The Center for Restorative Change and partners will recruit, train, and develop social work students from diverse backgrounds to become school-based mental health service providers.
Photo: Wendy Shaia, executive director of the Center for Restorative Change, speaks during the Aug. 24 news conference outside the School of Social Work.
The University of Maryland School of Social Work’s (UMSSW) Center for Restorative Change held a news conference on Thursday, Aug. 24, announcing a $5.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The grant will fund the expansion of training for school-based mental health service providers to address the critical issue of limited access to quality providers in high-need school districts in Central Maryland.
The Center for Restorative Change, formerly known as the Social Work Community Outreach Service, has partnered with Coppin State University and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) to lead the recruitment, training, and development of 105 social work students per year from diverse backgrounds that reflect the communities, identities, ethnicities, abilities, and cultures of the students in our partner schools. The goal is to hire these students as school-based mental health providers to increase access to and the quality of mental health services for students attending our partner schools.
According to an article on the National Public Radio website, a 2020 study from the Council on Social Work found that nearly 60 percent of social workers in the U.S. are white. The study also found that students who earned a master’s degree in social work had 50 percent more student debt than students 10 years prior.
“The school-based mental health fellows will reflect the community identities, ethnicities, racial makeup, and abilities and cultures of the students in the schools in which they will work,” said Adrienne Ekas, PhD, MSW, assistant dean of social work at UMBC.
Read the full NPR article here.
Watch the full news conference here.