The Importance of the Family Meeting in Health Care

Date and Time

March 27, 2025
3 pm - 5 pm ET 

Register for Class

Offered via live webinar.

Completion of this class will result in the receipt of two (2) continuing education hours.

  • A family meeting is now considered a best practice by specialists in palliative care and an essential forum for goals of care discussions and advance care planning.  Collaborating with families is an integral part of palliative care. Families are involved in many aspects of patient care, including being directly involved in the management of pain, which is a critical aspect of palliative care that ensures patient comfort. The purpose of the family meeting is to engage patients and their families in a discussion about the seriousness of the illness, begin the conversation around goals of care, clarify the values of patients and caregivers, and provide emotional support. The interventions used may reduce caregiver distress, prepare family members for caregiving, and improve bereavement outcomes. Palliative care social workers will explore their role within the family meeting, how to use their clinical skills to support the family while facilitating the family meeting and determine how often family meetings should take place during the treatment trajectory.   

    LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

    1. Identify the best practices for conducting a family meeting.
    2. Describe the role of the palliative social worker.
    3. Identify the barriers and challenges in conducting a family meeting.

  • headshot of Dr. Linda Mathew

    Linda Mathew, DSW, MSW, LCSW-R 

    Linda Mathew is a Social Work Manager at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) . She is certified in cognitive behavioral therapy, meaning-centered psychotherapy, trauma-informed therapy, and palliative and end-of-life care. Dr. Mathew earned her Master’s and Doctorate degrees from New York University’s Silver School of Social Work (NYUSSW). In her time at MSK, she co-created REACH for Caregivers and co-led the Talking with Children About Cancer Programs. Dr. Mathew is an antiracist practitioner and an active member of the Social Work Department’s Antiracism Committee. She completed MSK Emerging Leadership Program in 2022.  

    Dr. Mathew has received many leadership awards, including the prestigious Mid-Career Exemplary Leadership Award and Excellence in Clinical Practice Award from the Social Work Hospice and Palliative Care Network and the National Association of Social Workers. 

    Dr. Mathew is a master trainer for ESPEC: Educating Social Workers in Palliative and End-of-life Care and serves on their board. She serves on several editorial boards. She has presented locally and nationally; and she is a published author. Dr. Mathew believes in giving back to the field of social work through her role as an adjunct faculty member of NYUSSW and Smith College Palliative and End-of-Life programs. 

    Dr. Mathew is the President for Association of Oncology Social Work.

    • Full tuition - $60
    • GSS alumni - $50
    • Current Field Instructor to a Fordham MSW student - $50
    • SWHPN Member - $50
    • Current Adjunct Online Faculty - $40
    • 3+ from one agency registering at same time - $40
    • Current Military and Veterans - $40
    • Non-Fordham Current MSW or Social Work Doctoral Student - $30
    • Current Fordham MSW or PhD Student - $20
    • Fordham Alumni Palliative Care Fellow - $20
    • Fordham GSS Ambassador Program Alumni - $20
    • Field Instructor to a CURRENT Palliative Care Fellow -$0
    • Fordham faculty and staff - $0
    • Current Fordham Palliative Care Fellow - $0

    Continuing Education Hours

    Completion of this class will result in the receipt of two (2) continuing education hours. CEHs are not awarded for partial completion of the class.

  • You will receive the Zoom link for joining the class by the day before the class. IF YOU HAVE NOT RECEIVED THE LINK BY THIS TIME, PLEASE CHECK YOUR SPAM FOLDER. 

    You will need a computer and a reliable WiFi connection. The computer may be a desktop or a laptop. It may be an Apple or Windows computer.

    If you have never used Zoom before, you will likely be prompted to download an applet, which is a small program that allows Zoom to communicate with your computer. This is safe and you will need to do this to join the class.

    It is NOT advised that you participate using a table (e.g., an iPad) or a cellular phone. The software is not optimized for these devices.

    Please plan to join the online class 15 minutes before the start time to be sure that you don’t have any problems connecting. We cannot provide technical support to you and refunds won’t be offered if you have technical problems. If you have any questions or concerns about this, please contact us at continuingedgss@fordham.edu at least a few days before the class.