Support Services

A child life specialist helps to increase the patient’s understanding of their diagnosis, hospital stay and outpatient appointments. Child life specialists provide age-appropriate education and support throughout treatment. Child life interventions can include diagnosis education, preparation for procedures, ongoing medical and age-appropriate play opportunities, coping strategies, sibling support, and school re-entry tips.

Learn more about Child Life

Every patient is assigned a licensed clinical social worker at diagnosis who helps patients and families navigate their diagnosis, assist with their concerns, and provide emotional support. Our social workers can help access financial, social, recreational, and mental health resources that many families find useful during this difficult time.

Multifaith chaplains offer emotional, existential, and spiritual support to all patients and families, regardless of faith or belief system. In addition to our full-time pediatric chaplain, spiritual care is available 24/7 in the hospital and a multifaith chapel is located on the first floor for quiet prayer or reflection.

Learn more about spiritual care at Yale New Haven Hospital

Illness and treatment can impact school attendance and learning opportunities. The school support coordinator can offer guidance to help minimize this disruption. Assisting all school-aged patients, they can communicate with the school and provide the required documentation to establish hospital/homebound services or a 504 plan for additional support in the classroom. Tutoring is also available for children with longer hospital stays.

Pediatric psychologists, specialists in caring for youth with medical diagnoses, are available to provide individual, family and group therapy, teach stress management techniques, provide behavioral consultation, and/or complete psychological and neuropsychological testing.

Patients may be referred to a psychiatrist to work in consultation with the multidisciplinary team.