Psychosocial and Educational Professionals
Child Life Specialists
The
Child Life Program is designed to meet the unique emotional needs of
children and young adults with acute and/or chronic illnesses.
Our professional staff includes a music therapist, a recreation therapist, and an art therapist who can help address your child’s needs through a variety of therapeutic interventions.
The Child Life team works with patients to decrease a child’s stress and anxiety in the medical/hospital environment and during medical procedures while promoting our patients’ self-expression and mastery of the environment.
The Child Life team uses arts and crafts, music, and games to normalize the environment and provide opportunities for children and young adults to socialize, to explore, and to express their feelings.
Our playroom is a place where special events, such as holidays and birthdays, are celebrated to help normalize the hospital environment.
Our therapists also work with patients and family members to transition back to school after a diagnosis or prolonged absence.
Members of the Child Life team encourage children of all ages to play with "pretend" or actual medical equipment as a way of learning about the hospital environment and its procedures. Medical play allows patients to act out their feelings and concerns while also alerting the therapist to any misconceptions they might have.
The Child Life team works to make each patient’s visit to Hassenfeld personalized and special.
Psychologist
Our pediatric clinical psychologist provides direct and consultative services to patients and families including psychological screenings, neuropsychological testing, and behavioral interventions for specific difficulties (e.g. sadness, nervousness, sleep difficulties, fears, pain, and difficulties with medical procedures).
Upon becoming a patient at Hassenfeld Center, an initial consultation will be offered by the patient’s treating physician, a member of the professional psychology office, or other allied health professionals.
Patients and family members can request a consultation at any time directly from the Psychology Office by calling our main number. During this process, patients and family members participate in designing a specific plan to assist them through the treatment process.
Opportunities for ongoing psychotherapeutic support using pediatric psychology interventions and cognitive rehabilitation are available. Our psychologist also acts as a liaison with psychiatry and provides outside referrals for additional mental health services.
Psychological services are covered under most insurance plans as part of the hematology/oncology treatments, and/or as outpatient mental health benefits. Please ask for help from our financial counselors with determining which mental health benefits are available through your insurance plan. Sliding fee scales are also available to cover out-of-network costs and/or consultations not covered by your insurance.
Family Health Librarian
The
Family Health Resource Center at the Stephen D. Hassenfeld Children’s
Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders is a resource center and consumer
health library for patients and families of the Hassenfeld Center.
Our Center is staffed by a professional medical librarian who functions as a member of a patient’s integrated health care team and assists patients and families in finding accurate, current, and understandable information related to a patient’s diagnosis and treatment. Patients or family members can meet with our librarian who can help them with their health and wellness questions.
Our resources include books, magazines, brochures, databases, and electronic resources. The Center's collection and mission support Hassenfeld’s goals of promoting health, wellness, education, and resilience among patients and their loved ones.
Patient Advocate
Hassenfeld’s patient advocate is a volunteer who works with families by talking to them about the family experience of childhood cancer and blood disorders.
The patient advocate helps parents and family members by talking with them, by presenting suggestions about how to manage challenging events during treatment, by finding ways to make the family clinic visit more comfortable, by connecting them to useful resources within and outside the NYUMC community, and by interfacing with the care team on behalf of the patient and his or her family.
Hassenfeld’s patient advocate brings the valuable personal experience of having a child who is a cancer survivor.
Social Workers
Social work services are a very important part of the interdisciplinary services offered at Hassenfeld.
Patients and families work closely with our social workers in a number of ways. Our social workers work with patients and families to assess a family’s psychosocial needs, to develop an individualized plan for a patient’s care, and to find ways to connect families with resources and services.
The Hassenfeld social workers are also available to talk. Treatment can be a difficult time for patients and their family members, and our social workers are happy to provide supportive counseling to help patients and family members talk about social and emotional challenges that arise.
Sometimes patients and family members want to come together with others in support group settings; our social workers connect patients and family members with the community of survivors.
The Hassenfeld social workers know our patients and families very well; they work hard behind the scenes facilitating home care, insurance concerns, finance issues, referrals, and much more on behalf of our patients. Our team of social workers advocate for our patients. They talk with medical staff, as well as outside agencies, to be certain that patients are receiving the services they need.
The social workers at Hassenfeld specialize in working with pediatric hematology and oncology patients and they are committed to providing the best possible services to all patients and their family members.
