We recently connected with Emily George, LCSW, MS.Ed. and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Emily, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

The biggest risk I have taken was to leave my longtime position as a School Social Worker and venture out on my own. After a twenty-year career in schools, first as a teacher and then as a social worker, the idea of leaving was overwhelming and scary. I had a consistent salary, great co-workers, and amazing students all keeping me there. What was I thinking?! Some years earlier, I wondered how I could “move up” in this profession given that my role was not going to change or grow in any way. What could I bring to the world of School Social Work? I loved working with students. What I had not realized was the slow creep of burnout as my work demands increased.
I reached out to the Faboo Listserv NYC, an online group of School Social Workers and Counselors I had created and facilitated for the last fourteen years. I sent a survey and found that many who worked in schools were not receiving clinical supervision. Most of us were the only ones in our role. We relied on each other to better our own Social Work practice. This was when it clicked for me. I could provide this service to support School Social Workers and Counselors. I nervously resigned from my position effective June, 2020. It was happening. I was making my move.
In March, Covid slammed our New York City community. Schools were tasked to hard pivot to online learning. I was not only figuring out teletherapy with students, but also supporting families around technology, food and healthcare access, grief support, and more. I stayed the following year with the transparency that I would resign after school ended in June. This allowed for me to share meaningful goodbyes with the school community. For this, I am ever grateful. I was burned out, but I chugged along to the finish line of this part of my professional journey.
Jobless, I worked all summer to build my business. I reached out to friends and colleagues with a million questions. How do I even start a business? Build a client roster? Get paid? Promote myself? How do I handle this newfound imposter syndrome? Suddenly, it was all happening.
Over the next school year, I connected with School Social Workers and Counselors who needed clinical supervision. I also connected with some of their school administrators, identifying ways that I can support their staff with workshops and professional development opportunities. My longtime experience in the field was paying off.
It is now the beginning year three of Emily.George LLC. I continue to grow my practice and client base. I see my impact as even greater than before as I provide School Social Workers and Counselors in NYC with training, supervision, and educational opportunities. I seek to empower and build on the strengths of the incredible and dedicated School Social Workers and Counselors of New York City to enhance the social and emotional well being of students and their school communities.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I started my professional journey as a New York City Teaching Fellow. In high school and college, I studied Psychology. However, I did not know what I wanted to do with that degree. A friend had joined the NYC Teaching Fellows, boasting a tuition-free Master’s in Education, job placement, and mentoring. I could see myself as a teacher, recalling it was what I wanted to be when I grew up. I decided to go for it. I taught for four years at P.S. 101, an elementary school in East Harlem, NYC, and received my MS.Ed. from Hunter College, C.U.N.Y. I loved working in a school, but it was tough. Teachers wear so many hats. I wanted to focus more on the social-emotional well-being of the students without needing to teach academics. (Respect for all the teachers out there who do both each and every day.) School Social Work was a natural next step. I returned to grad school and received my MSW from NYU’s Silver School of Social Work.
Starting a new role as School Social Worker, I was lucky to have had experience in the classroom. Teachers appreciated that I had that angle of understanding. However, I did have to figure a lot out on my own. When I first arrived at the school, I was given a desk area, a dollhouse, and a giant box of Legos. In spite of my bare beginnings, I had an amazing supervisor who helped guide me in all things IEPs, related services, and more. My office mate was the middle school social worker. Both were pivotal in my professional growth, and we remain dear friends today.
School social work is more than just counseling sessions. It is helping to access resources, connect with families, provide referrals, creating anti-oppressive Education and Behavior Plans, and deploying de-escalation and crisis intervention skills. It is, in addition, celebratory assemblies and potlucks, Kindness Day and service learning. It is staying student-centered, building relationships, and focusing on strengths not deficits. It is teaching school staff to do the same.
Turning my experience of working in NYC schools into a business has been much more organic than anticipated. With a two-decade career under my belt, I was certainly qualified to supervise and train others. My network, especially from the Faboo Listserv and NYU, has supported my growth through referrals and connections with clients and collaborators. I utilize my skillset to empower and support the growth of other School Social Workers and Counselors. My impact can be spread even wider. As an Adjunct Professor at the NYU Silver School of Social Work, I continue this mission.
Both my professional practice as well as my classrooms are holistic, person-centered, and strengths-based with a culturally responsive, trauma-informed, healing focused lens. My business tagline is, “Support for those who support.” School Social Workers, Counselors, Educators: These are my people. I am proud of the work that I have accomplished, and am grateful for the platforms to share the tremendous work that is done by those who work with youth in schools.

Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?

Community is essential. Find your people. Surround yourself with others who are not only have knowledge, but also who can provide honest feedback, advice, and support. In social work, once one becomes a supervisor, one may no longer receive one’s own clinical supervision. Peer support is essential. This is not an easy job. Many of us have experienced burnout and compassion fatigue. We need people in our corner who have been there. Join a network of colleagues and build a community. Early in my school social work career, I had a small group of other School Social Workers with whom I attended workshops. We kept in touch throughout that experience, reaching out for referrals, questions, etc. I facilitated this community, welcoming others to the discussion as many of us were the only social workers in our schools. This small group grew to be the Faboo Listserv NYC. We have over 725 NYC area School Social Workers and Counselors as members.
It was through members of this listserv that I was able to start and grow my business. I was able to identify the needs of members including clinical supervision. Because of this network, I was able to build my business beyond my wildest dreams. I can now support those both on and off the listserv. I work to advocate for clinical supervision for all even if I am not their provider. Some colleagues and I are working on an NYC School Social Workers and Counselors retreat which will take place in March 2024. I am looking forward to meeting new colleagues and continuing our mutual aid and support.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I’ve done a lot of unlearning around privilege and oppression. This is essential work for social workers to ensure that we practice with an anti-oppressive and inclusive lens. It is even more important if you do not share various identities with your clients (i.e. skin color, gender identity, immigration status.) When I worked in schools, I did not look like my students. It is essential that I am aware of my own inherent biases and socialization. To not acknowledge them would be to potentially cause harm to those with whom I work. There is so much afforded to those with privilege, simply based on how their identities are accepted or marginalized. We see this in the news, in politics, and in business. These structures are doing exactly what they are designed to do: to keep some at the top and others down and out.
In doing the work of unlearning privilege and oppression, I have gained much knowledge and clarity, continually evolving my lenses with self-reflection and discomfort. If you’ve ever worked with me, you know how I love the term “go to your growing edge.” To be really present and active in undoing racism, transphobia, xenophobia, and other injustices, I must acknowledge and call it out even if it is uncomfortable. To deny it means to be complicit with the oppressive systems that seek to dehumanize and marginalize people. To sit in discomfort is to move towards growth and social justice.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.emilygeorge.org
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/emg.sw.ed/
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/emily-george-lcsw-ms-ed-a4b4ab88/
• Linktree: https://linktr.ee/emg.sw.ed
• Podcast Appearance: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/talking-about-the-need-for-supervision-in-school/id1651695811?i=1000587913454

Image Credits
Ayant Photo Studio