Advocating for School Social Work to Advance Student Social, Emotional, and Mental Health: Strategies from Two Case Studies

Advocacy is a critical aspect of our social work profession, but attention to advocacy has mostly focused on the ways social workers advocate for clients’ needs and not for their own positions. School social workers (SSWs) experience increasing challenges in which devaluation, role ambiguity, and misperceptions of their work persist (Teasley, 2018). More discourse is needed on strategies SSWs can use to advocate for their continued employment and the growth of their profession. This Practice Highlights column describes the challenges and successes of a member of a community where the single SSW position was under threat (case 1) and an MSW student who rallied for school social work services in a particular district (case 2). Both the community member and the MSW student approached the School Social Work Association of America (SSWAA) for guidance.