

"Many people just don't realize that in many cases, social workers—both inside of schools and out—are trained professionals able to provide emotional health care to minors."

The good news for schools and districts, Murphy said, is that there are many resources that can provide best practice guidelines to help streamline the addition and ideal utilization of social workers into school settings. She recommends school professionals look to their state and national associations of school social workers for practice models that will best suit their needs for implementing social workers into learning environments.

More information: Jennifer Murphy et al, "We Want to be There to Support … Do We Have the Capacity to Do That?" Current Priorities and Challenges in School Social Work, Journal of School Health (2024). DOI: 10.1111/josh.13507

Provided by University of Texas at Arlington