Congratulations to Kerry Irish and Debra Mattison, two longtime oncology social workers and AOSW members, who have written a new book titled Navigating Serious Illness: A Pathway for Exploring Life, Love, & Legacy. Using their decades of experience working with oncology patients and families, this book is designed to serve as a supportive resource for individuals with a serious illness and their loved ones, as well as a meaningful and practical clinical resource for oncology, palliative care, and hospice social workers and other mental health professionals.

Navigating Serious Illness begins with clear chapter guideposts that address common challenges experienced by those living with life-threatening illness, as well as their loved ones. Readers are provided with many opportunities in each chapter to engage in reflection, writing, and soul-searching using reflective prompts designed to foster insight, facilitate coping, and support meaningful conversations. The second section of the book offers suggestions for embracing life and living fully with serious illness. Readers are invited to use a self-directed, gentle pace to explore their experiences, what has mattered in life, what continues to sustain them as sources of coping, meaning, hope, and purpose, and how they wish to live moving forward. The book closes with a comprehensive appendix focused on attending to “practical matters” with concrete tools to foster a sense of choice and peace of mind.

Designed to be a comforting guide and source of valuable information and resources for people facing life-threatening illness and their families and loved ones, as well as a clinically relevant tool for professionals, Navigating Serious Illness can be used in a variety of ways, including:

• A resource tool for individuals with serious illness to be self-guided and supported as they reflect, write, and cope with uncertainty.
• A clinical counseling tool for clinicians to use with individual clients.
• A discussion guide for clinicians facilitating a focused support group on living with life-threatening illness.
• A resource for families, loved ones, and friends searching for understanding and ways to support a loved one with a life-threatening illness.
• A life review and written legacy work to remember, reflect on, validate, and acknowledge life experiences, with opportunities to leave written words of insight, values, and legacy for oneself and others.

Recognizing common threads of humanity, mortality, meaning, hope, and choice, Navigating Serious Illness encourages readers to grapple with unknowable aspects of the future through engagement and grounding in life’s present opportunities and choices.

What AOSW colleagues and reviewers are saying about the book:

This book is an essential guide for anyone facing serious illness and for those who love and care for them. Irish and Mattison bring their decades of experience and wisdom as oncology social workers to offer practical and compassionate insights that focus on living life, embracing joy and self-compassion in your journey, and doing so in community with those you love. This is a book to be savored slowly, allowing you to dive deep into the narratives, advice, inspiration, and research. Using poetry, prompts, reflections, meditations, insights from research, and spiritual traditions, this book will be your friend and your guide to deeper meaning, love, and legacy.
~Barbara L. Jones, PhD, MSW, Dean and Professor, Boston University School of Social Work

This book is essential reading for patients and care partners seeking meaning, guidance, and solace amid serious illness. As a clinician specializing in psycho-oncology, I consider it an indispensable resource—one that I will continue to recommend without hesitation. For social workers, therapists, and the broader healthcare team, it offers a thoughtfully crafted framework for supporting the whole person with empathy and intention.
~Krista Nelson, LCSW, OSW-C, FAOSW, FAPOS, FACCC, Manager, Providence Cancer Institute; Editor-in-Chief, Oncology Issues

This book is an extraordinary resource and one I would recommend to anyone impacted by serious (or not so serious) illness. The text itself is beautifully written, carefully curated, and easy to follow. Patients, caregivers, and healthcare providers will all find value within.
~Leora Lowenthal, LICSW, OSW-C, MPA, FAOSW, Senior Clinical Social Worker, Department of Supportive Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

This compassionate and insightful book offers a valuable roadmap for navigating the complex emotional and spiritual terrain of serious illness. Through thoughtful exercises, poignant stories, and practical wisdom, it guides readers to explore meaning, cultivate resilience, and deepen connections during challenging times. This resource will be immensely helpful not only for patients and families facing serious illness, but also for clinicians, students, and anyone seeking to live with greater intention and depth.
~ Tara J. Schapmire, PhD, MSSW, OSW-C, APHSW-C, FAOSW, FAPOS; Associate Professor of Medicine & Affiliated Associate Professor of Social Work; Interdisciplinary Program for Palliative Care and Chronic Illness; University of Louisville School of Medicine.

Navigating Serious Illness: A Pathway for Exploring Life, Love, & Legacy is available through Book Baby, Amazon, and other booksellers!