Cleveland, OH,
15
October
2018
|
15:36 PM
America/New_York

Dr. Terry Stancin named finalist for National Compassionate Caregiver of the Year

Terry Stancin, PhD, ABPP, MetroHealth’s Chief of Psychology and Director of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychology, has been named one of six finalists for the 2018 National Compassionate Caregiver of the Year Award.

The national award, given annually by the Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare, honors caregivers “who embody the characteristics of compassionate care, which include effective communication, emotional support, mutual trust and respect, the involvement of families in health care decisions, and treating patients as people, not just illnesses.”

In her more than three decades at MetroHealth, Dr. Stancin has built a legacy of compassion. In addition to the stirring clinical care she provides to young patients and their families, she has seized opportunities to increase children’s access to mental-health services, especially disadvantaged and at-risk children, who make up much of MetroHealth’s patient population.

She’s launched a nationally recognized integrated pediatric care program that teams behavioral-health professionals with pediatricians directly in pediatric offices, allowing patients and families same-day access to mental-health services even if they are coming in simply for a check-up.

She’s been instrumental in the system’s expansion of mental-health services to include Cuyahoga County’s foster kids, Cleveland’s public-school students via the School Health Program, children with autism and more. Without her efforts, many of these children would simply not have access to behavioral health care.

Dr. Stancin helped launch MetroHealth’s Kidz Pride Clinic, one of the first in the nation dedicated to the unique medical and mental-health needs of transgender and gender-questioning youth. Since it opened in 2008, the multidisciplinary clinic has served hundreds of children, many traveling to Cleveland from hours away. Dr. Stancin provides face-to-face behavioral health care to many of the kids and their families.

Dr. Stancin is also a professor at Case Western Reserve University’s School of Medicine and has gained notoriety as an academic mentor to health professionals across The MetroHealth System. During her tenure as director of child and adolescent psychology and psychiatry, the system has been able to train more psychologists, social workers and psychiatric nurse practitioners through its federally-funded professional training programs, more than doubling the team that’s providing compassionate behavioral health care.

“I know that for every young patient who receives special care from me and my colleagues, there are countless others whose suffering lingers and grows because of the barriers they face,” Dr. Stancin said. “Increasing access to quality mental-health care for all children and families drives the work we do.”

Finalists for the National Compassionate Caregiver of the Year Award were chosen from hundreds of nominations by a national review committee that includes past award recipients and representatives from the American Cancer Society, American Diabetes Association, American Heart Association/American Stroke Association and the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization.

The winner of the award will be announced Thursday, Nov. 8, at the 23rd Annual Kenneth B. Schwartz Compassionate Healthcare Dinner in Boston.

For more on the award and the other finalists, click here.