Reporting on counseling, crisis work and the programs that hold families together
The Family Casebook
Field notes on counseling, crisis work, parent education and the programs behind them.
Every story here takes one question about family social services and answers it: what a course of counseling actually involves, how a family preservation case is opened and closed, what a parent education workshop teaches, or where the money for a caregiver program comes from. The answer comes first, then the section a reader can jump to, then the sources the editors read. Stories are filed under four sections: counseling and therapy, crisis and family protection, parenting and family education, and the community, volunteers and funding side of the work.
Individual, couples and family counseling, employee assistance, trauma and chemical dependency work, and what a course of treatment actually involves.
Counseling and therapy
An employee assistance program usually covers a handful of free, confidential counseling sessions arranged through an employer, plus referrals. Here is what it pays for and what it does not.
· 4 min
Counseling and therapy
A pet can steady a client between sessions, but it is not a therapist. What clinicians claim, when a dog helps, and what no counselor should promise.
· 5 min
Family violence, family preservation, emergency relief and the casework that keeps a household safe when it is at its most fragile.
Parent education, family life education, workshops and the practical guidance families ask for first.
Parenting and family education
A community calendar works as a referral tool when it is built around a family's week: date, time, place, price and age range, in that order.
· 5 min
Parenting and family education
What a map and atlas collection teaches a family agency about running a weekly literacy hour that families actually return to, and what never to promise.
· 6 min
Older adults, caregiver services, volunteering, donations and the tax credit and United Way funding that pay for the work.
Support, volunteers and funding
A caregiver respite program pays for short-term, substitute care so a family caregiver can take a break. Here is what it typically covers, who qualifies, and how to apply.
· 4 min
Support, volunteers and funding
A family violence or preservation case has to answer one question fast: where does the animal go? Here is how caseworkers, shelters and rescues sort it out.
· 6 min
Support, volunteers and funding
Field notes from volunteers who stayed for years show why continuity, not intensity, is what changes a household's willingness to accept help.
· 5 min
Desks kept by other people that answer a neighbouring question: what a volunteer actually does, how a community program is run, what care for an animal or an older adult asks of the household. Each one was read before it was listed here, and each is named for what it holds.
Readers of Otcovsky kompas find a Czech guide to active fatherhood, walking through each stage from before birth to a child's departure, plus the country's parental leave rules and courses for fathers.
Cradle & Compass walks readers through pregnancy help in Dallas and Fort Worth, from WIC and pregnancy Medicaid to prenatal care, food aid, housing, baby supplies, perinatal mental health, adoption, paternity and child support.
The Amen Corner reads like a gospel tunebook, with numbered entries on choir rehearsal, Tampa mass choir tradition, robes, risers, the director's role, congregational singing, hymn lining, quartets and family groups.
The Tideline Journal reads like a Downeast harbor health almanac, with plain guides on first family doctor visits, annual checkups, patient portals, children's dental care from age one, and counseling access in rural coastal Maine.
Parish & Pew suit la vie des paroisses protestantes historiques, avec des ressources d'évangélisation, des audits d'hospitalité et des réflexions hebdomadaires sur l'année lectionnaire.
Sawmill Steel Co. détaille la fabrication en atelier, du certificat de coulée lu avant le sciage au contrôle d'ajustement avant soudure, puis le montage sur chantier, du carré d'une travée au couple des boulons A325.