Social Work Field Education and University-Assisted Community Schools: Meeting Rural Youth Mental Health Needs

Background/Purpose: Underserved rural youth in the United States (US) face critical needs. The "Why Rural Matters" report published in 2023 noted that the ratio of mental health professionals to pre-kindergarten to 12th grade (PK-12) students often exceeds 1:500 in rural areas. Further exacerbated during the pandemic, the lack of mental health resources created immense difficulties for rural communities and increased the demand for well-trained mental health professionals. University-Assisted Community Schools (UACS) is an integrated approach that could address youth and family mental health needs in rural areas, increasing the ratio of providers to youth, while providing social work field education experiences to social work interns. The UACS approach emphasizes family and community engagement, connecting PK-12 schools to local universities, resources, opportunities, and support. One school of social work at a large university in the Northeastern US partnered with four rural, high-needs PK-12 school districts to implement this UACS approach, conduct needs assessments within their districts, and attempt to meet the mental health needs of rural youth while providing social work interns a field education experience. Guided by findings from an initial needs assessment, the UACS approach was implemented and bachelors and masters social work interns completed their field education experience and worked to address the identified needs.

Methods: Qualitative data was collected using surveys, interviews, and focus groups to conduct a program evaluation and learn if 1) adequate learning opportunities were provided to the interns to meet the nine social work competencies, and 2) whether the UACS partnership addressed the needs identified by the rural youth and families in an initial needs assessment.

Results: A total of N = 20 social work interns and four site supervisors participated in this study. The interns completed their field placement at four rural, high-needs PK-12 schools. Based on the needs assessment, parents/caregivers and youth identified the need for more support: academic, emotional, and financial or other material resources. The UACS partnership and site supervisors facilitated connections between the schools and local resources to meet these needs. The social work interns reported meaningful learning opportunities across the social work competencies. One intern gave examples and said she conducted social-emotional learning groups, “friendship” groups, and distributed resources weekly to families in need of food. The four rural districts experienced an immediate improved mental health provider to youth ratio with the introduction of site supervisors, and social work interns were able to begin to meet the identified needs.

Conclusion: Findings contribute to empirical evidence suggesting that the UACS approach builds community connections. Further, the social work and UACS partnership increased the mental health resources available to youth in rural PK-12 schools, effectively establishing the UACS approach as a means to provide a meaningful social work field education experience while simultaneously meeting rural youth mental health needs.