Family Stress and Illness Program
Families who are dealing with a child’s illness often face significant stresses in their lives. During these challenging times, families can harness their unique strengths to help manage illness and improve their child’s long-term outcomes.
The experts at CHOP’s Family Stress and Illness Program (FSIP) are specially trained to recognize the stressors that are affecting your family and the particular challenges presented by your child’s course of care. Our team partners with you, your child and your child’s doctors to address the associated psychological challenges the family experiences as you cope with illness.
Our services
Our FSIP team provides individual and family therapy for children and adolescents ages 3 to 18 with acute or chronic illness. Our goal is to optimize your child’s care and health outcomes and family adjustment.
To develop a customized plan for your family, our experts will:
- Meet with your family to better understand your needs and concerns.
- Consult with your child’s doctor(s) to assess existing and potential challenges in the management of your child’s illness.
- Provide counseling that supports your family as you move forward with implementing changes.
If you or your child’s health care team at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia believes your family could benefit from our services, please call our program at 215-590-7555.
Our team
The FSIP team includes pediatric psychologists and psychologists-in-training who focus on the impact of chronic illness on individual and family functioning. We help families caught in negative interactional patterns learn new ways to help their children and move forward in their development.
The program embraces a twofold mission of clinical care and teaching. Our experts are leaders in their field and offer care that integrates best practices in pediatric medicine and psychology.