Returning to Roots: Embracing Afrocentric Principles In Modern Social Work Practice

Abstract

Background and Purpose:

There has been an increasing prevalence of mental health concerns among youth, and yet a concerning disparity in access to comprehensive quality care continues. This crisis disproportionately impacts BIPOC youth who encounter barriers to mental and behavioral health services. Emergent political changes appear to exacerbate this crisis, as the federal administration recently cut funding for school-based mental health services. Moreover, with the reclassification of graduate-level social work degrees as "non-professional" by the U.S. Department of Education and the shortage of culturally competent mental health professionals, the communities most in need are left increasingly vulnerable and underserved. Given these implications, this paper explores how university-school partnerships and Afrocentric principles can serve as innovative approaches to enable practitioners to fulfill their professional mission and ethical obligations amid the current sociopolitical climate. In doing so, it argues that practitioners can and should return to the relational roots that the helping profession derived from and that sustained it during periods of reduced governmental support.

Methods:

The project examines the experiences of HBCU graduate-level social work students participating in a mentoring initiative through a university-school partnership led by an associate professor. Two cohorts of students (n=6) were assigned to mentor 1-3 students each during 2023-2025. At the completion of their mentoring experience, the professor collected data from the mentors using focus groups, interviews, and questionnaires. The professor provided prompts that guided the professors and students through a reflective process to capture their personal narratives. A participatory approach was used with the professor and four students to analyze and interpret the data through two coding cycles: in vivo and thematic. During the analytical process, the research team identified shared experiences in which they applied social work education during their mentorship with youth.

Results:

Participant reflections highlighted three primary themes: application of social work theory and adolescent development frameworks, ethical considerations and professional discernment in practice, and the role of the Afrocentric perspective in fostering cultural connectedness. Themes demonstrate how engagement in social intervention, despite a lack of funding and formal service structures, can align with the principles and values of practice and the needs of clients. Additionally, these themes emphasize the parallels between urban high school mentorship, social work practice, and the profession’s origin prior to its formal legitimation in the 19th century.

Conclusion and Implications:

Findings underscore how graduate-level students can engage as community practitioners, how mentoring can be used as a vehicle for social intervention, and how practitioners in general can operate outside of formal funding structures. These findings demonstrate the importance of exploring and employing traditional, community-centered practice measures as a viable path forward. By empowering practitioners to return to “informal” community-based supports and integrate them into modern-day initiatives, social workers can cultivate innovative, culturally rooted approaches that honor both their professional mission and the communities they serve, even in the face of imposed systemic barriers and diminishing governmental support.