Here's why Corpus Christi, Alice ISDs are investing in school social workers

When clinical social worker Carmela Quintanilla began leaving her office door at Veterans Memorial High School open during lunchtime this year, students began trickling in.

Throughout the school year, an informal “lunch bunch” met almost every day.

“All of us have different backgrounds, different stories, but just kind of being able to relate with someone else that has the same issues as me and helping us cope together through those issues, it’s been really helpful,” freshman Alex Swan said.

Their conversations at times cover heavy topics, including grief, loss, relationships and family dynamics. But the students are also building friendships and eating together. In the spring, students covered Quintanilla’s wall with coloring pages.

The space offers support and stability, sophomore Cailyn Cruz said.

“You learn a lot about yourself,” junior Payton Merrill said.

The most recent Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control in 2021 found that more than 1 in 10 surveyed Texas high school students had been bullied electronically and reported being bullied at school.

Almost a third reported their mental health was not good at least most of the time, and 22% had seriously considered attempting suicide.

Texas law does not require social workers in public schools, and that leaves districts to decide how they staff social work teams. School social workers were rare in South Texas just a decade ago, one Kingsville educator said, but now many districts are seeing the value of including licensed social workers on staff.

Coastal Bend school social workers said they've seen an increased need for mental health services for students, in part because of the long-term fallout of the pandemic. Students benefit when schools add these kinds of professionals, they said.

“We have a lot of kids that walk these halls that we don’t know what emotional state that they’re in,” Quintanilla said.

The need for school social workers

Texas A&M University-Kingsville offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in social work. Assistant professor of practice Crystal Garcia works to place social work interns in school districts across the Coastal Bend.

Garcia said that in the school setting, students struggle to develop coping skills and navigate through stressors and traumas.

Social workers can provide emotional support and serve as a liaison between schools, communities and families, Garcia said. They can figure out the root of a problem and help families find a solution, Garcia said.

If a student is missing class, a social worker might be able to find out if there’s a problem at home or if the child needs transportation, Garcia said.

Social workers can also help if a student is struggling with suicidal ideation or self-harm, domestic violence, sexual assault or if a student has experienced or witnessed something traumatic.

Giving a specific example, Garcia said that after a mother and her children died in a fatal car accident in one rural community, social workers from other area school districts offered their assistance, joining together to provide crisis support to students.

Outside of school walls, school social workers might go on home visits to connect with families.

The exact role of a school social worker varies by district, depending on the needs of the community and the district's staffing capabilities.

“The ultimate goal is you want to get whatever social emotional issues (students) are dealing with and help them get that taken care of or stabilized so that they can be effective in the classroom,” Garcia said.

Corpus Christi ISD and Gregory-Portland ISD are two districts that have brought in social workers in recent years. Beginning earlier, Alice ISD has a social worker on every campus in the district.

Alice ISD

When she was growing up, Nadia Moreno felt like there wasn’t anyone to help her. She was a dropout and a teen parent from Alice ISD.

Eventually she earned a Ph.D. in social work, aiming to work with families who had backgrounds similar to hers.

Moreno, a licensed clinical social worker, was the first social worker Alice ISD brought on in 2009. She currently serves as the district’s director of the school climate transformation grant and social work.

Today, Alice ISD has one social worker at each elementary school campus and two social workers each at the middle and high schools.

“Our counselors are the first line of defense,” Moreno said. “The beauty of that is our social workers and our school counselors work together to meet student needs.”

Moreno said that if a staff member sees a student in need, a social worker will step in, assess the situation, connect with the family and provide counseling services.

Moreno said that in one case, a student lost a parent and their family was having difficulties getting food and other necessities. An Alice ISD social worker helped them get food and clothes.

"There are times when there’s a student who just is not doing well in class and we come to find out that it’s because they don’t have running water or they don’t have food,” Moreno said. “We need to fill those gaps and meet those needs before they can even be able to concentrate in class.”

The district is opening up a food pantry, and also offers telehealth services.

“I think sometimes people don’t realize that we’re actually here to advocate for the students and the parents,” Moreno said. “Sometimes I think people hear the word 'social work' and they immediately think something negative. But we want our community to know that we’re here to help them.”

