Wheeling Park High School is a large public high school in West Virginia. Students here come from many walks of life. In her second year at Park, some students may not know who Ms. Unique Murphy is and what she does. Murphy is a Communities in Schools Site Coordinator and licensed social worker.
“It is so important for students to have access to a social worker because we have the flexibility that a lot of other school staff specifically don’t have,” said Murphy. “I might have a schedule but it is in my nature as a social worker to not follow my schedule. It’s in my nature to expect the unexpected. To expect problems or interruptions. It is something social workers welcome because it’s what we’re used to. We love organized chaos. Not that a school counselor or teacher couldn’t handle it but it’s quite literally our job to do that. And I think it’s really important for students and families to have access to a social worker, not only our flexibility, because we have a wide range of resources that we are taught about. You know in college when you are in the social work department in your degree field you generally learn, like you are taught how to problem solve. I was genuinely taught how to take a situation and find a solution with the smallest bit of help. And so here at this high school we have so many different kinds of people from so many different kinds of backgrounds. And not just me, social workers in general I think that we. We’re really ethically equipped to meet the needs of anyone no matter where or what they come from. We just have the experience to do that.”
Murphy brings field experience to our building to meet the needs of students.
“My greatest strengths are probably my confidence and sometimes that gets me in trouble just because I think that I can do anything even when I can’t and I don’t give up so my confidence and my determination are my greatest strengths because I’m willing to do anything to help anyone and I have no limitations. I think my greatest strength is also my greatest weakness because I don’t like to give up and I just want to help and sometimes you can’t help those who don’t want help. Even then I still don’t want to give up. I can’t solve any problems even though I feel like I can. Sometimes it’s hard for me to recognize that I’m doing too much,” said Murphy.
Murphy provides services and helps with interventions for students which benefits the entire school in the long run.
“We run on a tier system. So a tier one approach is school-wide. Any services that are offered are offered to every single student in tier one. In tier two it’s more of a specialized setup up so we would kind of departmentalize. We would group things. We would group people, we would group ideas. We would just identify something and create a solution to the issues. Tier three is really specialized, specific interventions, so if you came to me and you said “I have anxiety and I need help.” I would classify you as a tier three student and I would create a plan specifically for you to help tackle your anxiety. So that’s kinda how our schools run whether it’s an issue like a personal issue like a mental health issue it’s on a tier system. Or if it’s a problem school-wide like if bullying was an issue we would sit down together as a team and brainstorm how we’re going to solve this. Is it a school-wide problem? Is it a problem for only a few kids? Or is it a problem with just one kid? We would create a solution based on where we put the student in that tier system,” said Murphy.
If you are in need of help or assitance, please see Ms. Murphy in Student Management.
