Expected Closing of Four Mental Health Centers in Chicago Prompts Fear, Sadness in Patients who Consider Them a Lifeline
from The Chicago Tribune
February 25th is Social Work Advocacy Day in Illinois. Taking place at the end of February each year, it serves as a warm-up for Social Work Month during March. This will be my 10th Advocacy Day. Since my first Advocacy Day in 2000, the state has had three different Governors, sent one of those governors to jail and impeached another one of them, and elected one of its sitting U.S. Senators as the nation's first African-American President. My posting next week will fill you in on the day. More

See You in Springfield, Irma Patterson, Chapter Ballot
from NASW IL
Unless you live in a cave, you probably know that this past Thursday was Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday ( I still remember when we got Lincoln's Birthday off from school, as well as Washington's Birthday - this was pre-President's Day.) If you're a Lincoln buff, you're in heaven, and even if you're not, there are some fabulous books out there about Lincoln's life and the challenging time period during which he was President. More

Many Teens Blame Rihanna, say Dating Violence Normal
from The Chicago Tribune
Ed Loos, a junior at Lake Forest High School, said a common reaction among students to Chris Brown's alleged attack on Rihanna goes something like this: "Ha! She probably did something to provoke it." In Chicago, Sullivan High School sophomore Adeola Matanmi has heard the same. "People said, 'I would have punched her around too,' " Matanmi said. "And these were girls!" As allegations of battery swirl around the famous couple, experts on domestic violence say the response from teenagers just a few years younger shows the desperate need to educate this age group about dating violence. More

An Emergency Room Built Specially For Seniors
from NPR
For years, many hospitals have set up separate emergency rooms just for kids. Now, Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring, Md., has set up an ER specifically for patients 65 and older. The ER opened last November and takes older patients, unless they're considered trauma patients. More

In Turnabout, Children Take Caregiver Role
from The New York Times
Partly paralyzed, with diabetes and colitis, Linda Lent needs extensive care at home. But with her husband working long hours at a bowling alley, Lent, 47, relies on a caregiver who travels by school bus toting a homework-filled backpack: her 13-year-old daughter, Annmarie. More

Budget Cuts Force Child & Family Resources to Lay Off Social Workers
from The Tucson Citizen
Tucson children at risk of being neglected, abused and ending up in foster care will feel the impact of state budget cuts after Child & Family Resources was forced to lay off social workers that help keep families together. The agency this week laid off more than one-fourth of its Tucson employees after losing $7 million in funding from Arizona Department of Economic Security, said Colleen Bagnall, development director for Child & Family Resources. More

Advances for Alzheimer's, Outside the Lab
from Time magazine
They sit demurely in rows of plastic chairs, hands in their laps, awaiting instructions. They have been dressed carefully by their spouses and relatives in ankle-long frocks or neat cardigans, with crisply knotted ties — the overly formal style of the aged. Organizing this unlikely choir is Chreanne Montgomery-Smith, who runs support groups for the Newbury branch of Britain's Alzheimer's Society. On cue, the 40 or so Alzheimer's and dementia patients join hands and begin singing in unison — a tentative rendition of Amazing Grace. More

Hospice Has Social Workers to Help Families Talk Out Practical Matters of Death
from the Winston-Salem Journal
Talking about death can be uncomfortable. But if you want to die as you wish, it's essential that you talk about what you want with your loved ones and back up those wishes with the appropriate documentation. When someone starts working with Hospice & Palliative CareCenter of Winston-Salem, a social worker goes out to talk about practical matters: the person's financial situation and the importance of making funeral arrangements, naming someone to make health-care decisions for you when you cannot speak for yourself, deciding what sort of medical interventions you may or may not want. More

Hard Working: Piecing Life Together
from Chicago Public Radio
One and a half million people in Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan were out of jobs at the end of 2008. They’re neighbors and friends, people we stand next to on the El, and walk past on the street. Their stories inspired a series we’re calling Hard Working –that’s all about jobs and joblessness, work and what it means when work is hard to find. More

Upcoming Events Beyond a Shadow of a Diet: The Treatment of Compulsive Eating (2/27/09) Are You Sure About Positive Psychology? (3/6/09)