President’s Message

Awareness of School Violence and Needed Resources

By Shirley Gentilini, MSW, LCSW

News of school violence continues to ravage our students and communities. Students coming to school with guns and killing fellow students, and often committing suicide, indicate that school violence is becoming more prevalent.

How are we missing those children and adolescents who are mentally disturbed? Perhaps the reduction of school social workers recently due to budget cutbacks could be a contributing factor.

School social workers have the skills to identify potential problems for students who display depression, anxiety, isolation and post-traumatic stress. Many times those who perpetrate violent acts are “loners.” Why are they often ignored until they cause a serious problem?

In 2013, the University of Southern California Social Welfare Archives presented the George D. Nickel Award for Outstanding Professional Services by a Social Worker to Marleen Wong, PhD. Dr. Wong, associate dean, clinical professor and director of field education at USC, gave her talk on “Invisible Wounds: Columbine to Sandy Hook.” She has invested more than 20 years in analyzing the behavior of school children exposed to trauma.

Dr. Wong is also the principal investigator of the Treatment and Services Adaptation Center for Resilience, Hope and Wellness in schools. The center is a community-based research partnership and member of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network. This center provides evidenced-based trauma prevention and recovery systems for school personnel and communities.  Its website, traumaawareschools.org, includes resources for educators and mental health professionals. She shared that so many children experience serious traumatic events and often suffer repeated traumas. However, she firmly believes that with help these children can learn to be resilient as they develop coping skills. There is hope for our children when we recognize their problem and offer help and needed resources; we can work toward eliminating school violence especially when we don’t overlook symptoms of children who are disturbed.

Research scientists have identified a number of variables that put children at risk of violent behaviors as well as variables that will protect them (Office of the Surgeon General, 2001). A risk factor is generally seen as any factor that increases the probability that a person will suffer from harm and a protective factor is something that decreases the potential harmful effect of a risk factor. To effectively develop intervention programs, schools and communities need to consider both variables.

Former Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher’s “Report on Youth Violence” (Office of the Surgeon General, 2001) noted that the most effective violence programs combine both individual risk factors and environmental conditions, particularly building individual skills and competencies, providing parent effectiveness training, improving the climate of the schools, and making changes in the type and level of involvement in peer groups. Dr. Satcher’s report further suggested that violence prevention initiatives that target change in the social context appear to be more effective than those that attempt to change individual attitudes, skills, and risk behaviors (Social Work Speaks, 2012-2014, p.309).

Social workers have long maintained that violence prevention begins in the family and the community. To solve the problem, families and communities need assistance before and during crises. Dr. Lynn McDonald developed a prevention program, Families and Schools Together (FAST). Studies have shown chronic exposure to violence can adversely affect a child’s ability to learn.

Given that depression, feelings of isolation and worthlessness were issues for many assailants of recent school shootings, providing more school social work services along with other support services is one way to prevent further tragedies.

School social workers are uniquely trained to identify students and families at risk. These social workers provide diagnostic assessment and understand both risk and protective factors for individuals and families. They know about appropriate community resources where help can be provided. However, due to funding cuts not all schools employ social workers. Therefore, appropriate community and mental health counseling services need to be available so that social workers can refer and link up those children and their families to receive counseling.

Children and young people deserve to grow up to be “healthy” adults. With appropriate help and services they can overcome their traumas and live their lives to their fullest potential.

Footnote: Today as I was completing this article, on the news came a story of yet another school shooting where one student shot and killed a fellow student and injured a teacher who tried to intervene. The student then took his own life. The newscaster said that since the shooting at Sandyhook Elementary, there have been 74 incidents of school shootings across America. This information illustrates that we do have a crisis situation in America.