The Blaine County School District provides trained mental health professionals (licensed social workers with Master's degrees) to support student academic, social and emotional success.  Their goal is to minimize or alleviate barriers that interfere with a student's education by providing a multitude of direct and indirect services to ALL students, families and school personnel.

What Social Workers Do

• Provide crisis intervention services for students and families.
• Provide group and individual counseling services for students to facilitate the educational process.
• Represent the schools on numerous community boards and committees such as the Children's Mental Health Alliance, Blaine County Community Drug Coalition, the BCSD Harassment Investigation Team, and CART (Child Abuse Response Team).
• Teach the Social Emotional Curriculum (SEL) on personal safety, harassment, bullying, problem solving, anger management, impulse control, friendship, stress management, and feelings to all students.
• Case-manage complex families to ensure utilization of needed services and coordination of effort.
• Serve on Building Support and Leadership Teams, act as 504 coordinators, and serve on Multidisciplinary Teams that make decisions regarding students of concern.
• Refer families to community agencies for material needs such as food, clothing and medical assistance; and consult and coordinate community agencies also working with students to ensure continuity in the student's overall program.
• Conduct needs assessments and obtain social and developmental histories in order to make the necessary recommendations concerning problem areas and interventions.
• Identify needs within the community and develop or collaborate with resources to meet such needs (e.g., Lunch Buddies, Attendance Court, Afterschool Clubs, Counseling, etc.).
• Conduct screenings to assess mental health needs or interpersonal problems that interfere with academic success, develop treatment plans/goals to address such needs, and coordinate service delivery.
• Promote active parental/guardian participation within the educational environment.
• Develop programs or systems of care that support and enhance the academic success, health, and the social and emotional well-being and safety of students.
• Respond to issues of neglect and maltreatment.
• Serve as the School Building Homeless Liaisons.

When to Seek Help

Students are referred to school social workers when they show signs of social or emotional difficulties that interfere with their adjustment and academic achievement in school, such as:

• They appear to have no friends.
• They do not work up to their known ability.
• They fail to do the required school work.
• They appear neglected, abused, or unhappy.
• They are disruptive to the school environment.
• They are frequently absent or tardy.
• They do not respect the rights of others.
• They regularly complain about not feeling well.
• They are excessively quiet, shy or withdrawn.

They lack problem solving and decision-making skills.

If problems persist over an extended period of time, and especially if others involved in the child's life are concerned, it may be helpful to consult with a child/adolescent specialist or other clinician trained to work with children. Remember: The frequency, duration and severity are often the difference between normal and problem behaviors.

RESOURCES

• Helping Children Cope with Loss, Death and Grief
• Adolescent Help Guidelines
• Blaine County Community Resource Manual
• Parent Education Links
• Protecting Your Child Online
• Social Emotional Learning Core Competencies
• Youth Suicide Parent Information
• Drug Coalition and Blaine County School District Share Results of Youth Survey