Photo credit: BigStockPhoto/Life on White
by Christine Brown, LMSW
I am a canary. I am a school social worker in public education. Social change is the heartbeat of my career and calling, but there are times when that calling can hurt.
Words like homelessness, trauma, and poverty are our everyday vernacular. We throw those words around so often that we forget that they represent real people. As a school social worker, I work to help families shift those data points toward more promising outcomes. “Data” sounds impersonal, but the real work with students and their families is everything from heartwarming to devastating. That work can lead to secondary trauma.
I am here to say that the canary is faltering on its perch of safety. This post COVID-19 world has left children struggling with severe mental health issues, behaviors that were once something you thought you would only see in a lockdown facility, and unimagined academic stagnation.
My role as a school social worker is intense and, yet, satisfying. I leverage my knowledge and compassion to improve the lives of my students. I lean into the face of a distraught 8-year-old and ask, “Do you need a hug?” I sit and listen to the parents who tell the story about their child who was abused and survived. I fight to find the balance to be both proactive and reactive every day. I listen for the unspoken words in the pauses when people speak.
If you work in a public school setting, I propose that you are also a canary. You see the tired faces, and you realize that April is the longest year ever. You count the days until summer break like your life counts on it. The reality is that we are in an uncomfortable space—a place where change can occur if we take the time to measure what is working and what is hurting.
The canary rests on a fulcrum with hopefulness and fearfulness at either end of the lever. Denial about secondary trauma tips the lever toward fearfulness and despair. Acknowledging the impact of our students’ struggles on those who work with them shifts the lever to hopefulness.
Where do we start? We begin where we are. Collect data and the perspectives of those who work with students and families, and plan for change. Measure how far away you are from the baseline of healthy productivity, then persuade others that there are alternatives to simply existing until the next day off. Collaborate and build strong teams who believe in each other. Believe that change is possible.
I am a school social worker, a canary in the coal mine of public education. I see the collective strain on school staff, but I also envision the way forward so we can preserve our own sense of selves. Secondary trauma is overwhelming, but we cannot allow it to stem the work we do for our community. Hope is not finite, and neither is change. Combined, they can mitigate the impact of secondary trauma.
Christine Brown, LMSW
Christine Brown, LMSW, graduated with her BSW from Dalton State College and her MSW from Campbellsville University. She has worked as a school social worker in north Georgia public schools for three years.