Social Worker Returns to Senior Care

Lisa Brinkerhoff, licensed clinical social worker, has returned to Paris to do what she enjoys most: helping seniors cope with life’s challenges.

Lisa left Senior Care, a service of Horizon Health, in 2015 to work as a social worker in Chicago. She later returned to Paris to help care for her terminally ill father, and in 2020, began working again as a full-time therapist at Senior Care.

“I’m very happy to be back,” she said. “I love Paris. I’m a rural country girl at heart.”

Upon returning to Paris, Lisa was reunited with Senior Care staff, including Connie Rhoads, licensed clinical social worker and Senior Care manager. Together they provide individual, group, and family counseling for older adults who are experiencing a variety of behavioral health conditions.

“We feel very lucky to get Lisa back with even more experience and exposure to different cultures,” Connie said. “She relates very well to our patients.”

While in Chicago, Lisa worked at a mental health agency in the Orthodox Jewish community on the city’s north side where she experienced “great culture and diversity.”

“I wanted to expand my career options at the time,” she explained. “It was a good chapter in my life, but working with the elderly is my niche. Senior Care is a better fit for me where I can help patients cope with their anxiety and depression.”

Lisa has 25 years of experience as a social worker. She earned a master’s degree in social work from the University of Illinois in Champaign. She has a bachelor’s of science degree in family and consumer services and a minor in psychology from Eastern Illinois University.

Lisa was born in Paris. She has twin sons, Justin and Chris, and four grandchildren.

Senior Care is a voluntary behavioral health service for Medicare patients ages 65 and older, as well as Medicare disability patients. The program assists older adults with depression, grief, anxiety, loneliness, and other emotional/psychiatric conditions.

Senior Care recently relocated to the new Life Center building on the Horizon Health main campus. For more information about Senior Care, visit MyHorizonHealth.org/SeniorCare.