Hertwig Lecture To Focus On Caregiver Care
Author: News Bureau
Posted: Tuesday, November 26, 2013 7:43 PM
Category:
School of Health Sciences
Macon, GA
The annual Hertwig Lecture is hosted by Middle Georgia State's School of Health Sciences and sponsored through the generosity of the Hertwig Fund of the Community Foundation of Central Georgia.
A continental breakfast will be served beginning at at 9:30 a.m. RSVP online at http://whoozin.com/WEX-Y7W-WCG3 or by calling 478-471-2783.
Macon Campus map and directions: https://www.mga.edu/about/maps.php.
More about the speaker:
Dr. Sally Hill Jones received her B.A. in Sociology and Psychology at Trinity University in Deerfield, Illinois in 1974, her MSW from the University of Chicago, School of Social Service Administration in 1978, and her PhD in Clinical Social Work at the Institute for Clinical Social Work in Chicago in 1993. She worked as a clinical social worker in the Chicago area for many years in social service agencies and private practice. Jones developed a specialty in work with trauma survivors and also served as a consultant on trauma therapy for counseling agencies. This work led to her interest in the effects of this work on the therapist in the forms of secondary trauma and compassion fatigue, the subject of her dissertation research.
In 1995 Jones became the primary caregiver for her mother, who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease. She experienced first-hand the gifts and difficulties of being a family caregiver, sharing the care of her mother with her two sisters until her mother’s death in 2005. During this time, she also began her work as a hospice social worker. She experienced and observed the unique stresses and rewards of hospice work and developed a position assisting hospice staff with job-related difficulties. In this position, she offered in-services and individual self-care planning sessions with hospice staff. In addition, Jones began to teach social work courses at Texas State University School of Social Work and eventually became a full-time faculty member in 2004.
Jones has made presentations and offered workshops on self-care for a variety of audiences, including firefighters, school social workers, clinical social workers, child protection workers, clergy and hospice volunteers and professionals. Her research has focused on secondary trauma and compassion fatigue among professional trauma workers, with a recent focus on hospice workers.
Jones views the end of life as a time rich with possibilities and important physical, emotional, relational and spiritual work to be done, which requires the skilled and compassionate guidance of professional and family caregivers.