In this interview, we’ll hear from Tony Serio, community outreach clinician at the Needham Youth & Family Services (NYFS), about an outstanding social work collaboration with the Needham Free Public Library. He fills us in about how this library social work partnership connected youth with a wide range of services from mental health resources to social connections and summer jobs with the secret sauce — snacks!
Please tell us about the social work services that Needham Youth & Family Services provides for teens at the Needham Free Public Library.
Tony Serio: Kristina Kozak and I have worked as the community outreach clinician and community training coordinator for Needham Youth & Family Services since July 2024. These are newly created positions paid for through a contribution given to the Town of Needham by Boston Children’s Hospital in 2024.
These roles have focused on strategically providing community-based services, like the “Community Connections” office hours at Needham Free Public Library. These consist of offering general information and referral services for mental health and wellness services, as well as the continual assessment of the unmet mental health and wellness needs of Needham youth and families. This occurs through formal and informal interventions and assessments, consultations, and community partnerships.
The partnership with Needham Free Public Library has also offered us the opportunity to establish a weekly drop-in teen group. Here, middle and high school aged youth are offered snacks and engage in structured boundary play, discuss mental health and wellness-themed topics like maintaining healthy relationships, and other interactive activities.
The community room, which serves as the meeting space for the drop-in teen group, also provided an opportunity for NYFS to coordinate a Teen Summer Job & Community Service Expo. This event provided students with an opportunity to interview for summer employment or community service opportunities. The event included 11 local businesses and community service organizations, and more than 80 students were in attendance throughout the entirety of the event.
What challenges do you see teens facing today and how does your work at the library address those needs?
Serio: I think a lot of teens face many of the same challenges that we did when we were younger, but the emergence of social media, video games, and cell phone/device use at an early age has had an amplified effect on the social and emotional wellbeing for a lot of these youth. Additionally, there are often limited opportunities for teens to congregate after school, so for some teens school can seem like the only opportunity for social success.
The Needham Free Public Library has been a natural hangout for middle and high schoolers, mainly given that it’s across the street from the high school. The weekly drop-in teen group has partially fulfilled this need, which is that there are only a select number of programs in Needham that provide free supervised opportunities for teens to meet up after school.
Can you share a story of an impactful moment you’ve experienced with teens working in your library?
Serio: One of the highlights has been getting to know different groups of middle and high schoolers during the drop-in teen group, as a great deal of students have to attend to sports, drama, or music commitments at various points of the school year. The dynamic of the group has changed, but the success has continued, as our optional newsletter list has grown to 175 registered students.
The other highlight from this past year was the overall success of the Teen Summer Job & Community Service Expo. Following the event, I heard from two separate businesses that were able to hire students that had been in attendance, as well as a few students that were able to sign up for community service opportunities later in the summer. We look forward to growing this event and offering it again next year!
How did your partnership with the library emerge?
Serio: When we first began assessing the needs of the community, we met with the Needham Free Public Library and decided it would be a great space to provide community outreach. We were grateful enough to form a partnership with the library director, Rob MacLean, and teen librarian, Erin Bassett, who have been super helpful in terms of helping us promote and grow both the Community Connections and drop-in teen group programs.
What advice would you offer to libraries interested in connecting with a community-based social worker?
Serio: Most cities and towns have either a council on aging (COA) and/or human service department, which are often staffed with a licensed independent clinical social worker (LICSW), licensed mental health counselor (LMHC), or a certified nursing staff. I have come to understand that some departments will work with graduate-level interns and might be willing to offer this type of service for your library. It would be worthwhile to determine whether their staff or an intern can facilitate a drop-in teen program or Community Connections table at your local library or municipal space.
Any final thoughts?
Serio: I began offering weekly feedback through use of a Google survey, which I provided through a formatted newsletter. I’ve been able to collect data from students on items they’d like to discuss in the future, snacks that they’d like me to purchase, and other topics they’re interested in learning about. I’m planning on incorporating this as part of the “check-out” station to the group, which will be where students can collect their snacks.
The elephant in the room is that snacks are the main draw to the teen group, which is totally understandable! Over the past year, we’ve strategized about a long-term funding source for teen group snacks, so utilizing local schools, other grant programs, or local restaurants and grocery stores can be a great opportunity to partner with small businesses and co-sponsor this program!
Interview with Tony Serio, Community Outreach Clinician, Needham Youth & Family Services
Interviewed by Michelle Eberle, Consultant, Massachusetts Library System
