New collaboration addresses statewide social worker shortage

"When social workers are valued and supported," Denby-Brinson said, "they are better able to remain in the field, deepen their impact, and provide the stability and continuity that children, families and communities need."

Universities across North Carolina have teamed up to address a critical shortage of social workers in the state, and UNC-Chapel Hill is leading the charge.

Announced earlier this spring, the Public Service Leadership Program is a multi-institute effort designed to strengthen the social work workforce.

The PSLP is a partnership between the 25 university and college members of the Social Work Coalition on NC Workforce Development, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services and philanthropic organizations, including the Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation.

The Well spoke to Ramona Denby-Brinson, dean of the UNC School of Social Work, about how the PSLP will serve North Carolina.

North Carolina faces a significant shortage of social workers. What does this shortage look like across rural and urban communities, and who is most affected?

We have a dire shortage. If you pull out a map of North Carolina and the 100 counties, with the exception of a few places in the Triad and the Triangle, we don’t have enough social workers. We’re going to be short about 30,000 social workers by 2030, and we’re short on them particularly in rural areas.

We lack social workers in five critical service areas:

Mental and behavioral health care — including substance abuse and addiction counseling
Services to older adults
Intellectual and developmental disabilities
Child welfare and child and family services
Justice system-involved services and interventions

Many workforce development programs struggle to achieve lasting results. What makes the PSLP different, and why will it succeed?

I love this question because it gives me a chance to talk about the PSLP’s collaborative nature. There are 25 universities in North Carolina preparing social workers. You would think the state would be pumping out social workers, and that’s not the case. Two and a half years ago, I started talking to my counterparts at other universities, and saying, “Hey, what challenges are you running into?” We all had the same challenges, and we have a common mission and common goals. We decided we’re going to be stronger working together as a coalition. We got all 25 universities to work cooperatively together and propose the PSLP.

The second thing that sets us apart is financing. We quickly realized this isn’t just a responsibility of higher education. This isn’t just a responsibility of the state or for the private sector. We realized that we needed a strong public-private partnership model. We started talking to private donors, philanthropists and the state and pulled from all those entities the best ideas and practices and leveraged concrete and financial support. Usually, these big workforce development initiatives are sponsored by the public entity, by the state. Ours is sponsored by private foundations, the state and public and private universities.

What outcomes do you hope the PSLP achieves, and how will you measure success?

We have a robust evaluation plan that will track a set of well-defined metrics. For example, in five years, we plan to produce 2,000 more social workers than we ordinarily would have, and that’s all 25 universities together at both the undergraduate and the graduate level. We’ve indicated we’re going to be able to get a significant percentage of those graduates into rural communities, and we’re going to do that by investing in people already living in those communities. We’re building a pipeline from high school through postgraduate school, and we’re going to start when they’re in the 11th grade.

Lastly, we’re also supporting the existing workforce because it’s not enough for us to just keep producing graduates and then send them into job settings where they burn out. We must intentionally create a resilient social work workforce — one that is itself cared for, supported and sustained. Reducing worker attrition requires investing in the professionals already doing this critical work through effective and reflective supervision, competitive and meaningful compensation, and workplace environments that promote well-being, growth and belonging. When social workers are valued and supported, they are better able to remain in the field, deepen their impact, and provide the stability and continuity that children, families and communities need.

Ramona Denby-Brinson explains what a social worker does

“People box us into this narrow path where they think we do one of two things: We either administer social safety net benefits, meaning just hard services like food stamps, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and Medicaid. Or they think we break up homes and take children from their parents. Regarding benefit services, those are typically not social workers at all. We do have a deep history in child welfare, but even a lot of those positions aren’t social workers. Social work plays a vital role in child welfare by centering children’s safety, dignity and well-being while strengthening families through partnership, advocacy and compassion. Guided by a commitment to equity and resilience, social workers help families heal, grow, and thrive — often in the face of profound challenges —by building on their strengths to create lasting, positive change.

I tell people you’re going to need a social worker for literally everything from birth to the end of life. You could enter this world with acute medical problems because you’re a preemie, and one part of your care team is going to be a pediatric social worker or a NICU social worker. Transitioning all the way through your life to end age, you might be faced with loneliness, loss or grief. And social work doesn’t just serve people who are low-resourced. We serve people who are at all types of resource levels but may simply be experiencing life challenges. Social workers conduct research, shape policy, reform systems and challenge inequities to advance justice and well-being. Through this work, they help ensure laws and institutions better reflect the needs and strengths of communities.”