PPS-SF Star of the Month—Patrick Mulkern LCSW, PPSC (he/they)

PPS-SF is proud to highlight SFUSD Wellness Coordinator Patrick Mulkern, LCSW, PPSC (he/they) for May’s newsletter and star of the month!

Patrick initially moved to San Diego where he coordinated the drop in center at a shelter for youth experiencing homelessness where he found his passion for working with teenagers.

Patrick made his way to the Bay Area to attend the University of California, Berkeley’s School of Social Welfare where he earned his MSW. Since graduating he has worked for the San Francisco Unified School District. He currently is a Wellness Coordinator in a high school where he implements individual, group, and school-wide interventions while collaborating with students and families to create a more equitable educational environment.

Patrick also teaches at the University of California, Berkeley School of Social Welfare and has taught courses on social work practice in schools, education policy, human sexuality, and psychopathology. He has a passion for supporting students both in the K-12 and university environments and learns so much from his work supervising, training, and mentoring graduate student interns. In addition to school social work, Patrick's interests include working with LGBTQ+ youth, students experiencing homelessness, healing-centered and anti-oppressive social work, and narrative practices. Patrick serves as the Vice President of the California Association of School Social Workers and Western Representative of the School Social Work Association of America.

Please see out Q/A with Patrick to learn more about his life and what he does everyday to inspire the people around him.

Q: How did your personal identity influence the path you are on now and how do you influence the people around you with your position?

Patrick: White privilege has influenced the path that I am on and has provided me numerous opportunities. I use this positionality to reflect on and challenge white supremacy characteristics within my work and the profession of school social work.

In collaboration with other members of the boards of CASSW and SSWAA and other colleagues in the field, I try to challenge the profession of school social work’s tendency to focus on palatability. We must keep equity as well as racial and social justice at the center of our work. Oftentimes I have heard fear around the way this may impact the growth of our profession, especially in regards to areas of the state and country that are conservative and have issued attacks on BIPOC and queer communities through policy intiatives targeting critical race theory and discussing sex and gender in schools. I follow the lead of colleagues pushing to challenge those oppressive systems knowing that we cannot value our profession more than people and our communities. I have learned from mentors and colleagues in the field how to have conversations with peers, in my classrooms, and in the policy arena where folks acknowledge the harm that our profession has and continues to cause and create opportunities to repair that harm through micro and macro level interventions. 

My queer identities shape the way I approach my work and have led me to spend time thinking about and focusing on creating spaces in schools that celebrate queer students. My education in both the K-12 and the college setting lacked curriculum, staff, and discussions about queer identified and people, which impacted my own coming out process as well as my mental and physical health. I believe that in order to support queer students we need to go beyond just tolerance or acceptance and work towards universal representation and celebration.

Through my work as a Genders and Sexualities Alliance advisor and co-facilitator of Q Groups, which are curriculum based groups for queer and questioning students, I have had the opportunity to learn from, work with, and empower students to making lasting institutional change. Some of this work has entailed advocating for the designation of one of the single stall bathrooms to be an unlocked and accessible all gender restroom for all students to use with ease and working with English and History departments to increase representation of queer identities and people in the curriculum. Additionally, I have provided support to the LGBTQ Student Services department of SFUSD to provide consultation and collaboration in supporting our queer and questioning students throughout the PK-12 system.

Q: What do you love most about your job?

Patrick: It sounds cliche, but it really is the students. They inspire me and push me to grow into a better school social worker and a better person.

Q: How did you get to where you are now and what pieces of advice do you have to the readers?

 Patrick: Mentorship from folks in the field provided me with the knowledge, support, and encouragement that got me to where I am today. My professors and field instructors during my time at UC Berkeley inspired me to try out school social work, and it immediately felt like the right fit. Everyday I continue to learn and grow from the amazing colleagues I work with in SFUSD.

So, I would advise readers to seek out mentorship and supervision that nourishes them. You deserve to be celebrated and supported holistically for all of your strengths and areas of growth.

Q: What inspires you most everyday?

 Patrick: The teachers that I have worked with over the years are incredibly inspirational. I am constantly amazed at their perseverance, creativity, and dedication to the students. I wish that the celebration and acknowledgement of how hard teachers work and how much of a positive impact they have not just on their students but society as a whole lasted longer than the first few early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Many of the teachers at Burton High School where I spent most of my time as a Wellness Coordinator in SFUSD started out as colleagues and have become lifelong friends. They ensure students have access to rigorous academic coursework while providing them with social emotional support and an understanding that we all need to feel safe and supported before we can access curriculum.

Q: Tell me your hobbies and a fun fact about yourself!

 Patrick: Outside of my time spent with students, my favorite part of working in schools has to be all the school breaks. I love to travel and usually try to check out new cities and countries every break. I spent a couple of summers living in Oaxaca, Mexico taking Spanish classes, and this past summer I traveled throughout the Mediterranean.

Prior to the pandemic I think I was usually in work or rest mode, but during the shelter in place order I picked up a variety of hobbies, which I have maintained to varying degrees. Some of my favorite things to do are cooking and baking for loved ones, going for walks and hikes with friends, and (like every other millennial queer) learning about and caring for my plant babies. A fun fact about me that surprises no one who has met me is I really lean into treating myself. I love luxuriating in a bubble bath reading novels while an overpriced candle burns.