Social Work

How We Help

Social workers and mental health counselors provide compassionate, professional and culturally-sensitive assistance to help children and families cope with illness, injury and disability. We help you deal with your child’s course of care and relieve your family’s stress as much as possible. It’s our job to anticipate your every need and provide your family with emotional support, counseling and resource assistance during your stay — and beyond.

Services We Provide

In addition to offering emotional support, our social workers can help coordinate the health care your child receives to make it as easy as possible for you. We can also facilitate improvements your child might need at school or at home, to solve and cope with problems in their everyday lives, and generally make things easier and less scary or overwhelming — especially for families of kids with chronic and/or serious illnesses.

Counseling & Support

We can help your family understand the impact serious illness or injury can have on daily living by providing talk therapy and coping strategies, offering bereavement counseling and fostering family involvement in your child’s medical care.

Crisis Intervention

We’re here to support your family and help you cope with trauma, death or a life-threatening/serious diagnosis by orienting you with the hospital and our services, mobilizing your support system and providing end-of-life assistance. In cases of child abuse or domestic violence, we can help coordinate safe discharge with outside agencies.

Community Liaison Services

Your social worker can aid in securing emergency assistance, identifying state and federal programs, and accessing nonprofit services as needed. We also provide ongoing needs assessment, service coordination, information and referrals, consultation regarding custody and consent issues, and transition to adult care for kids with chronic conditions and complex illnesses.

Community Advocacy

We’ll help coordinate access to community services with local agencies, schools, and insurance companies, and help you understand your health care rights and responsibilities. As advocates we serve as board members of local non-profit organizations, tirelessly working to impact government policies and promote public awareness about pediatric health care issues.

Support Groups

Social workers also create and assist onsite support groups for parents and youth.