Mental Health Awareness and Teens: Interview with School Social Worker Khalilah Abdulrahim
- By Elsa Holahan and Julia Rosado
Born and raised in New Haven, James Hillhouse social worker Khalilah Abdulrahim graduated from Wilbur Cross High School before enrolling in general studies at community college. After realizing community college was not the right fit, Abdulrahim left and entered the workforce. Abdulrahim decided to go back to school and study business at Albertus Magnus College. With her business degree, Abdulrahim went into banking. However, the lack of interaction with real people wasn’t what she wanted and she ultimately decided to return to school to study social work. Abdulrahim explained, “I love interacting with people, I love helping people, I love working with vulnerable populations.” With that in mind, she returned to school and received a bachelor’s degree in social work from Southern Connecticut State University followed by a master’s degree in social work from Fordham University.
Abdulrahim currently lives in Hamden and has practiced social work at Hillhouse High School for four years. Hillhouse has three social workers, two psychologists, and five guidance counselors who all provide mental health services for their students. In addition, the New Haven Public Schools system has a partnership with Yale University’s Hospital in which school based health clinics are available for its students. Hillhouse’s satellite clinic provides regular health care, physicals, and mental health services to students in need.
Pre-pandemic, a typical day would include Abdulrahim seeing a number of students who she’d meet with each day. She was also responsible for dealing with “small crises” that may arise. Abdulrahim worked with three other facilitators in mentoring a group of 18 girls prior to remote learning. With online learning, she has broken the larger group down into smaller subgroups that fit into everybody’s schedule. Abdulrahim explained, “Subgroups are effective because they allow students to be more comfortable.” Before the online learning, Hillhouse had an aromatherapy room that was available to students if they needed to calm down throughout the day. The room featured bean bag chairs, relaxing pictures, and a noiseless ambiance. Abdulrahim is unsure whether or not students will be able to utilize this room when they return to in-person learning.
Abdulrahim also offers teletherapy from her at-home office, but the virtual shift has proven to be problematic. “It’s hard to gauge what’s going on with them [students], I can’t see their facial expressions, I don’t know if they’re crying,” she said. Students are also reluctant to turn on their cameras, making it difficult to read their body language. With the pandemic, Abdulrahim has also initiated services and resources to help students who have lost loved ones to Covid-19, navigate their grief. Abdulrahim explained that the biggest challenge with telehealth is the loss of interpersonal interaction, making it hard to connect with and assist the students she meets with. Her workload has also increased “exponentially,” and writing reports takes much longer as she no longer has immediate access to student records stored at the school.
Abdulrahim has seen first hand how the lack of interaction between adolescents has severe effects on their developmental milestones. Abdulrahim and the Hillhouse mental health support staff are doing their best to assist students in need and guide them through these tough times. The best thing students can do to get their mental health needs addressed is to communicate, she says. Abdulrahim manages a Google Classroom which houses tools and resources students can use if they need more support. While she sees the value in Wellness Wednesdays and social-emotional learning days (SEL), the effectiveness of them relies heavily on the teacher, and SEL staff working together to ensure students fully utilize them, she noted. It’s important for students to have at least one person to come to for help, and Abdulrahim delivers, helping students develop healthy coping methods to relieve stress. She suggests music, exercise, and self care if students are feeling overwhelmed and recommends the resources below to students who need additional mental health support.
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