Day of training teaches students to use digital mental health screening and implement restorative justice principles in school settings.
New York, NY – “We want to prepare our students to be innovative thinkers about improving school social work practice,” said Dr. Gabriella McBride, DSW ’23, Project Director of our School Social Work Training Academy (SSWTA). “How can the practice of school social work shift from being reactive to preventative? How can it address mental health challenges as early as possible to potentially interrupt future severe mental health diagnoses, suicidality, or self harm risk?” Ultimately, the SSWTA aims to develop the best trained school social work interns and professionals to positively impact youth and families within the communities that need it most.
Toward that end, the SSWTA held a day-long training on innovations and interventions in school social work practice before the start of spring semester classes.
In the day’s first session, futuresTHRIVE founder Wendy Ward taught students to use her company’s TweenScreenTM app for early identification of children’s mental health needs and strengths. The AI-powered, gamified platform for youth ages 9-16 engages kids in sharing their thoughts and feelings, even when they have a limited emotional vocabulary.
With iPads earmarked for the SSWTA and individual one-year subscriptions, all of which were funded by school benefactors Dr. Constance and Martin Silver, the students learned to take, administer and interpret results from the screening tool. Although most schools currently use paper-based, social-emotional screening tools, Dr. McBride said that the SSWTA wants students to know about digital mental health screening tools that can potentially accelerate assessment and interventions. “We’re putting our students at the cutting edge so they will be ready to implement what they’ve learned if and when such screening apps are adopted by the schools they work in.”
The second part of the training focused on opportunities to apply principles that promote community building, healing and accountability in schools. It built on an introductory training that the SSWTA engaged in to start the academic year. Guided virtually by L’Tomay Varlack-Butler, Shelby Demby and D’Ajani Varlack-Butler from Worth Justice and in-person by Dr. Richleen Dashield and Ashley Du from Silver’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, students collectively explored what such approaches can look like in school social work practice. They then broke into smaller groups to tackle a case study, proposing small, sustainable changes to address a common school-based scenario.
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Linda Lausell Bryant shared with students that she had visited a school earlier in the day that has a strong social emotional commitment and approach. “It really makes a difference in the way that school is operated and in the experience that students are having,” she said. “I want to say thank you to all of you for signing up to be part of that workforce. I believe it is going to transform education in New York City and beyond.”
About NYU Silver School of Social Work
Founded in 1960 and renowned for a strong tradition of excellence in direct social work practice and dedication to social justice, NYU Silver has provided rigorous training to more than 20,000 social work practitioners and leaders in every area of the field, making it the leading destination for students who want to become innovative practitioners at the micro, mezzo, and macro levels of social work practice. The School has four campuses in the heart of New York City, Rockland County, Westchester County, and Shanghai.