“The School of Social Work is seeking to encourage a community-based response to support the well-being of those who are affected by deployment to Iraq as well as humanitarian missions such as tsunami relief,” said Assistant Professor Kathryn Conley Wehrmann, chair of the workshop event. “By helping our students and human service providers in Central Illinois understand the issues that confront members of our active military—veterans and their families—we are making a contribution to a critical healing process for all.”

Featured guest James Martin, retired U.S. Army Colonel and Associate Professor at Bryn Mawr College Graduate School of Social Work and Research, will discuss the current nature of military service and military family life for active, National Guard, and Reserve personnel. Martin is the senior editor of The Military Family: A Practice Guide for Human Service Providers (2000) and has a number of recent publications on issues related to human services, military family issues, and the development of 21st century military communities.

Throughout the day, conference participants will workshop ideas and identify strategies to address issues such as major initiatives designed to support and sustain military families; need for and development of intervention opportunities related to supporting families during periods of military mobilization; helping veterans and families cope with post-service adjustment such as post-traumatic stress issues; assisting the recovery, rehabilitation and readjustment of injured veterans; and issues unique to women veterans including sexual assault and abuse.

The day will be dedicated to Lance Cpl. Christopher E. Zimny, a 2000 graduate of the School of Social Work, who died in Iraq's Babil Province in February. Zimny enlisted in the Marines a month after the September 11 terrorist attacks. He previously had received two Purple Hearts for injuries sustained in earlier battles.