Community Health & Well-being

by Maria Lameiras | April 24, 2020 From exercise and meditation to keeping in touch with loved ones and maintaining routines, University of Georgia experts recommend that people formulate strategies to help mitigate the stress many people are experiencing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. “Stress is simply a reaction that happens when a […]

by Laurie Anderson | May 15, 2019 Georgia farmers are champions at tackling challenges they can see – bad weather, insects and livestock disease, to name a few. Their higher-than-average suicide rate, however, indicates they may need some support in addressing stress and depression. A new study led by a University of Georgia researcher, in collaboration […]

Individuals in recovery from addiction or mental illness often struggle with managing wellness and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Without any assistance, many cycle back into hospitals, jails or homelessness. Georgia’s peer support program helps people achieve well-being and independence, and will soon benefit from work conducted by University of Georgia researchers. Over the next 16 […]

In 2017, with about 2.1 million people in the United States suffering from substance use disorders, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services declared a public health emergency to address the nation’s growing opioid epidemic. As part of a new initiative called the Five-Point Strategy, the U.S. Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) recently […]

You can’t solve a public health crisis if you don’t have the workforce to tackle it. And the U.S.—Georgia, in particular—has a massive shortage of health care professionals trained to address substance use disorders. The University of Georgia’s School of Social Work is aiming to close that gap, by partnering with local behavioral health agencies […]

by Laurie Anderson | Dec. 19, 2019 The road to recovery can be full of detours. Sometimes people need extra guidance to find their pathway to success. That’s the idea behind Georgia’s Day Reporting Centers. Since 2002, these centers have provided intensive, community-based counseling and rehabilitative services for nonviolent probationers and parolees with substance use […]

By Merritt Melancon | Feb. 19, 2020 Much like their counterparts across the nation, farmers in Georgia have experienced increased rates of suicide and stress over the last decade. To help curb these statistics, an interdisciplinary team of researchers and University of Georgia Cooperative Extension faculty have teamed up to help understand the causes of […]

Student loan debt per se is not a bad thing, but people need to know what they’re getting into,” said Gaurav Sinha, lead author of the study and an assistant professor in UGA’s School of Social Work. “People have a limited cognitive bandwidth. We spend a lot of time thinking about money and our debts. […]

Recent School of Social Work graduate Madison Smith working with the Farm Bureau’s Farm State of Mind campaign developed the first comprehensive online guide to rural mental health resources. After a year of research and compilation, the site went live earlier this month,offering an online portal that can help connect farmers to various resources, from […]

Jenay Beer, associate professor in both the School of Social Work and the College of Public Health, is one of the recipients of the third round of Presidential Interdisciplinary Seed Grants. This project, co-led by Lisa Renzi-Hammond and Jenay Beer, will develop a UGA center focused on countering state-wide disparities in prevention and access to […]

The UGA School of Social Work has received a Sahm Award for its partnership with Farm to Neighborhood’s HEALTHYouth program, which builds sustainable healthy eating habits in elementary and middle school youth by providing nutrition education that teaches hands-on skills along with healthy meal planning and budgeting tips. Farm to Neighborhood is an Athens-Clarke county-based […]