I met Marisa Parrella as a 24-year-old social worker, fresh out of graduate school. She was interviewing me for a position as a child welfare social worker. I got hired and, almost immediately, she got promoted. Though we worked together closely for a very brief time, we’ve remained in touch for almost two decades. During a recent conversation, I learned that Marisa is tackling a very significant challenge, school-based mental health.

When I asked Marisa how kids are doing. Her response was straight forward: “It’s bad, but we’ve known that for a long time.” COVID brought a lot of child and adolescent stress to the surface, so we need stable, effective clinicians in our schools. “That’s where all the kids are, so it’s where our mental health supports need to be,” Marisa explains.

Currently, many aspiring clinicians come into challenging environments like schools and foster care, but they’re doing so to “get their feet wet,” thinking they’ll go on to do clinical work beyond these challenging settings. They don’t stay - I didn’t, remaining in child welfare for only two years. We need to retain these individuals, and Marisa wants to build a system to do just that. With a launch grant from EdForward, Marisa is developing a School-Based Mental Health Fellowship at Mary’s Center.

The focus: Marisa is aiming to build a fellowship that “is centered on health equity and justice, plus youth and family voice, with a focus on recruitment of BIPOC clinicians to reflect the communities we serve.”

This program will provide specialized, cohort-based training and supervised clinical experience for new, post-graduate level clinicians. In addition to the increased support, fellows will have opportunities to earn loan forgiveness when they hit specific retention benchmarks. Currently, thirteen organizations partner with DC’s Department of Behavioral Health to provide school-based mental health services. Marisa imagines building a pipeline for Mary’s Center and beyond to create a well-trained, experienced clinical community to serve the needs of the District’s children.

The development of this pipeline is not without challenge. Enrollment in graduate programs is down, and these programs often don’t reflect the communities in which need is the greatest. That’s why I introduced Marisa to Councilmember Robert White - I previously consulted on his recent mayoral campaign - who recently introduced a bill to make graduate school in social work more attainable for DC residents. These pipeline building initiatives, when combined, could prove incredibly impactful. Marisa plans to work with Robert’s office to support the bill when it is reintroduced during the next legislative cycle.

Imagine a future in which clinicians build careers in school-based mental health, giving our kids access to consistent, expert support. Each year, new fellows would be trained - some of them earning loan forgiveness for their long-term commitment, while others begin loan free thanks to Councilmember White’s bill. Now, all we need to do is pass the bill and build the fellowship.

Might our kids be so lucky.