The shortages may be most evident in rural Michigan, but they’re a problem everywhere: too few social workers in schools, too few mental health therapists, too few case managers and therapists in hospitals.
That means those who need help most often aren’t getting it, and schools increasingly face disciplinary problems that aren’t easily resolved, experts say.
“As a result, we’re seeing suspensions. We’re even getting expulsions. As a result, parents are being called to pick up their kids. It’s really, really devastating,” said Co-Chairman of the Michigan Special Education Alliance. said Marcy Lipsitt.
This week alone, she joined school officials and parents in providing the boy with a social worker for less than an hour a week, despite the fact that he has severe autism, is nonverbal, and is disruptive. Discussed.
The situation may be bad in the classroom, but it’s even worse for mental health institutions. Social workers are lured to schools because they offer more predictable work hours, summer vacation, and often better pay, they say.
Labor shortage
“As a social worker, your options are here: You can work in a school setting, treat children with mild to moderate symptoms, and (possibly) make quite a lot of money,” says Hiawatha Behavioral Health Agency. said Dan McKinney, CEO. In the eastern Upper Peninsula, he serves about 1,200 customers in three counties.
Or, he said, “you could go into the mental health system and work with people who have very severe symptoms and are dealing with much more difficult, much more challenging issues.”
In Hiawatha, master’s level social workers earn about $60,000 a year, while other jobs, including hospitals, earn closer to $90,000, McKinney said.
One reason Michigan schools are attracting social workers is that the recent state budget allocated $101.5 million to expand mental health programs in child and youth health centers and intermediate districts (2019 (21.5 million dollars for the fiscal year). State schools also received $6 billion. Federal pandemic funds could be used to expand mental health programs.
Gregory Nien, superintendent of the Marquette-Algiers Regional Educational Services Agency, said the funding “paved the way for migration to happen very smoothly.”
Within a few years, the agency’s staff of social workers grew from fewer than five to about 12 today. Nien said five of these social workers have left their roles in mental health institutions in the future.
At least four more Pathway social workers have taken jobs at Escanaba’s Delta Schoolcraft Intermediate School District. Pathway Group’s Hale said:
dispute over services
As we struggle to find enough social workers, families struggle for services in an overwhelmed and understaffed system, suffering from a shortage of therapists and case managers, the roles social workers play. .
Statewide, there were at least 574 social worker job openings posted online each month through July, said Michelle Wine, director of research for the Okemos-based Michigan Health Council. He said it was just a thing.
According to the National Association of Social Workers, Michigan has about 31,000 licensed social workers, but the council projects the state will need to add more than 41,000 by 2032. .
In Redford Township in southeastern Michigan, Maria Pena’s family is struggling with a shortage of social workers.