NASW-NC Executive Director Valerie Arendt advocates for school social workers in Press Conference

NASW-NC Executive Director Valerie Arendt spoke at a press conference on Wednesday advocating for funding for youth mental health services including more school social workers at a North Carolina Senate press conference.

Watch the full press conference here: https://www.facebook.com/100064305927306/videos/5507920295905704

Read NASW-NC's full comments here:

Hello, I am Valerie Arendt the Executive Director of the National Association of Social Workers North Carolina Chapter.

• Today, we are here to discuss the youth mental health crisis which has gone from bad to worse in North Carolina, where there are over 74,000 children with major depression who do not receive treatment.
• When a student is struggling with depression, or is in a mental health crisis, they can’t focus on school work.
• This is why school social workers and other mental health professionals are a critical part of our children’s schools. School social workers help students deal with a wide range of challenges such as failing grades, bullying, violence, chronic absenteeism and difficult home situations, and thoughts of suicide and other mental health issues.
• School social workers are trained and licensed professionals who provide a link between the home, school and community through support services that positively impact the development of the whole child.
• School social workers use crisis management expertise, clinical proficiency, and leadership skills and are uniquely positioned to assist all members of the educational community when a crisis occurs.
• School social workers are experts in research-based school discipline policy development that can increase school connectedness and decrease incidents of school violence.

And yet, North Carolina does not have enough school social workers helping our students and communities. The National Association of Social Workers recommends 1 school social worker for every 250 students. North Carolina’s current ratio is 1 school social worker to 1,584 students. Federal funding from COVID has helped reduce this ratio but we anticipate this funding will run out in 2024. North Carolina must keep as many school social workers as possible with recurring funds to increase this ratio.

• Students need trusted school social workers, school counselors, and school psychologists they can turn to. We are calling for funding statewide school mental health programs and increased funding for additional mental health professionals in schools.

Our children and schools need all the support they can get as mental health cases continue to rise. Governor Cooper has proposed $70,200,000 in funding for Specialized Instructional Support Personnel, including school social workers, to support student mental and physical health to fund more school support staff and the North Carolina State Board of Education voted to approve $15 million for school social workers as part of their legislative priorities.

It is imperative for North Carolina to provide funding for more school support staff such as school social workers as provided for in Senate Bill 807 the Student Mental Health Support Act and Senate Bill 835 A Sound Basic Education.

To learn about more bills filed this legislative session that benefit school social workers, view this Legislative Update from NASW-NC!