How long have you been an oncology social worker?
I began working with oncology patients at a small chronic hospital outside Boston in 1977, just after graduating with my MSW. I visited a friend who was being treated at the Dana Farber (then Sidney Farber) Cancer Institute (DFCI) in Boston and decided it was the career for me. This year, I will have been in the field 38 years.
 
Where do you currently work? What is your position? How long have you been there? Include prior oncology social work.
I worked at DFCI until 1983 when I started a doctoral program at Boston College School of Social Work and gave birth to my first daughter. I moved from Boston to Western Mass in 1985, just after my second daughter was born and took a job at a small community hospital, Cooley Dickinson, where I covered oncology, med-surg, the ER and sometimes maternity. There was only one other oncology social work position in the Pioneer Valley at the time. After a year and a half I went to work for the VNA and began a private practice, primarily working with clients with cancer.

I was then hired as the Director of Psychosocial Services for Hospice of Hampshire County and supervised five social workers, two volunteer coordinators, the bereavement coordinator and the spiritual coordinator. I finally got my doctorate in 1990 and taught as an adjunct at the Smith School of Social Work for a summer before getting an Assistant Professorship at Springfield College School of Social Work. I taught there for 19 years and now have been a Professor at Westfield State University for six years. I’ve continued my private practice since 1988.
 
Where did you earn your degrees?
BS, Smith College; MSW, Columbia University; PhD, Boston College
 
How long have you been a member of AOSW?
I have been with AOSW since its inception in 1984. My first director at Dana Farber was Noni Stearns, the first President of NAOSW (now AOSW). I was fortunate to “grow up” in the ‘80s in oncology when the organization was just beginning to bring oncology social workers together.
 
Have you attended an AOSW conference? When/where?
I’ve never counted how many conferences I attended, but I was there almost every year for 20 years. I was the Abstract Chair for Salt Lake City and President of AOSW from 2004-2006. I oversaw the conference committees for those years as well. I’ve been to many professional conferences for many disciplines. AOSW conferences are simply the BEST.
 
Other professional affiliations?
I’ve served on the Board of Directors of The Social Work Hospice and Palliative Care Network (SWPHN) for many years, and on the Board of the Massachusetts Chapter of NASW. I’ve also had the privilege of leading international exchanges to Cambodia, China and Hungary for the National Association of Social Workers. I also serve on the editorial board of the Journal of Social Work in End-of-Life and Palliative Care.
 
In your role as an oncology social worker/clinician, what is one of your favorite resources to share with clients? Why?
I work with so many survivors in my practice, so I routinely use the Cancer Survival Toolbox, which was initially developed by AOSW in conjunction with NCCS and ONS. I’ve contributed to a new Wellness Guide for Cancer Survivors by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health that has just published online. It is a great resource. ACS, Cancer Care, NCCS and LLSA are all excellent resources as well. There are so many now—we are all fortunate.
 
In your experience with survivors, would you share a memorable story with us? One that moved you?
Every survivor I have worked with has touched me and taught me so much about living. I feel so fortunate to have a career with so many rewards. I’ve written many of their stories in the chapters I’ve written for the Handbook of Oncology Social Work, the Textbook of Social Work in Palliative Care, and Living With Dying: A Handbook for End-of-Life Healthcare Practitioners. One of the most memorable of them all is a family I worked with at DFCI.

Bill Silva was a 40-year-old father of five children (ages 10-15) with metastatic melanoma, which was fatal at the time, and we made a teaching film together—“Cancer: A Family Journal.” His family was one of the most generous I have met and allowed us to videotape their experience over eight months so oncology professionals could learn from them. Bill died in 1980 but I still exchange holiday cards with his family and I will be forever grateful to them.
 
In that “little something more” section, what is one thing you might share with us about you personally, one that is outside of your work life?
I spend as much time in nature as possible. I also write in a weekly creative writing group—I’ve written one novel and am working on my second—and that has been a great escape into characters and situations that I create and (ha ha) have control over.
 
Anything more you’d like to tell us?
I’ve so often heard oncology social work colleagues say that working with survivors really helps them to appreciate life and health so much. Working with people affected by cancer is both emotionally demanding and is very rewarding, so rewarding it can also be a challenge to be sure that we put our own families first in terms of our emotional and physical energy. Finding that balance has been a challenge for me so, in my own time, I try to do life-affirming activities and really enjoy relationships in the present moment. I also could not have sustained my career this long without my oncology social work colleagues (the most caring and competent people in the universe) or without AOSW, which has been a professional life-line for each of us. Thank you, AOSW.