Welcome everyone!

• Experience

I am thankful to be in my 25th year of school social work in the Topeka Public Schools! I have provided therapeutic services to children and families my entire social work career with elementary through high school age students both in and out of the school setting. In addition to school social work, I have been a child and family therapist in Kansas City, case manager, attendant care worker, and day care worker.

• Education and Training

I earned my Bachelor & Masters of Social Work degrees from the University of Kansas and am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. I loved my own learning experiences, which probably helps to explain why I love school social work as well! I have been fortunate to provide and continue learning experiences as an adjunct lecturer in the Schools of Social Work at the University of Kansas and Washburn University, and as a social work field instructor and clinical license supervisor.

• Role at Topeka High School

I have worked with students in special education to provide therapeutic social/emotional support and strategies to better access their learning, often as an IEP service. I am generally assigned to students in special education with the last names beginning L - Z (divisions 3 and 4). In order for students to access their highest level of learning, their safety, health, basic, and social emotional needs must be met first. Sometimes students and families need to access resources to meet those needs and I, and our other Topeka High support staff and I can help refer families to services.

One of my main roles is to provide services directly to our students who may need assistance coping with overwhelming feelings of anxiety, grief, anger, and depression (to name a few). I work with students to understand their goals and access to supports to reach those goals. I also provide support and consultation to school staff and attend meetings with divisions 3 and 4 to help develop intervention plans as needed. As a special education social worker, I assess social/emotional functioning of a student when a referral for a comprehensive evaluation has been made. My focus is to interview the family about the student's needs as well as gathering information from observations, and teacher ratings to help understand the whole child. Finally, together with the THS Mental Health team, we discuss current social issues that may be impacting our students and develop prevention and intervention efforts to positively support our students.

I truly enjoy this work and welcome any contact or questions you may have. I can be reached at (785) 235 - 7185 or through e-mail at mdenney@tps501.org I look forward to talking with you!