North Carolina Public Schools - School Social Work September Update
North Carolina Public Schools sent this bulletin at 09/13/2023 12:50 PM EDT
 |
 |
National Suicide Prevention Month
 |
September was first declared as National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month in 2008. Since then, September has been a time to acknowledge those affected by suicide, raise awareness, and connect individuals with suicidal ideation to treatment services. According to the CDC, each year more than 41,000 individuals die by suicide, leaving behind friends and family members to navigate the tragedy of their loss. Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death among adults in the U.S. and the 2nd leading cause of death among people aged 10-24 and these rates are increasing. -NCTSN |
Suicide is now the leading cause of death among youth ages 10-14 in our state.
- Suicide prevention resources for middle school and high school settings
- Information sheets to help high school teachers and mental health providers prevent suicide
- Resources for teens who may be at risk
- A toolkit to help middle and high schools respond to a student suicide death
- Guidance on implementing trauma-informed practices in schools
- Southeast MHTTC's Crisis Care Resources page
 |
|
Registration Is Open! This webinar is open to all school social workers that are within their first 3 years of practice in NC public schools. We will discuss what to know about working in a school setting, the collaborations with SISP and other school staff, evidence based practices and data collection, and becoming indispensable. We will also share and connect resources to practice. *Participants will receive a certificate of completion of one contact hour |
|
Specialized Instructional Support Personnel (SISP): A Promising Solution for North Carolina’s Youth Mental Health Crisis
North Carolina is facing a youth mental health crisis and there is an urgent need for alternative solutions. School-based models of delivering mental health services are associated with higher utilization and higher satisfaction compared to community-based services. Specialized Instructional Support Personnel can identify and address unmet needs and reduce barriers in access to care.
Read the NCMJ article here, featuring many familiar fellow SISP!
 |
Anyone can call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org for themselves or if they are worried about a loved one who may need crisis support.
Year Three PSU Q&A
- Yes, you will be required to report to DPI by September 15th, 2023. The reporting portal will open late May, and only one contact per PSU will have access to the reporting portal. You will answer the reporting questions as part of the Healthy Active Children Report, the same as last year (charters bypass the HAC portions and only complete the SMH report). You will also upload a copy of your SMH plan, including a suicide risk protocol and training plan.
- Once the portal opens, traditional LEAs should expect an invitation to the portal by Les Spell and charters will receive a notice from the Office of Charters.
- If you know that your Healthy Active Children point of contact has changed, please email les.spell@dpi.nc.gov with the correct person's contact information.
Has anything changed about what we are required to do?
- There are no major changes. You will notice on the reporting page that we have added questions about prior years' compliance. These are based on the 2022-2023 school year.
- Your plans do not have to change. You can upload the same plan as long as it is still what you plan to use. You also can make any adjustment and changes to your plan prior to submitting. You must include your detailed training plan and suicide risk protocol and ensure it is up-to-date.
- You will see the requirements for abuse and neglect resources that are now included in the School Mental Health Policy. These materials must be distributed at the beginning of each school year. You will see compliance questions for these materials in the reporting portal.
What does the 2-hour subsequent training have to include?
- The 2-hr refresher addresses at least 2 of 6 MH training program areas, and on even-numbered years, 2 hours of sex trafficking and child sex abuse content must be provided.
- The 6-hr initial training (for new employees) must address all 6 areas, regardless of year.
Where do I find all the SMH Policy materials?
- All resources and materials can be found from the NC Healthy Schools webpage and on the SMH Policy Compliance page.
- Questions can be sent to pachovia.lovett@dpi.nc.gov.
A Toolkit Resource to Address Challenges and Produce Solutions
 |
The concept behind the toolkit is to provide all school systems in North Carolina with a process designed to strengthen connections with their behavioral health partners to better serve children, youth, and families. |
The process is designed to enhance current connections and mechanisms for education and community partnerships and is further designed to meet the school system and their behavioral health partners where they currently are in these partnerships. This process can be used anytime there are challenges that may require new approaches and new partners.
The toolkit is a companion document to the Webinars and Resource Guide. The toolkit takes you through the i2i Center for Integrative Health Collaborative Model and emphasizes valuing all perspectives to successfully address challenges.
The toolkit includes:
- Strategies for identifying challenges
- The Collaborative design to produce solutions
- Four topics addressed in the convenings that can be replicated or used as a template
NC Healthy Schools Office Hours
|
A Collaborative Approach to Student Services with Dr. Natasha Scott from Cumberland County Schools September 26th from 3:00-4:00 |
 |
Last Chance to Register!!! New Electronic Health Record Functionality in PowerSchool
At the beginning of the 2023-24 school year, NCDPI will launch a new customized Electronic Health Record Module within PowerSchool. This functionality will be available to:
- School nurses: Licensed by the NC Board of Nursing, to assess health-related needs, develop healthcare plans, remove health-related barriers to learning, and collaborate with school personnel and healthcare providers to promote student wellness.
- School counselors: Licensed by the Department of Public Instruction, to provide a broad array of comprehensive services to all students with a focus on academic achievement, career development, social-emotional development and mental wellness.
- School social workers: Licensed by the Department of Public Instruction, to integrate the school, community, and family context into comprehensive support services, interventions, and resource referrals to remove barriers to student success.
- School psychologists: Licensed by the Department of Public Instruction, assist in developing effective school-wide practices/policies, assess student needs and growth in learning and behavior, intervene with students, and collaborate with staff to coordinate services.
- Other designated PSU staff
The PowerSchool Health Module has been customized for North Carolina. New features include the ability to document student physical and behavioral health, interventions, and evaluations. Additionally, this information will travel with a student if they transfer to a different PSU.
