Photo courtesy of WLWT.com

Social workers help people when they are sometimes at the lowest point in their lives. That is why you should read this story from WLWT Channel 5 in Cincinnati.

The television news program did an article and television segment on “Victims Advocate,” a group of University of Cincinnati School of Social Work students who provide services to the families of homicide victims. Members of the group recently met with the family of Mark Hooten, 16, who was gunned down in July while standing at a bus stop.

Hooten, a high school basketball player and youth mentor, was on the way to work.

Group members say they are learning crime victim advocacy skills they would never get by reading a textbook. “I didn’t know it would be so intense, but emotionally, it’s a lot. It’s a lot,” student Monica Middleton said.

To learn more about how social workers help people cope with death, visit the National Association of Social Workers’ “Help Starts Here” Death and Dying Web site by clicking here.