esa BEHAVIORAL HEALTH COALITION - WASSW IN ACTION!

What is the ESA Behavioral Health Coalition?
At the close of the legislative session last spring, our board members made meaningful contacts with representatives of the school psychologists, school counselors and school nurses association and together we created the first ESA Behavioral Health Coalition of Washington.  As we know, there are distinctive and overlapping roles within our professions and as a result we created a document that illustrates our work at the tier 1, 2 and 3 level.  As a group, we’ve come together for four meetings to work on a model where all of our roles play a critical role in addressing student health and wellness.

What have we done?
Our ESA coalition met with members at OSPI including deputy superintendant Gil Mendoza to begin the conversation about this important work.  Each group was tasked with surveying our membership to discover how we are being utilized across the state.  We intend to share this data that fully integrates all roles.  We are searching for a multi-disciplinary model at districts across the US that have effectively integrated all of these roles to show improved student outcomes.  If you know of any examples, please contact Carrie Syvertsen.
 
School Social Worker Survey Results
We also conducted a survey to get a better picture of our school social workers.  73 people responded and participated.  Here is some preliminary data:

• Total number of districts represented = 36.
• 89% have their ESA School Social Work.  11% have their ESA counseling.
• 34% have the title School Social Worker; 27% have the title school counselor.  39% have an array of titles.
• 85% are paid on the certificated level
• 80% are 1.0 FTE
• 59% work with K-5; 14% work with 6-8; 27% work with 9-12
• F/L rate: 49% work with populations with 50% or more on F/R lunch
• 50% are paid by 100% gen-ed funds; 12% are paid by 100% SPED funds; 7% by discretionary building based funds; 8% through grants; 23% are a combination of multiple sources.
• 64% respondents serve 1 building; 19% serve 2 buildings; 16% ranged from 3 to 46 buildings.
• For all questions relating to our national model, respondents answered YES 70% or more on all 13 questions.

 We continue to analyze our data and will work collaboratively within the coalition to promote our profession.  Together, we plan to present at various conferences in 2016 including school principals and school superintendents, among others.

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