Parents with cancer and other life-threatening illnesses identify having medical and mental health clinicians with expertise and attunement to their parenting concerns as an important unmet need.

This course will provide a format for identifying parenting concerns and providing expert parent guidance to parents in treatment for cancer, from a new diagnosis to recurrence and end of life. This multi-session course includes both didactics and video of clinical interactions.

Course topics include a brief review of literature that supports the need for parent guidance during a parent’s serious illness, a discussion of the impact of child development and temperament on a child’s adjustment to parental illness, and a video illustration of the clinical intervention. Content is targeted for mental health clinicians who work in medical settings, community mental health providers who see families impacted by cancer or other life-threatening illnesses, and non-mental health practitioners who treat patients facing parenting challenges during illness.