Presenters: Joy Swanson Ernst, PhD, MSW; Faith Hopp, PhD, MSW; Frances Nedjat-Haiem, PhD, MSW, LCSW

CEs: 1.5 Social Work contact hours

This webinar explains the social worker’s role in serious illness care. We offer strategies including effective engagement with clients and family members, care planning throughout the course of the illness, collaborating within multidisciplinary teams, and advocating for social justice to address inequities.

Objectives:

Describe the three interrelated contexts of serious illness – the illness context, the formal support context, and the informal support context.

Apply social work communication and other relationship-building skills for providing emotional and instrumental support, including care planning, to diverse persons with serious illness and their family members. 

Choose social work-focused advocacy strategies that will increase clients’ access to care and uphold their self-determination to the greatest extent possible.

Cost: SPS Members: Free / Non-SPS NASW Members: $25 / Non-NASW Member: $40

Last Updated: 06/11/26