Every school district is feeling the pain of soaring student mental health issues: declining academic performance, disruptive classroom behavior, and an enormous burden on school staff. Some districts are trying to solve the problem by placing more social workers as mental health counselors in schools. Unfortunately, that isn’t likely to help.
A licensed clinician can accomplish more than a school social worker or school mental health counselor because they have the time and expertise to help struggling students succeed. Simply put, a school social worker or school mental health counselor can’t do the job of a clinician.
Here’s how a clinician differs from a school social worker, and how you can hire a skilled mental health clinician without breaking your budget.
What’s the difference between a licensed clinician and a school social worker?
There’s a big difference in the qualifications, expertise, and responsibilities of a school social worker vs. a mental health clinician. Here’s what you need to know.
Role of a Mental Health Clinician vs. School Social Worker
School social worker: Their focus is on the management of IEPs for special education students. That includes annual IEP development, evaluations, observations, child study team meetings, and paperwork. School social workers are also heavily involved in litigation cases when parents sue school districts to have their children placed in out-of-district programs. While some may have the desire to do so, social workers have little time to provide mental health counseling.
Mental health clinician: Their focus is on counseling students experiencing mental health issues that affect their ability to succeed in school. They also work with families, help school staff to manage classroom behavior issues, and implement clinical best practices that increase academic achievement (such as school refusal intervention).
Licensure, Training, and Experience
School social worker: Most school social workers hold an MSW degree but hold no license. They have received some mental health training in college, but they have no clinical counseling experience.
Mental health clinician: Most hold a LCSW license, which requires years of therapeutic experience counseling children and teens in clinical settings. Their training includes evidenced-based counseling techniques such as CBT, DBT, person-centered, motivational interviews, and art & play therapies.
Requirements and Restrictions
School social worker: As a union employee, school social workers must adhere to all teacher contract prescriptions including number of students, non-contact time, prep time, start & end times, and assigned lunch periods.
They can work only with students who have IEPs and must follow CST-prescribed processes and timelines. They often are assigned caseloads of 45-60 students at a time. These requirements make it nearly impossible for social workers to effectively counsel students in crisis.
Mental health clinicians: They typically work as non-union contractors, so they have more flexible schedules and no restrictions for prep time or non-contact time. They can start early or work late, so they are available to make home visits or calls outside of school hours.
Caseloads for clinicians are much lower so they can spend more time helping students when they need it, whether that’s multiple counseling sessions per week or a drop-in session when a crisis happens. They can take the time to find the “why” which is essential to improvement. Clinicians can also work with general education students.
Supervision:
School social worker: Educational administrators, not mental health professionals, supervise school social workers. This leaves the social workers without expert advice and guidance in difficult or emergency situations.
Mental health clinicians: Because they work as contractors, mental health clinicians may have supervision by both educators and by other experienced mental health professionals. Thrive’s school mental health counselors are licensed clinicians who receive ongoing supervision from our Clinical Director and other experts. They get the support they need to make the right strategic and tactical decisions and provide care for the specific needs of each student.
IMPORTANT: Mental health clinicians may not have this type of support if they work for a placement firm as opposed to a company specializing in mental health services for schools. It’s smart to check into this before hiring someone.
Finding the Funds for Mental Health Clinicians in Schools
Have I convinced you of the need to hire a licensed clinician instead of a school mental health counselor or social worker? I’m guessing that your next concern is how you will find the money in your budget.
There’s an easy way. Take a look at all the money you’re spending to place struggling students in expensive out-of-district therapeutic programs. Chances are, it’s millions of dollars. Are there students you could bring back to the district if you had a clinical mental health expert who could work closely with them?
If you can return even one student to their home district, you can use the savings to pay for a school mental health clinician. That person can provide essential services to a larger group of students, while also supporting your staff and even providing mental health education to elevate the climate and culture of your school community.
These changes feed on themselves and drive real, measurable change.
Want to know more about how this works, and how to get started with school-based mental health services? Contact Thrive today.