Carissa Hodgson LCSW, OSW-C

Carissa Hodgson, LCSW, OSW-C has been a Program Manager at Gilda’s Club Madison since 2009. Her work centers around supporting kids and families who are navigating a cancer journey, shaped largely from her childhood experience of losing her father to lung cancer. Again as a young adult she moved through the loss of a stepfather to liver cancer. In her role at Gilda’s Club she is able to work directly with survivors and co-survivors of all ages, as well as develop psychoeducational programs to support the whole family.

Carissa earned her Master of Social Work from UW Madison in 2007. She is a Family Therapist and Oncology Social Worker whose work also includes therapy with individuals, groups and families in outpatient, day-treatment and in-home settings. Areas of interest and practice have included child and adolescent development, chronic illness, caregiving, gender identity, sexuality, trauma, grief and loss, and family systems. Carissa works from a holistic approach, and empowers those she works with through elements of mindfulness, psychoeducation, skill-building, and self-acceptance. Her favorite part of working at a Cancer Support Community is witnessing the healing nature of connection–the powerful shift that occurs when people feel validation and a sense of belonging.