Description:

Our weekly youth support groups are moving online! There are three different groups for kids and teens who have a parent or loved-one with cancer:

• Ages 4-8 (Mondays, 4-5 pm)
• Ages 9-12 (Wednesdays, 3-4 pm)
• Ages 13-18 (Mondays, 7-8 pm)

We are keeping the good stuff (professional facilitator, engaging therapeutic art & games, relevant education about cancer and practical tools for coping) while making the groups more accessible to all families living in Wisconsin. Kids and teens will experience the valuable connection to peers who understand what they're going through, which is more important now than ever in our physically distanced world.    

How to Participate:

• Kids and teens will need access to a computer/tablet/smart phone connected to the internet in order to join the group via Zoom. They will also need headphones and a private space in order to maintain as much privacy as possible for all participants.   
• Each week will have a theme and designated materials, most of which can be found around the house. Facilitators will always make adjustments and be flexible to accommodate the "stuck at home" environment in which we're living.
• You'll need to be a member of Gilda's Club (NO COST, just a simple process) and reside in the state of Wisconsin due to clinical licensure requirements. There will also be a form to complete specific to the Kid Support/Teen Time support group and a short check-in with staff on the phone or via zoom to orient your family to the group.
• Contact Program Manager Carissa Hodgson to get started: 

carissa@gildasclubmadison.org

608.828.8875

About the Kid Support Facilitator:

Carissa Hodgson, LCSW, OSW-C has been a Program Manager at Gilda’s Club Madison (an affiliate of the Cancer Support Community) since 2009. Her work centers around supporting kids and families who are navigating cancer, shaped largely by her father having lung cancer when she was a child and her step-father’s diagnosis of liver cancer when she was a young adult. In her role at Gilda’s Club she is able to work directly with survivors and co-survivors of all ages, as well as develop psychoeducational programs to support the whole family.    

Carissa earned her Master of Social Work degree from UW Madison in 2007. She is a Family Therapist and Oncology Social Worker whose work also includes therapy with individuals, groups and families in outpatient, day-treatment, in-home and animal-assisted settings. Areas of interest and practice are child and adolescent development, chronic illness, caregiving, gender identity, sexuality, trauma, grief and loss, and family systems. Carissa is also an Associate Lecturer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, most recently teaching a graduate course on Grief, Death, Loss and Life.

Carissa has been a member of the Association of Oncology Social Work since 2015 and presently sits as co-chair of the Youth, Families and Cancer Special Interest Group.

Zoom access is provided by our Technology Sponsors, the Wisconsin Cancer Collaborative and UW Carbone Cancer Center.