These additions will be free to all PowerSchool users with a goal of statewide adoption by the beginning of the 2024-25 school year.
The PowerSchool Health Module has been customized for North Carolina. New features include the ability to document student physical and behavioral health, interventions, and evaluations. Additionally, this information will travel with a student if they transfer to a different PSU.
Attendance Tools
 |
To help education policymakers and practitioners respond to the post-pandemic absenteeism crisis in the nation’s schools, FutureEd and Attendance Works have expanded our Attendance Playbook to reflect schools’ realities during and after the pandemic. The new analysis includes more than two dozen effective, readily scalable approaches covering topics ranging from family engagement to the value of attendance incentives, as well as students’ social and emotional well-being, a high priority for educators post-pandemic. In the playbook, we explain each intervention, identify the problem it solves, summarize supporting research, and highlight schools or school districts that have used the strategy successfully. Attendance Works has added an implementation guide for schools and districts. -FutureED |
Professional Development
Wellness Series Part I: Back to School Wellness for School Staff
Feeling the Back to School blues? Stressed being on campus again? Interested in hacks that help make it better? This session is designed for all of you showing up to navigate the new year with students and colleagues. You have a lot to do. This is an opportunity to make sure YOU are on your own to-do list. Take care of you right now and this year using efficient tools and strategies. Building on self-care and collective care modules from earlier in this series, our session distills practices that anyone can use to boost resilience, buffer stress, and sustain wellness. This session identifies free resources that help ease the transition into the school year right now and support your well-being all year long.
This session is for all school and district staff, including but not limited to principals, vice principals, health/wellness coordinators, teachers, aides, school mental health providers, and other adults on campus.
--
Wellness Series Part II: Schoolwide Wellness: Staff, Partners, & Families
Are you feeling supported at work? Is there synergy amongst your staff? Is your school on the same page with your community partners and parents? With the importance of focusing on our students’ success, it’s easy to put off attending to ourselves and our colleagues. In this session, we review practical recommendations and resources that put a campus culture of resilience within reach. Creating a climate of respect and compassion and sustaining a culture that values adults as allies in the shared mission of the school does not have to be an after-thought. Together, we will identify practices that are practical, accessible, and impactful for your school community’s well-being. This is part of a learning series intended to help you reset and restore your own sense of wellness, and to help inform the way districts and schools promote cultures of care that benefit staff and partners.
This session is for school and district staff — including administrators, coordinators, school mental health and health staff, community partners, and other champions of staff well-being — with a role in influencing the engagement of staff, school community partners, and students' families.
Advancing Comprehensive School Mental Health Systems: Guidance from the Field
This guide published by NCCESE assists communities to develop high quality, comprehensive school mental health field, this guide assists communities to develop high quality, comprehensive school mental health system to support students. To develop a strong foundation of district and school professional – including administrators, educators, and specialized instructional support personnel.
AIM Conference
|
Registration for the AIM Conference is OPEN! Use this form, bit.ly/23AIMRegistration to complete registration for a TEAM of up to 20 participants for the main conference on October 9-11, 2023. Registration is $100.00 per participant. Lead Presenters will be given a code to register individually. |
 |
You will receive an email with an invoice for the team's registration within 24 hours of registering. If you have not received an invoice, please check your junk, spam or other folder in your email. The invoice will have payment option details to include checks, money orders, Mastercard and Visa payments.
NC Healthy Schools Sessions:
Maximizing Collaborative Partnership- Kisha Bryant, Ed. School Counseling Consultant, NCDPI
SHACs: Investing in Mental Health- Susanne Schmal, School Health Partnerships and Policy Consultant, NCDPI
Non-Academic Barriers & Student Success- Les Spell, Data & Policy Consultant, NC Healthy Schools, NCDPI
National Hispanic Heritage Month
|
Hispanic Heritage Month (HHM) takes place September 15 to October 15 every year as a time to recognize and celebrate the many contributions, diverse cultures, and extensive histories of the American Latino community. This year’s theme is Building Prosperous and Healthy Communities. |
 |
Legislative Updates
 |
View the K-12 Education Office of Government and Community Affairs Update from Friday, September 8, 2023. |
Partnering with School Social Workers to Expand Local Homeless Liaison Capacity and Provide Wraparound Services under the American Rescue Plan Homeless Children and Youth Program
A Brief for Local Liaisons, School Social Workers, and School Administrators
This NCHE brief
- summarizes the role and expertise of school social workers;
- describes ways that school social workers can build local homeless liaisons’ capacity to provide wraparound services for children and youth experiencing homelessness; and
- includes strategies for and examples of successful partnerships between school social workers and local liaisons, as well as between school social workers and community-based organizations.
---
 |
Receiving this as a forward?
Subscribe to this NCDPI School Social Work newsletter here.
Enter your email, then advance to the next screen that will give you a list of subjects and scroll down to find School Social Work.
The links on this page will bring you to third party websites, owned and operated by independent parties, over which NCDPI has no control. Any link you make to or from these 3rd Party Websites will be at your own risk. Any use of these 3rd Party Websites and any information you provide will be subject to and governed by the terms of the 3rd Party Website, including those relating to confidentiality, data privacy, and security.
Unless otherwise expressly agreed in writing, NCDPI is not in any way associated with the owner or operator of any of the 3rd Party Websites or responsible or liable for the goods and services offered by them or for anything in connection with such 3rd Party Websites. NCDPI does not endorse and makes no warranties, representations, or undertakings relating to the content of any 3rd Party Website.
|
Stay Connected with North Carolina Public Schools: |
|||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|||
|
|
|||||||
