Rural Health Book Club
Waco AHEC is proud to invite you to our book club. We will be discussing issues in the healthcare field through reading accessible texts, and then discussing the materials at our meeting on the last Wednesday of every month. Reading the text is not mandatory for attendance.
AHEC Scholars can earn up to two didactic hours each month by participating in RHBC. One can be earned by reading the text and completing the linked Google form for the month. The second can be earned by attending the discussion session.
How does it work?
Each month we will read a book concerning rural health. Scholars will have the opportunity to answer questions about the text in order to earn credit for reading the book, and then an additional hour for attending the meeting. Community members can register on Zoom without taking the quiz.
The book club meeting itself is held on at 12:00 PM CST on the last Wednesday of every month. Attendees are encouraged to discuss their experience with the book, as well as any connections they’ve found in their own practice.
Healthcare professionals and students do not frequently have space to discuss the social, political, and intersectional issues they may see every day. We’re here to provide a safe, accessible space to change that.
Hooked by Lonny Shavelson
Highly readable and shaped by Shavelson’s experience as a journalist and physician, Hooked takes us through the anguishing “intake” and controversial House meetings, inside counselors’ and judges’ offices where many treatment decisions are made, and to prison cells where, under current policies, many addicts end up. It explores the links between drug addiction, mental illness, and trauma, including child abuse—links often ignored by current rehab efforts—and argues for an integrated approach that treats the roots of drug abuse, not just the behavior itself.
September 25, 2024, 12:00 PM CST
Abolition and Social Work, an essay collection
Within social work—a profession that has been intimately tied to and often complicit in the building and sustaining of the carceral state—abolitionist thinking, movement-building, and radical praxis are shifting the field. Critical scholarship and organizing have helped to name and examine the realities of carceral social work as a form of “soft policing.” For radical social work, abolition moves beyond critique to the politics of possibility.
Featuring a foreword by Mariame Kaba, Abolition and Social Work offers an orientation to abolitionist theory for social workers and explores the tensions and paradoxes in realizing abolitionist practice in social work—a necessary intervention in contemporary discourse regarding carceral social work, and a compass for recentering this work through the lens of abolition, transformative justice, and collective care.
October 30th, 2024, 12:00 PM CST
Healing Justice Lineages by Cara Page and Erica Woodland
The purpose of this project is to pay homage to the history and lineage of Healing Justice and the ways our people have always known of collective care, safety and healing strategies as integral to our political liberation. I am honored to co-edit this anthology with Erica Woodland, founder and Executive Director of National Queer & Trans Therapists of Color Network.
A profound offering and call to action—collective stories, testimonials, and incantations for renewing political and spiritual liberation grounded in Black, Indigenous, People of Color, and Queer and Trans healing justice lineages
November 20st, 2024, 12:00 PM CST
FAQs
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The RHBC is held on the last Wednesday of every month, at 12:00 PM CST.
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No! Both Scholars and community members are welcome to attend to participate in the discussion, regardless of if they’ve read the book or not.
Scholars will earn one didactic hour for attending the session, regardless of if they’ve read the book.
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No! Scholars may earn one didactic hour through reading the book and answering the quiz questions linked underneath each month’s book.
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Most books are available at your local library, or through inter-library loan. Audio book copies can also be accessed through Libby or cloudLibrary. If you are in the Waco area, physical copies are available on a first come, first served basis.
Scholars who need a copy can contact caelie.morris@txaheceast.org or their local center for an audio or ebook copy.
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On top of building community and sharing knowledge, book club attendees who attend 3 meetings in a semester will earn a Starbucks gift card. Be there or be square!
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Please reach out to Morris at caelie.morris@txaheceast.org
They are happy to help with any additional accommodations or questions.