School Social Worker (Social Work, MSW)

Jessie Grosz, Waterloo Catholic District School Board

By: Samara Joseph, Outreach & Support Peer

While it’s common for students to feel uncertain about their future after graduation, Jessie was never one of them - she always knew she wanted to be a social worker. As the daughter of a teacher, Jessie entertained the idea of an education-related career, but social work always called to her as she was keen on pursuing roles where she could support vulnerable populations and address mental health issues. Social work offered the best pathway given the diverse array of helping-related roles that studying social work could open doors to across clinical, community, and advocacy settings.

Jessie attended the Bachelor of Social Work program at Toronto Metropolitan University, where her placements included working with younger ages. With the Children’s Aid Society (CAS), Jessie acquired a great amount of knowledge and experience with the impacts of trauma and the resiliency of children and youth who are part of the child welfare system. CAS is where she met one of her many mentors that made a strong impact on her career. This mentor espoused such a positive mindset and genuine care for others, instilling in Jessie a hopeful perspective that stood out as especially inspiring within the demanding and complex field of child protection.

Following her BSW graduation, Jessie first began working at CAS as an Adoption Worker, then as a Supervised Access Worker, and a Children in Care Worker. Each role provided a different lens into the complexities and challenges that families and children face in the child welfare system. As an Adoption Worker, Jessie met with prospective adoptive parents, providing information and assessment to determine suitability for children in the care of CAS seeking a permanent home. As a Supervised Access Worker, Jessie facilitated visits between parents and their children who were placed in foster care as a way of providing information to determine a permanency plan for the child. Lastly, as a Children Service Worker, Jessie provided direct emotional and behavioral support to the youth on her caseload, ensuring their personal and social development. However, due to the workload and possible burnout, she questioned whether she wanted to remain in this line of work.

Seeking new opportunities and direction, Jessie completed her Master of Social Work from Laurier where she then began working with the Waterloo Catholic District School Board as an Attendance Counsellor, which eventually grew into a combined School Social Worker position.

Life as a School Social Worker entails providing mental health support to students through brief intervention, education, collaboration with parents/caregiver, school staff and community agencies. This role includes meetings with students, parents, and service providers, or drafting documents regarding client information, progress notes, or any communication. Through her daily tasks, Jessie also makes phone calls and referrals, and has meetings with other social workers for discussion or reference. Common issues that Jessie provides support for include mental health that is impacting school, crisis intervention, transitions from outside programs to school, grief and loss, violent threat assessments and school attendance. With each student referral, an assessment is made to determine what type of service would be most beneficial. Common community referrals include counselling, ongoing mental health programs, crisis services, mental health and addiction nurses, alternative school programs and addiction services. Some common issues faced by youth in education include the growing food and housing insecurities, and the long wait times for accessing community mental health services, including lower cost counselling. School Social Workers support students by advocating for services and providing brief counselling while they wait to be connected to services in the community. Jessie mentions how having great relationships with her coworkers and being a part of a team brings excitement and support to her job. Also meeting students is one of her favourite parts, as she wishes she could do it even more.

As a School Social Worker, Jessie is regulated by both the Education Act and by the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers. Within the education system, School Social Workers face unique challenges with respect to many issues, one of which is obtaining consent. Under the Education Act, consent must be obtained by the parent for any student under the age 18, however in many mental health community programs, the age of consent is 12 years old. This can create challenges when a student is seeking Social Work support, when a parent is not consenting. Jessie navigates this and other discrepancies within the two regulator bodies with ongoing supervision and peer consultation/discussion with other School Social Workers on her team. Another challenge within Jessie’s job is keeping up with the workload demands, including a high caseload, being assigned to multiple schools, and the limited time to complete required documentation.

Jessie encourages students interested in entering any type of helping profession to seek out opportunities for related volunteering or work to really give yourself a chance to immerse yourself in a helping role and test whether it is a fit for you. Seeking out conversations with those working in related positions can also be particularly helpful for gaining insight into the realities of the field.