Master’s student Emily Rooke-Ley has been selected by the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health as a 2017 Ima Hogg Scholarship recipient. This award, in the amount of $5,000, will support Rooke-Ley’s studies prior to launching a career in providing mental health services to underserved and underrepresented individuals and their communities in Texas.
“It is an honor and a privilege to have the support of the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health,” Rooke-Ley said. “I am deeply committed to a social contract that requires each and every one of us to aid others in the challenges of health, economic stability, and wellbeing. I look forward to dedicating my career to working with historically marginalized populations experiencing mental health issues.”
Rooke-Ley is completing her first social work internship at Austin’s Matthews Elementary, where she conducts weekly individual counseling sessions with students, provides brief counseling, and helped develop an interactive suicide prevention curriculum for grades 6-12 in the Austin Independent School District.
The Ima Hogg Scholarships, established in 1956, are one of the ways that the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health works to create positive impact on mental health services in Texas. The scholarship program was created at the request of founder Miss Ima Hogg to address the need for more trained social workers to provide quality mental health services in the state. Recipients are selected on the basis of academic achievement and their commitment to providing mental health services after graduation.