Mental health support is nothing new for United Community Schools. But the pandemic created new issues for families in UCS schools, and social workers quickly started asking themselves new questions. Why were many students not showing up to remote classes? Were families facing more uncertainty securing housing or food? Were students losing loved ones to COVID-19? How were students coping with this disruption to normal life transitions such as graduations?

Dorene Ng, the UCS director of mental health, and the five social workers on the UCS mental health team have been working to find the answers and help families.

The UCS social workers are continuing to work with teachers, Ng said, on social-emotional curricula, but they’re engaging with parents and caregivers a lot more now, rather than working mostly one-on-one with students. ”Each week, the social workers get a list of students who haven’t been logging in,” Ng explained. The social workers contact the students and their parents to see what “unmet need” is causing the issue. For example, a malfunctioning wireless internet hot spot or Department of Education-issued iPad might leave a family overwhelmed, but “the social worker can help the caregiver navigate the DOE” to get the technology issue fixed, Ng said.

Unfortunately, the problem is not always as straightforward as a malfunctioning iPad. “There’s been a much higher need for help with food and child care,” said Jessica Morales, the social worker at PS 156 in Brownsville, Brooklyn. But as soon as a UCS social worker finds out about an unmet need, they can refer families to unemployment services, food pantries and other resources.

Parents at UCS schools appreciate the help in this burdensome time. One parent said her social worker “provided our family the support we needed.” She said the social worker “made sure everything was going well with me and my child despite COVID happening, and we were able to solve problems together.”

Providing counseling over the phone or online has been more challenging than in-person meetings, Morales said, but her regular presence seems “even more meaningful to the students at a time when their lives were turned upside down.” Ng commented on the upheaval, too. Along with grief, loss and worry about their own and their loved ones’ safety, students are “losing celebrations and normal transition rituals” by being separated from their peers. “Social workers provide coping skills and validation that it’s OK to have these feelings,” Ng said. “Everyone is experiencing change right now, much of it negative and community-wide. Having someone there to listen really helps.”