A man with the words “Pimpin’ Ken” tattooed on his forehead was on the witness stand as Laurie Cook Heffron entered the Bexar County courtroom last October. The man was the defendant in the human trafficking case for which Cook Heffron was about to testify as an expert witness. He was accused of pimping out a […]
Features
Breaking the cycle
When Dina’s* son was three, she had a gut feeling that something was wrong with her child’s behavior, but her pediatrician encouraged her to be patient and try different parenting techniques. When her child was four, he threatened to kill both his parents and himself. At that point, Dina called the pediatrician in tears and asked, […]
An all-around approach for mental health
Liz,* a 14-year-old high-school student in Edinburg, Texas, is passing all her classes and enjoying going to school every day. She is thinking about college and professions where she can help other people. Three years ago, however, these seemingly typical behaviors were very far from Liz’s reality. She was diagnosed at an early age with […]
Living on the edge
Have you ever tasted Tostilocos (recipe here)? Or danced to Nortec (listen to a sample)? They are just two examples of the richly hybrid culture of the United Sates-Mexico border. The border, conceived not as a line but as a space of mixtures and exchanges of all types (of goods, people, customs, languages), has attracted […]
CSI: Reality check
We all have seen it on CSI, the popular Crime Scene Investigation TV drama: Forensic evidence is collected and sent to a lab, a key piece of information is found through DNA results, and the case is miraculously solved, all within an hour’s time, including commercials. “The reality of crime investigation is in fact much […]
Surveys for a better Texas
If you are a Texas resident, you most likely have been to a driver’s license office. Or used a state-inspected elevator. Or visited a state park. But, did you know that all these state agencies connect back to the School of Social Work? “How,” you may ask. Meet the researchers at the school’s Institute for […]
GRACE for the Gray Tsunami
One morning last fall, master’s student Delilah Dominguez gathered with a group of older adults with varying levels of memory loss. She distributed copies of an image and gently prompted the group to talk about what they saw in it. Contributions poured in, taking all forms—long, short, descriptive, funny, lyrical, matter-of-fact—as the group engaged with […]
Changing health outcomes, one person at a time
Lisa* checked into her primary care clinic to get treatment for an injured ankle. While at the clinic, she was also seen by Cassie, a social worker who introduced herself as a behavioral health specialist with the program CHOICES. Cassie asked Lisa a few questions about her drinking habits and whether she used birth control. […]
When the clinic is the classroom
Last fall, master’s student Griselda Onofre was interning at a homeless clinic in downtown Austin. As part of her internship, she participated in “team huddles,” where doctors, nurses, and behavioral health specialists got together to discuss patient cases. “It was very eye-opening to see this interaction,” Onofre says. “One time there was this patient, and […]
It’s all about teamwork
With much of the nation’s healthcare system fragmented and uncoordinated, patients are often left struggling to receive optimum care. Interprofessional education, an emerging field of teaching and research involving social work and other academic disciplines, is addressing the need for coordinated healthcare by developing teamwork models for health practitioners that will provide optimal, safe, and […]