Oroville schools get new social workers

OROVILLE — A myriad of community disasters over the past five years including the Oroville Dam spillway failure and numerous wildfires including the 2018 Camp Fire, 2020 North Complex with the addition of onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 have taken an undue toll on the mental health of those living in Butte County including youth.

“Students are dealing with continuous traumatic stress. This is unique to Butte County as our students and their families can’t catch a break. Specifically speaking of the natural disasters, the wildfires have caused a myriad of issues. On top of this, we are navigating through a pandemic. Students now experience more symptoms of depression, anxiety and Complex-PTSD, among other difficulties such as regulating emotions, suicidal ideation, substance abuse and explosive anger that has led to verbal and physical aggression on our campuses,” said Erica Garman, an Oroville Union High School District social worker assigned to the Oroville High School campus.

In 2012 the district had one social worker serving the entire student body of three high schools, about 2,400 students. By 2014 District Superintendent Corey Willenberg tried to hire another social worker but finding someone with both a social worker credential who was also licensed by the state was “hard to find,” he said.

“We were killing Erica with the demand for her service – counseling, helping kids get clothes, gas cards or food plus the many other student needs she was working to meet. That was before all the big disasters. Then in 2017 the spillway breached and that sort of marked the beginning of the disasters,” said Willenberg.

At the start of the 2018-2019 school year, the district hired a second social worker, Olivia Garcia. She and Garman “covered the kids, particularly those from Concow during and after the Camp Fire,” said Willenberg.

By the end of the that school year the OUHSD board of trustees set aside funds to hire more support personnel and a third social worker, Marisol Navarro-Jacobo, was hired in the summer along with three targeted case managers: Dave Butler, Monica Jenkins and Kimberlie Kinney.

Now the social workers and targeted case managers work in pairs on the three high school campuses. The social workers serve mostly in a therapeutic role dealing with counseling interventions. Many of the students have lost their homes in the fires, others had family members or close friends who lost their homes while other students have lost family members to the coronavirus and hundreds have been displaced at one time or another from their homes.

The targeted case managers serve as family liaisons and assist students with classroom needs such as technology and school supplies among other services.

“We’ve also opened a Wellness Center on each campus, to provide a safe, confidential and supportive space for students to go to discuss their stressors and receive support,” said Garman.

Some of the services provided through these centers include connecting students and families to resources, application assistance for Medi-Cal, Cal-Fresh, and various other programs.

“We also conduct home visits, homelessness outreach, provide brief counseling interventions for anger management, tobacco, drugs, and alcohol counseling, grief counseling, conflict resolutions, as well as other support services,” said Garman.

While the district is committed to the wellbeing of its students and is providing services, Willenberg said students remain “on edge” and “uncertain,” about their future and “what disaster is coming next.”

Garman agreed saying the combination of wildfires and COVID have “overlapping consequences” for all students and their families.

“I feel COVID has hindered our students ability to grow and develop. And on campus, I am seeing this play out in real-time. Students seem to express a temporary stunt in their development, and dare I say a possible regression in some instances. For example, there is a clear disruption in student behaviors. Students who previously demonstrated the ability to self-regulate, navigate through conflicts or stressors are now reverting to externalized behaviors, including defiance, fights, disruptive behaviors in the classroom and verbal altercations,” she said.

When students suffer from “higher mental health needs” than can be met by the social worker-targeted case manager teams they are referred to Butte County Behavioral Health for assistance said Willenberg but more “community assistance” is needed said Garman.

“Our district was proactive in hiring four additional staff to provide social and emotional support to students on campus but sometimes that’s still not enough. And, counseling agencies are impacted and specific therapists that provide (specialized therapy) to dismantle trauma are full. There are also barriers to students obtaining counseling services, because some agencies are limited to teletherapy or in-office visits, and many students do not have transportation and some students living in rural areas do not have internet access nor cell service,” said Garman. “I work with students of working class families who are financially struggling, they do not qualify for Medi-Cal, nor have enough money to purchase insurance, much less pay weekly copays for each counseling session.”