Ohio State, Dublin schools partner to support mental health

In the summer of 2023, a group of 25 teachers and staff members from Dublin City Schools (DCS) began a rigorous two-year program that would end with participants receiving a master’s degree in social work from The Ohio State University and a job with a DCS school as a mental health specialist. They are graduating in May.

The Educator-to-Social Work Pathway program was born out of a need for mental health support that is overwhelming most schools, said Dawn Anderson-Butcher, a professor in the College of Social Work. The DCS district currently has 18 mental health specialists. This new group will more than double that number. 

“We’ve seen a 40% increase in depression, anxiety and suicidal ideation over the last 10 years among youth in the United States,” she said. “It’s a big issue. Schools lean on their community mental health providers but there’s often a waiting list that’s nine months or longer. DCS came to us and said, ‘What do we do?’”

Anderson-Butcher also serves as executive director for the college’s Community and Youth Collaborative Institute, which houses this partnership with DCS. She and her colleague Samantha Bates, assistant professor of social work, are studying this innovative ‘grow your own’ program at the policy level while also examining impacts across the school district.

“Dublin City Schools is a district that had recognized and acknowledged the youth and adolescent mental health crisis and taken immediate, proactive steps to address it,” said Tyler Wolfe, director of student wellness for DCS. “There is no doubt that our interns, along with our current team, will have a positive impact on the future success of our students and their community.” 

Bates and Anderson-Butcher saw the value of this partnership in addressing behavioral health workforce shortages.

Each participant in the group, or cadre, completes the full coursework for the master of social work (MSW) degree as well as two field placements, one over a summer with the university’s LiFEsports Initiative and one year-long placement at a DCS school.

It was important that the cadre members be in the middle of their careers. Those teachers have stable jobs and years of experience working with students, Bates said, and they may appreciate a new challenge.

“Think about a teacher who knows how to teach well,” Bates said. “What an amazing gift to then be able to do psychoeducation with a young person experiencing a mental health concern. This program also offers teachers a way to stay in education, to continue to support students, but on a different career path.”

Cadre member Kathy Poling is happy to demonstrate the importance of being a lifelong learner for her students.

“The little ones in the elementary school love it,” she said. “I tell them I have to do my learning, too, and they say, ‘But you’re so old!’ They get a kick out of it.”

Poling was not a teacher prior to entering the program. She has been with DCS for 11 years, serving as a paraprofessional who provides additional support for special education students. She was thrilled to be accepted.

“I’m so grateful,” she said. “My role is different in a school hierarchy; I’m supporting the teacher. I’m happy my experiences and what I bring to the table as a paraprofessional were even considered for the program.”

Poling is joined by teachers from a variety of subjects, physical therapists, school psychologists and others. This diversity has made for well-rounded learning, she said.

In addition to their shared educational background, Poling said that she and her fellow cadre members bonded over the intensity of the MSW program.

“Going through this together, you’re supporting each other, holding each other up,” she said. “The sheer magnitude of this thing. You’re learning, you’re working. You’re a full-time graduate student at The Ohio State University. They’re not diluting things for you. This is one of the top social work programs in the country.”

Anderson-Butcher said there’s a common misconception that DCS is a district free from the issues facing many students today.

 “(Some) kids … are experiencing a lot of vulnerability related to poverty and its correlates. At one middle school, 43 languages are spoken.”

In addition to home stress, students deal with academic anxiety, too. State tests, advanced placement classes, grades, college applications, work, extracurricular activities – these can have a cumulative effect that leaves students wanting, and needing, mental health support.

Poling is proud to work for a district that has prioritized its students’ needs.

“Things like this program don’t happen unless the very top of the organization values mental health,” she said. “It’s rare to find opportunities where, from the top of the organization to the people working with the kids every day, to have that support all the way through.”