Hanna Perkins’ highly respected course, The Hospitalized Child, is designed for child life specialists, social workers and therapists who work with children facing lengthy or repeated hospitalizations.
It focuses on the social-emotional challenges families face, offering insights and tools that aren’t taught in most college or post-graduate programs. This enables caregivers to go well beyond the medical and occupational needs that arise, to also serve the child’s inner needs and address the developmental disruptions that frequently occur as a result of prolonged or chronic illnesses.
The course is held entirely online in 8 monthly sessions, and qualifies for 12 social work CEUs. It’s appropriate for experienced specialists and well as those who are new to the field. It’s open to participants from any location in Ohio.
Ordinarily costing $160, we are currently able to offer this course free of charge, thanks to a generous grant from Elisabeth Severance Prentiss Foundation.
Participants will learn new approaches to:
- Evaluate and understand the individual child’s situation;
- Help the patient and family manage the stresses and disruptions of hospitalization;
- Apply general concepts of child development to skillful address social-emotional needs.
Because of the interactive nature of the class, enrollees will also have the opportunity to discuss specific circumstances from their own case load – a rare opportunity to earn CEUs and receive meaningful consultation at no cost.
The course includes facilitated therapeutic journaling – meant to strengthen the support system within each cohort. Therapeutic journaling is a discipline that promotes awareness, insight, change and personal growth.