“Cancer is more than just a physical disease,” says Amy Horyna, a licensed clinical social worker at Huntsman Cancer Institute. “Our social workers really focus on the emotional toll that cancer takes.”
Social workers offer crucial support to patients. They help address the emotional needs of cancer patients and their families in a variety of ways:
- Individual, couples, and family counseling
- Group therapy
- Support groups
- Quality of life and end of life care planning
- Crisis intervention
- General help with coping
“We also help a lot of people with the practical issues and day-to-day burdens of cancer,” says Horyna. Practical needs include housing for family and out-of-state patients, transportation to and from appointments, and financial assistance.
“Social workers are trained to look at a person from several different perspectives,” says Horyna. “This provides us an opportunity to really work with people on whatever level they need, whether it’s getting some community involvement, working on a family level, or working one-on-one with somebody to cope.”
I love our patients! I love forging long-term relationships with incredible people during a really difficult time in their lives and growing to love them dearly. Sometimes that makes this work harder, but those relationships and making space for those feelings is what drove me to social work in the first place.
Nichole Robinson, LCSW, OSW-C