At Seattle Children's we deliver superior patient care, advance new discoveries and treatments through pediatric research and serve as the pediatric and adolescent academic medical center for Washington, Alaska, Montana and Idaho – the largest region of any children’s hospital in the country.

The NICU Social Work practicum student will work and learn alongside two practicum instructors, who are the two NICU social workers at Seattle Children’s. The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit is a 32 bed unit that serves neonates from Washington, Alaska, Montana and Idaho. Our littlest patients range from micro preemies (22 week gestational age) to 6-month old infants. Patients remain in our unit for as little as days to 5+ months. Your work will be supporting the family unit as a whole with interventions directly with NICU parents/caregivers.

The social work team meets with every family upon admission and completes a comprehensive biopsychosocial assessment. This assessment touches on family demographics, stressors, barriers to visitation/care, risk/safety factors, communication preferences and mental health assessment. Following the assessment, we continue to provide support/weekly check-ins to assess any new or ongoing family need and resources. Our work focuses on postpartum mood and anxiety disorders (i.e. postpartum depression/anxiety) and general adjustment and coping with their baby’s medical complexities and/or diagnoses. As medical social workers, we provide brief mental health interventions, supportive counseling and psychoeducation at bedside. We do not provide continuous therapy to caregivers, but refer out to community practitioners. This student may experience cases with end of life.

support to parents and caregivers in the patient’s room; adjustment to illness/new diagnosis, communication with medical team, observing and conducting biopsychosocial assessments.

resource navigation and community referrals; attending medical rounds with the multidisciplinary team; attending family care conferences; advocacy with community agencies

N/A

MSW Specialized Day Student

Submit your resume and cover letter to both Rachel.daliva@seattlechildrens.org and grace.amend@seattlechildrens.org. Application process will close on 3/1/24 with interviews scheduled in the month of March.