Now, more than ever, our schools need qualified and trained school-based mental health practitioners to help turn the tide of the youth mental health crisis and confront the educational disparities impacting our students.
Through the WSW Initiative, we are making a case for school social workers as one of the solutions schools and districts can capitalize on to make change. Washington ranks in the lowest tier among states for youth mental health (Mental Health America, 2022) and has approximately one school social worker for every
12,000 students (less than 1/50th of the recommended level). By training the next generation of school social workers, we will transform the approach to school mental health with qualified practitioners equipped with current evidence-based practices.
Our vision is a four-part change strategy starting with recruiting diverse candidates in a school behavioral health career pathway using conditional scholarships. Next, we will educate school social work graduate candidates and their internship supervisors in evidence-based practices and systems-wide implementation strategies relevant to school-based mental health. We will then support these same school social work candidates in receiving their ESA and hours towards licensure. Finally, we will work
to retain candidates in school-based mental health positions through advocacy and legislative efforts. See below for our model for change in greater detail.
Click on image below for larger view of our concept model:
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