First, the good news: After a long pandemic-driven period in which schools were shuttered and forced into a remote-teaching scenario, campuses have once again opened and students have returned to in-person learning.
Now, the bad news: That long, isolating lockdown period caused and exacerbated a myriad of social and mental health issues among the very students it was designed to protect, and they are now bringing those issues back to school where they are manifesting in troubling ways.
The solution: PESA has stationed social work interns on several physical campuses to bring critical services exactly where—and when—they’re needed.
“Mental-health issues and fighting on campuses have been a strong indicator of the need for service and support from PESA,” says Dr. Michael Johnson, PESA’s Director of Counseling/Intern Coordinator. So we’re stepping up.
By positioning social work interns on campuses, they are on-site and at the ready to provide counseling to students in need rather than waiting for a crisis to occur and having it referred for services after the fact. In addition to counseling, they are also providing skills training and scholastic tutoring.
“We have interns working on campuses throughout Los Angeles County,” says Johnson, “and several school districts are waiting in the wings for our services.”
And the successes are clear. For example, recently PESA social work interns have:
- Counseled a victim of a previous sexual assault who was experiencing a traumatic and triggering event at school. After working with the intern, this victim has opened up about her trauma and learned techniques to cope.
- Educated students on cultural sensitivity and cultural humility when inappropriate language towards ethnic groups were heard on campus. Now students have begun to correct themselves when accidentally using inappropriate language.
- Implemented to students evidence-based practices such as Practicing Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHS), which teach lessons on self-control, problem-solving, and coping skills in addition to aggression-replacement training for older, middle school students.
- Conducted group training on time-management skills and attendance to students who had contracted COVID after returning to campus and had to miss class time as a result; it will take a lot of these skills for these students to catch up.
“This is another example of how PESA is able to innovate, to identify a problem and
apply a proactive solution,” says Executive Director Seymour Amster. “Between implementing COVID protocols and simply just trying to get back up to speed, school administrators are overwhelmed and don’t have the budget or staff to address behavioral and mental health issues. So unless and until that situation changes, PESA is going to do whatever we can to help.” ■
If you’d like to support PESA’s many social and educational initiatives, please contact us