The duty to warn/protect is often viewed as an easily resolved scenario in which a social worker is able to see clear danger and moves to avoid such danger through breaking confidentiality and bringing in additional help. While these instances occur, it is far more often that the line between clear danger and potential risk is blurry and tough to determine. In the dilemma in this module, you need to work to determine if the scenario rises to the level of duty to warn/protect. In practice, it is critical that you are able to survey the scenario, extract the pertinent information, make educated and appropriate inferences, and react appropriately. In this scenario, you are a school social worker that has been working with Maria, a 14-year-old student that you have been seeing weekly for 5 months. Maria's parents are navigating a divorce, and Maria has been struggling with depressive episodes as well as impulse control issues. 

Maria often speaks to you about her anger, and how quickly she snaps on classmates that make her angry. She hates this response, and often feels powerless in her responses. "It's like the anger takes over, and I don't even know where it comes from....like I can't control it....and I hate that, I promise I'm not a mean person," she relates to you in a session. Today, the principal of the school stops in your office and says that he is concerned about Maria's tendency to fight and respond with anger. He shares that he has a responsibility to keep students safe, and he needs to know more of Maria's story in an attempt to make the school a safe place. "Can you just give me her file and your notes so that I can go over them? I just need to know what's going on," he says. Take time to identify the dilemma and weigh the options and potential impact.