Rachel Barrett, L.C.S.W., is a Certificated School Social Worker and Licensed Clinical Social Worker specializing in the treatment of externalizing behavior problems masking internal distress in children and youth. Rachel is nationally certificated in TF-CBT (Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) and worked as a trainer/consultant for the Washington State CBT+ initiative – an evidence-based practice institute for child youth and family therapists practicing in community mental health. Previously Rachel held clinical leadership positions in community mental health and worked as a practicing therapist in school programs for children with externalizing behaviors and co-morbid psychiatric diagnosis.
Rachel is committed to increasing children’s access to quality mental health services in the communities in which they live- including their schools. Rachel worked as a mental health consultant for Seattle Schools and previously partnered with the UW SMART Center in a research project aimed at increasing school-based mental health practitioners’ competencies in delivering trauma treatment in schools.
Rachel teaches classes in children’s mental health and advanced practice with children and families at the University of Washington’s School of Social Work. She enjoys teaching and mentoring social workers new to the field and feels energized by their commitment and vision!
When not working at her main hustles or side hustles Rachel enjoys books about wizards, indulging in questionable television choices, and hanging out with her wife (also a social worker), her three kids, and two dogs.
(Training & Technical Assistance) As a key component of this mission, UW SMART has developed strategies and related infrastructure for providing training and technical assistance to state and local education agencies as well as individual school districts. The SMART Center’s “
TACore” provides: 1) Training and consultation/coaching focused on developing workforce capacity (among school staff and community partners) to deliver research-based strategies, policies, and practice models relevant to the education context, 2) Technical assistance focused on building evidence-based, multi-tiered systems of school-based behavioral health, using collaborative decision-making processes guided by local data as well as research evidence, and 3) Program evaluation focused on collecting and analyzing existing (e.g., administrative datasets) and novel (e.g., surveys, focus groups) quantitative and qualitative data to determine the impact of new or existing programs, practices, and policies.
In response, Washington state was recently awarded $6 million from the U.S. Department of Education to create a pipeline from Washington state’s five accredited Masters in Social Work training programs to Washington state’s K-12 schools. Called the Workforce for Student Well-being Initiative or WSW, 100 aspiring school social workers will receive conditional scholarships based on their financial need so the cost of getting an education is not a barrier to their getting an advanced degree and then committing to working in a high-need public or tribal school.
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Protocol for a hybrid type 2 cluster randomized trial of trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy and a pragmatic individual-level implementation strategy.(2021)Implementation Science16 (1):
