(Media release from Rome City Schools, GA):
Rome City Schools has officially entered into an agreement with Kennesaw State University to help bring mental health professionals into local schools to help deal with rising anxiety, depression, and other adverse mental health effects in students.
“We are pleased to be able to be a part of this program with Kennesaw State University,” Rome Superintendent Dr. Eric L. Holland said. “We want to make sure all of our students get a great education, but we also want to make sure they are healthy and have good mental well-being. This initiative is going to add even more resources to help with that for Rome City Schools.”
An interdisciplinary team headed by Monica Nandan, director of strategic partnerships and social impact in Kennesaw State’s Wellstar College of Health and Human Services, has been awarded a $4.45 million grant by the U.S. Department of Education.
Faculty from the Wellstar College and the Bagwell College of Education will collaborate on the project to bring Master of Social Work students and specially trained student teachers into Georgia public schools in Bartow, Floyd, Gordon, Paulding, and Polk counties, as well as provide specialized intervention training to teachers and school-based police officers there.
Nandan said high poverty rates in the project area, along with other stressors exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, have meant a rising level of anxiety, depression, and other adverse effects on the mental health of students. The limited numbers of school psychologists and counselors are not enough to meet all student needs, she said.
“School social workers are needed to do things that psychologists and counselors don’t do – help connect students and their families to community resources,” Nandan said. “They handle referrals to community resources, addressing the needs of students’ families, who may have endured layoffs or other issues. Anything that affects a child’s life – that is affecting them academically – the social workers can help.”
Over five years, 50 Master of Social Work students and 80 student teachers will be trained to serve students in public schools in the target counties. The participating social work students will sign a commitment to work at least one year after graduation in one of the five school districts, or with a social service agency that serves children within the five-county project area. In addition, Kennesaw State educators will provide mental health training to teachers and school-based police officers in the five counties twice a year.
The members of the project team and their school system partners are recruiting Master of Social Work students now who will intern in the school systems starting in August. Next spring, they will begin recruiting student teachers to pair with the social work students beginning in August 2024.
“The student social workers and student teachers will work as a team to identify students with needs and connect them to community resources that can help. The goal is to establish a pipeline of trained professionals to work in interprofessional dyads and teams, with enough traction to continue after the five-year project period,” Nandan said.
