Staff:

Heather Gomez- Elementary School Social Worker

Crystal Morin- Middle School Social Worker

Intern

Intern

Counseling Services Provided:

Case Management Services:
· Families that are in need of clothing, shelter, employment, food, health services, etc. work with any of the social workers to connect to the services they need.
· Interns are also stationed at West Park, Washington Union High School, Washington Colony, and American Union.
· Work in coordination with local agencies to provide many services on site, or families are able to quickly receive an appointment based on referral.
· Community collaborations & coalitions.

Attendance Services:
· SARB:
     1) Every week our office runs a report of the students that have missed more than a total of 3 days of school. Phone calls are made home to inquire the reason. Letters are also sent home when a student has missed more than 3 absences. (Aeries had a glitch, so for Oct., no letters were able to go out.) Also, at this time, social work interns are assigned to work with the families to improve their attendance by eliminating the barriers not allowing the children to be present.
    2) Once a student has missed more than 6 days of school, parents receive a second letter with an appointment to attend a mandatory SART meeting with site administrator, Mrs. Gomez, and social worker assigned to their case. A SART contract is signed at this meeting
    3) The family receives a third letter after 10 absences.
    4) The family receives a fourth letter after 13 absences, stating the time and the place for a SARB meeting. This meeting consists of multiple staff members including outside agency partners. The parents and children must sign a contract. If they refuse to sign or comply with contract, they then are referred to the courts. (Prior, our district has never had a judge to facilitate our SARB cases, meaning we could not make a referral to the courts.)

Academic Support:
· Academic counseling- students on the middle school attend an 8th period elective class, an academic motivation group, and can access career/academic counseling.
· SST’s

Adult Education:
· ESL classes- Tuesdays & Fridays 8:30-10:30- All levels welcomed. Mrs. Reyna, a credentialed teacher teaches these classes.
· Parenting classes- Mondays 8:30-10:00. Mrs. Gomez teaches these classes.
· Parent workshops- every month a workshop is held in the community relating to various topics requested by parents (i.e. nutrition, substance abuse, diabetes, technology, school involvement, etc.) Outside agencies specializing in topic do presentations.
· Coordinating a “Literacy Circle” where parents come and read with children for one hour.

· Individual Counseling for students showing social or emotional difficulties hindering their education. Mrs. Morin is providing the majority of services. Mrs. Beasley is also able to provide counseling services. Both work with a steady caseload, and in addition, will meet with students needing immediate support. If students have Medi-Cal, they are typically referred to Genesis Counseling, a local non-profit agency. The Genesis counselors will meet with the students on site. These services last 6 months. All counseling services require that parents/caregivers give consent.
· Group Counseling: Topics range from Social Skills, Self-esteem, Anger Management, Girl’s Group/ Boy’s Group, Grief & Loss, etc. Groups range from 6-12 weeks based on the age and topic. Teachers of the various grade levels are notified prior to the start of a group to refer students. Also group topics are picked based on the demand of teachers and student referrals.
· Family Counseling: We incorporate the parents in all service plans for the students that we meet with for individual counseling. If families need therapy, they are referred out to a community organization.
· Crisis counseling: If students are suicidal, homicidal, or a crisis has occurred in the family, they are seen as first priority. ***If a student is having thoughts or states they want to harm themselves, or somebody else, or they are being harmed, they are never to leave school without a risk assessment conducted that day!!! It is mandatory that our staff is notified to make the proper assessments and referrals.