Navigating the Complexities of Student Services: Leadership for Counselors & Social Workers
Written by: Melissa Patchett
For as long as I can remember the role of a school counselor and a school social worker have been interchangeable. The only consistency I have seen is the prioritizing of school counselors at the high school level, unlike the lower levels where I have seen many different structures and combinations of school counselors and school social workers. This can be boiled down to two reasons: funding limitations to staff both positions and/or a misunderstanding of the two positions and how they function. While my background is in school counseling, my experience as a leader of both school counselors and school social workers has given me a deep appreciation of the importance and need of both roles. Through this lens, I acknowledge there are challenges to collaboration: too much overlap can lead to ineffectiveness of both roles while too little can lead to silos and duplicity. To effectively lead a team of school counselors and school social workers, it is important to tease apart how the roles are separate and similar while establishing clear boundaries with cross-training as appropriate, all while aligning around a shared vision.
Separate
School Counselors are equipped to support students within the three domains of school counseling: academic, career, and social-emotional learning. They are a resource available to all students, a tier 1 intervention at heart. If additional interventions are needed, they are typically the source of referral, often referring to the school social worker. They are governed by school counseling ethics and school counseling standards and competencies, and their focus is largely on the school environment and student success within the school environment. Whereas, school social workers are equipped to support families both within and without the school environment; their work often expands beyond school walls to address broader social issues such as poverty, abuse, and neglect. They often serve as the connection between the school, the family, and the community. Since they are typically a tier 2 or tier 3 intervention, they often have smaller caseloads. Lastly, school social workers are governed by social work ethics, and school social work standards; it is important to familiarize yourself with both social work ethics and standards as well as school counseling ethics and standards if you are leading these professionals.
“Both positions are school service or student service personnel with a focus on advocacy and student wellbeing.”
Similar
Both positions are school service or student service personnel with a focus on advocacy and student wellbeing. The roles are meant to be collaborative with teachers, administrators, and families to help remove barriers to learning often in the realm of behavior and mental health. Both receive education and training in counseling theories and provide individual, group, and crisis counseling, though often the duration of counseling differs. Both engage in preventative work by promoting mental health, positive behavior, and academic success. And confidentiality is an ethical practice both abide by.
“Clear Is Kind”
Brene’ Brown says it best: “Clear is kind.” In order to set up a team of school counselors and school social workers for success, you must be clear about their roles and responsibilities. The work we do to support our students is too important to leave room for defensiveness or turf wars. As a leader, make it clear so there is no confusion for either position. Both roles are equally important and both roles are equally necessary; however, both roles must function independently of each other to provide a full continuum of care for students. Assuming you are lucky enough to fund and hire both positions, common practice would be for school counselors to focus on tier 1 interventions through classroom lessons and school-wide programming and school social workers to support tier 2 and tier 3 students. Another common practice is for school counselors to focus on the academic and career domains and school social workers to focus on social and family issues. However, it is necessary that there are areas of collaboration and consultation. Cross-training is highly recommended for both supporting each other and fostering mutual respect and understanding. Additionally, open communication between the positions is crucial for accomplishing the shared vision of the team: supporting students’ overall wellbeing and success.
“Both roles are equally important and both roles are equally necessary; however, both roles must function independently of each other to provide a full continuum of care for students.”
As leaders we must advocate for both the school counselor and school social work positions as distinct yet complementary, as separate and similar; we cannot provide a full continuum of care to students without both positions. And when we are done advocating to appropriately staff our schools, we must lead these student services teams with intentionality and purpose. Use the shared vision to reinforce the clear boundaries so we can do more good for more students, and use the clear boundaries to identify gaps. For example, if both are supporting tier 2 and tier 3 students, there is a clear gap in tier 1 support for all students. Students suffer and staff feel inefficient when we are unclear. Clear is kind.
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