Gregory-Portland ISD

Gregory-Portland ISD currently has three licensed social workers serving six campuses. The district started with one, Jessica Rombs, in 2019, and has added two more since 2020.

The social workers provide counseling and small group support, engage with community partners and manage a clothing closet.

The district saw the benefits of social workers in other districts, spokesperson Crystal Matern said. Having a social worker on staff allows schools to assist students without relying only on referrals to outside resources.

Rombs and the other social workers are in regular contact with other area social workers, who meet virtually regularly to collaborate and discuss ideas.

For the Gregory-Portland ISD community, the district holds monthly parent meetings throughout the school year on Facebook Live. Previous programs have focused on substance abuse, suicide awareness and mental health.

The district plans to renovate a maintenance and transportation center to serve as a family resource center.

Corpus Christi ISD

Corpus Christi ISD reorganized mental health services three years ago. The district split the mental health and guidance counseling into two offices, introducing social workers to the district under the new mental health office.

The district now has three licensed clinical social workers, one licensed professional counselor associate and 11 licensed master social workers, as well as master social worker student interns. The staff members handle thousands of referrals each year in a district with more than 33,000 students.

In 2021-2022, the team received 2,011 referrals over the course of the entire year. But during the first semester alone in 2022-2023, it received 1,875 – more than double the amount received in the fall of 2021 and not too far short of the annual total.

When Iyescas briefed the CCISD board of trustees on mental health services in May, her most up-to-date total of referrals, counted in April, was 3,151.

Mental health referrals increased from 150 in 2021-2022 to about 1,000 the next year. Mental health referrals could include anxiety and depression, or as far as suicidal ideation or self-harm.

This trend included increases in all types of referrals – abuse and neglect, academics, bullying, family dynamics, grief and loss, impulsive behavior, juvenile delinquency, mental health and threat of harm to others.

Iyescas said that this increase in referrals is due in part to greater awareness among staff, teachers and parents of the work that the team can do. Counselors refer students to the social work team.

“Another really heavy aspect to it is our kids are still suffering from the pandemic,” Iyescas said. “They experienced so much loss during that time – family members, friends, financial stability, social opportunities and academic opportunities – and they’re reeling from that loss.”

The team delivered more than 4,300 direct student interactions, which include counseling sessions individually and in groups, and more than 5,100 indirect student interactions, which include informal check-ins with students.

Across the district, social workers run a wide variety of groups, including anger management, social skills, coping and anxiety, and female empowerment groups. In the future, the district plans to hold groups on dating violence, violence prevention and drug prevention.

The district also meets student needs through a backpack program and mobile food pantry partnership with Coastal Bend Food Bank and the district Caring Corner, which offers clothing, school supplies and hygiene supplies.

Social workers in CCISD don’t provide therapy, but they can refer students in need of therapeutic services to outside sources.

“Our main goal is to provide short term solution-focused counseling,” Iyescas said.

In addition to the social workers on staff, Corpus Christi ISD also partners with outside organizations to provide services. Texas Child Health Access Through Telemedicine, which has a presence at every CCISD middle and high school, offers therapeutic sessions to students with the highest need for mental health care.

Mental health specialists from Driscoll Children’s Hospital provide individual, group and family therapy at Moody High School and Mireles, Montclair, Shaw, Berlanga and Travis elementary schools through a three-year grant.

The district is also working with School-Based Healthcare Solutions Network Inc. to place a mental health professional at each CCISD middle school campus to provide therapy through a five-year grant.

Currently, the district has one SBHSN mental health professional at Cunningham Middle School at South Park, providing therapeutic services to 50 students. But the other positions were not filled this year.

To address high caseloads, the team is focusing more on group work next year. Iyescas told the board in May that she would like to see a bigger team.

In 2023, the CCISD team plans to increase trainings for families and deliver programs for students on drug prevention, dating violence and violence prevention; seek grant funding for additional mental health support; build community partnerships; and collaborate with universities to provide training opportunities for social work students.

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This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: How Corpus Christi ISD, Coastal Bend social workers meet student needs