What follows is our recruitment materials for our “School Social Work Practice During a Pandemic Survey Project”. Please consider sharing your perspective on how your SSW practice has been impacted by the COVID-19 crisis

Psst… I have a confession to make… “I am a social worker and I am not always great at self-care.” Then I asked myself… what would I tell one of my students or colleagues if they said that? It was then that I experienced an “aha” moment: I am NOT doing a great job taking care of myself right now!

Being a school social worker during this pandemic can feel torturous when you’re unable to be a physical presence for students who have relied on that rapport. In the mix of all the triage, supervisors are still trying to figure out how to support the next generation of school social workers and many of our interns are feeling worried about their preparedness.

Schools are truly a sacred space- a space where students can feel safe, heard, cared for, and valued. Schools are so much more than an education, state tests, and homework- they are a labor of love, they are a village of adults, students, and families coming together from all walks of life.

Amanda Trerotola, BSW student, Ohio State University, shares a research brief of an article describing the evidence for an innovative treatment for young people who have experienced sexual abuse–animal-assisted therapy.

The opening quotation from one of the co-authors, Laura Porter, must now be seen as a case of misplaced confidence, and a stark reminder that researchers cannot know in advance precisely how any work they produce might be (mis)used or (mis)interpreted. In the case of the ACEs model and in particular its main methodological feature - the ‘ACE score’ - the authors are unequivocal that it should only be used for the purposes for which it was created, and that misusing ACE studies or the ACE score can have seriously harmful consequences.