Phyllis Solomon, a researcher and professor at the School of Social Policy & Practice at the University of Pennsylvania, received the Distinguished Career Achievement Award at the 18th Annual Society for Social Work and Research conference in January.
According to the school, Solomon has spent a lifetime dedicated to researching adults with severe mental illness and their families. As an expert in mental health service delivery issues and psychiatric rehabilitation, her research has highlighted the effectiveness of family interventions and peer-provided services, as well as the intersection of criminal justice and mental health services.
“Professor Phyllis Solomon has long been one of the leaders in the field of severe mental illness and mental health services,” said Richard J. Gelles, the dean of the school. “Her recognition by the Society for Social Work Research is a testimony to her exceptional scholarly contributions.”
An article posted on Penn News online says Solomon’s research into the treatment of people with severe psychiatric disorders was cutting-edge. As early as the 1980s, she was on to something innovative, it says. The idea was that people who shared similar disorders could help each other.
Solomon’s research is referenced more today than when it was originally published, the article says.
In the 1980s and early 1990s, Solomon studied the mental health needs of the homeless, as well as the intersection of criminal justice and mental health.
NASW member Deberey Hinchey was elected the first female mayor for the city of Norwich, Conn., in November.
An article published on the Day Connecticut website says Hinchey retired from her career as a clinical social worker for the Visiting Nurse Association-East in order to devote full attention to her new leadership role.
“I said goodbye to my last patient today,” she says in the article. “It was hard. That was a job I absolutely enjoyed.”
Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy issued a statement saying Hinchey has “been an advocate for investing in downtown infrastructure for economic development while also supporting local services that guarantee a great quality of life. I look forward to working with her and partnering with her administration.”
Hinchey is a 1997 graduate of the University of Connecticut School of Social Work and a former intern at the Nancy A. Humphreys Institute for Political Social Work.