Professor of Social Work at William Woods appointed to prestigious national council on mental health

Fulton, MO - A Professor of Social Work at William Woods University (WWU) has been appointed to the advisory council of one of the nation's leading mental health organizations.

Dr. Stephen Cooper, who also serves as the Director of the Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) program at WWU, will join the National Advisory Council of the Hogg Foundation, a national and international leader in mental health and wellness. The Hogg Foundation was founded in 1940 to contribute to a future in which people with mental health challenges would be treated with respect and dignity, and mental health would be seen as indivisible from all other aspects of a flourishing and healthy life (https://hogg.utexas.edu/who-we-are).

"The members of the Hogg Foundation National Advisory Council are well respected leaders in their respective areas, and this invitation to serve on the council is both an incredible opportunity and honor for me," said Cooper, who is just starting his third year as a member of the WWU faculty. "I hope my experiences working in and with rural communities to improve mental health, wellness, and well-being will be helpful to the Hogg Foundation in pursuit of its mission - 'transform how communities promote mental health in everyday life.'"

A Social Work educator known for his contributions in rural social work practice, Dr. Cooper has taught BSW and Master's of Social Work courses with an emphasis on research, statistics, policy, and community/organizational practice. He has more than 30 years of work experience in rural communities including law enforcement; child and adolescent mental health; residential treatment; administration; and rural network planning and development, and has led the design and implementation of multiple successful efforts to build community and regional collaboratives to address challenges related to mental health care, substance abuse, healthcare, wellness, and well-being. Examples of such include the following: the Rural East Texas Health Network, a 12-county collaborative involving mental health providers, law enforcement agencies, courts, county government, and medical/surgical hospitals in addressing issues related to managing mental health crises (funded by the U.S. Department of Health, Health Resources and Services Administration); Better Together, a multi-sector community level collaborative focused on improving wellness and well-being in Nacogdoches County, Texas (funded by the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health); and the Center for Applied Research and Rural Innovation (CARRI), a regional multi-sector partnership in Deep East Texas to leverage the resources of a regional comprehensive university to support regional community, economic, and workforce development (funded by the Economic Development Administration and State of Texas).

Dr. Cooper is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, where he received his PhD in Social Work, and Stephen F. Austin University in Nacogdoches, Texas, where he earned both a Master's in Social Work and a Bachelor of Science in Psychology.

For more on the Social Work program at WWU, please visit: