By Allan Hugh Cole Jr. It’s bedtime for our young daughters, Meredith and Holly. They have taken baths, put on pajamas, and brushed teeth. Their mom Tracey and I have read a nightly lineup of books to them. The smell of lavender baby shampoo, lingering on still damp brown bangs that fall just above sleepy […]
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Mapping out your social work career
Strategic career planning involves identifying opportunities in your current situation that will propel your career to the next level. Jennifer Luna, director of the DiNito Career Center, shares six strategies to ensure that your next career move will contribute to a clear and logical career trajectory when you put it on your résumé. 1. Explore […]
Trailblazers for perinatal mental health
Two Steve Hicks School professors tackle maternal health in Central Texas Elaine Cavazos As a mother who experienced postpartum depression and mood disorders first-hand, professor Elaine Cavazos has dedicated her life’s work to reproductive mental health. Cavazos is passionate about serving all parents and is concerned about the barriers that keep marginalized populations from receiving quality mental health services during this […]
A daughter’s promise
By Melina Acosta, MSSW ’19 Are you learning anything in school that could help me?” This was a question my father asked me one weekend in November 2013 during my first semester of college. He was experiencing depression and suicidality and I had no idea how to support him, nor did I understand what it meant to be depressed or suicidal. […]
Balancing the art and science of psychiatric diagnosis
During Deborah Cohen’s first job, as a case manager for adults with a serious mental illness, an older, experienced psychiatrist told her that she would be working with many African American clients, because schizophrenia was more prevalent in this population. “This was presented to me as a fact, with no explanation needed,” Cohen said. “These […]
LinkedIn for social work
LinkedIn can help social workers discover connections to people and organizations, search for jobs, find resources for clients, extend networks of trusted contact, and engage with professionals from other disciplines. Jennifer Luna, director of the DiNitto Career Center, shares tips for strategically using LinkedIn to help your career and your clients. PROFILE Your LinkedIn […]
On finding the right EBP
Not all evidence-based practices (EBPs) are created equal. When a practice or program is designated as EBP, it simply means that there is research showing that it produces statistically significant change in just one short-term outcome — and it may not be the one your clients need. Therefore, when choosing an EBP, it’s recommended to […]
What makes family, family?
How do we determine who is in our family? The easy answer is that family is the people we are related to. But for kids living in foster care, the answer is not so easy. As someone who aged-out of the Texas foster care system, I have firsthand experience with the difficult journey that many […]
Finding oneself through hip-hop
“In search of Hip Hop…you gotta find yourself” is a mantra that guides the way I live my life. In fact, these nine words are tattooed on my right forearm, and they are a daily reminder that this life is a journey and a continuous search to understanding my purpose. In this mantra, I can […]
On migrant children
When AMY THOMPSON was an undergrad in international studies, her Spanish professor assigned a news article from the Texas-Mexico border on the detention of migrant children in U.S. federal prisons. After reading that many unaccompanied children were detained indefinitely alongside criminal adults, she realized that her work in children’s advocacy would be back home in […]
