Meghaan R. Nguyen MSW, CCLS

Meghaan Nguyen, MSW, CCLS, currently serves as the clinical coordinator for the Child Life and Expressive Therapies team at Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital. She began her career as a child life specialist working at a pediatric burn hospital. She immediately saw the therapeutic value in supporting families from the start of their trauma and continuing with them throughout their entire journey of recovery. She implemented group programming for patients and parents to support successful community reintegration after trauma. After working a few years in the profession, she obtained a master’s in social work to further her knowledge and complement her skill set. She completed a social work internship at Bo’s Place, a grief support center for children and families. It was there that Meghaan developed a passion for supporting families through bereavement. She continued her career as a child life specialist working in a pediatric emergency department and later at Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital in their pediatric special care unit.

Seeing her work with families, Meghaan was afforded the opportunity to develop a new child life position with Memorial Hermann’s inpatient pediatric palliative care team and outpatient hospice program. Working in home settings provided greater insight into how to creatively adapt interventions to individualize care and support for the entire family. Meghaan has been a speaker at multiple regional, national, and international conferences regarding supporting siblings through death, maternal death, therapeutic play, and self-care. She authored a chapter regarding supporting grieving siblings in the Handbook of Perinatal and Neonatal Palliative Care. She has been involved in multiple national committees and task forces with the Association of Child Life Professionals and currently serves as the chair of the Professional Development Mega Committee. In her free time, Meghaan enjoys reading, trying new foods, and chasing after her two-year-old son, Oliver.