Helping Children and Families Negotiate the Stress of Living with a Life-Threatening Illness

DESCRIPTION

Each year in the U.S. thousands of children and adolescents undergo treatment for newly diagnosed life-threatening illnesses and millions more are affected by a caregiver’s life-threatening illness. Social workers across a wide range of professional settings are likely to find such youth and families are in their care. A more in depth understanding of their needs and responses within a developmental context will greatly enhance social work practice. This workshop will provide theoretical and practical information that will prepare participants to work with children and adolescents who are negotiating the complex social, emotional, and relational effects of life-threatening illness.

PRESENTERS

Mary Sormanti, MS, Ph.D., MSW is Professor of Professional Practice at Columbia University School of Social Work. She earned her MSW from New York University, her Ph.D. from Boston College in 1996 and a Master’s degree in Narrative Medicine from Columbia University. Dr. Sormanti has hospital and community-based clinical experience in oncology, end of life, grief, and trauma; she has taught graduate courses, presented internationally and published in each of these specialty areas.  For more information, please see Professor Sormanti’s CSSW bio.

Nancy Cincotta, LCSW, MSW, MPhil, CLS is a nationally known expert regarding issues that children and families experience while living with life-threatening illness, facing the end-of-life, and during bereavement. Ms. Cincotta is the Psychosocial Director at Camp Sunshine at Sebago Lake, which serves 800 families annually. She is on the faculty of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and teaches in the Genetics Counseling Master’s Degree program. Ms. Cincotta worked as a clinician and supervisor at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in the Department of Social Work for more than 30 years. She earned a Masters of Science in Social Work and a Masters in Philosophy from the Columbia University School of Social Work. She is a past president of the Association of Pediatric Oncology Social Workers, has been a Board Member with multiple professional and non-profit organizations.

For more information and to register for the event, please click here. 6.5 contact hours are available for NYS, NJ and CT Licensed Social Workers. Licensed Social Workers for other states, please refer to your state licensing agency and email swope@columbia.edu. This event is also open to the public. Livestream available.