Social WorkerAt — SCUSD - Dept of Special Ed - John Morse Therapeutic Ctr
As a John Morse Intern, you will have an opportunity to manage a caseload of students with whom you will meet with individually each week. You will develop your therapeutic skills as you learn to assess your students' needs, set goals for them, develop and implement treatment plans to meet the goals, write notes, and assess progress. You will attend parent/caregiver meetings, such as intakes and IEPs (Individual Learning Plan meetings), attend staff meetings, work with teachers, school psychologists, and be involved in the development of school-wide SEL (Social Emotional Learning) programs. You will also be instrumental in the running of our school's 'sensory' room, a drop-in classroom where students come to find a quiet, safe space where they can decompress and connect.
By the end of the year, interns will have increased their therapeutic skills in working with children. They will have become familiar navigating school systems, advocating for vulnerable populations, and collaborating with mental health service providers. They will have learned to write referrals for county mental health services, how to navigate SEIS (a special education database), and to facilitate psycho-educational groups.
At the district level, SCUSD Student Support Services will provide generalized training for district interns. John Morse training will involve an initial time of becoming familiar with our unique school and the gradual building of skills and independence. Since interns come with different levels of experience and comfort, training is matched with their needs.
We follow school district, county, and state Covid safety guidelines. When school shutdowns are deemed necessary, interns work remotely. When school is in-person, interns are eligible to receive PPE and on-site covid testing. As far as physical safety, this is a campus where students may occasionally struggle with emotional regulation/anger management issues. In the event a student is in crisis, we have a 3:1 of staff to student ratio trained in the ProAct Crisis System to de-escalate students. Interns do not work with aggressive students.