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Biography / Academic Background
I am a hospice/palliative care social worker by training. I am a Psychosocial Specialist with Canadian Virtual Hospice and a founding member of the Canadian Grief Alliance. I worked for a decade as a hospice social worker, supporting the practical and psychosocial needs of hospice residents and their families, including implementing a Bereavement Support Program.
I hold an MSW from the University of Toronto, a postgraduate Certificate in Palliative and End-of-Life Care from the Smith College School for Social Work, and am a PhD Candidate in Laurier’s Lyle S. Hallman Faculty of Social Work.
Currently, I write, teach, research, provide clinical supervision, and do advocacy work related to palliative and end-of-life care and grief.
Research Interests / Ongoing Projects
Currently, my research focuses on palliative care clinicians' (e.g., nurses, social workers, physicians, etc.) experiences working with patients' non-physical suffering, and the effects of this aspect of the work on clinicians themselves. Non-physical suffering includes suffering that is emotional, psychological, social, spiritual and/or existential in nature, including losses, worries and fears about dying and death.
Awards and Achievements
- SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship (2019-2021)
- Social Work Hospice and Palliative Care Network, Emerging Leader in Palliative Care Social Work Award (2017)
Selected Publications
- Rattner, M. (2021). Increasing our understanding of non-physical suffering within palliative care: A scoping review. Palliative & Supportive Care, 1-16.
- Rattner, M. (2021). Covid-19: Encountering never before known suffering. Journal of Social Work in End-of-Life & Palliative Care, 17(2-3), 104-107.
- Rattner, M. (2020). Navigating the intangible: Working with non-physical suffering on the front-lines of palliative care. Omega: Journal of Death and Dying, 81(4), 670–684.
- Rattner, M. (2019). Tellable and untellable stories in suffering and palliative care. Mortality, 24(3), 357-368.
- Rattner, M. & Berzoff, J. (2016). Rethinking suffering: Allowing for suffering that is intrinsic at end of life. Journal of Social Work in End-of-Life & Palliative Care, 12(3), 240-258.
Courses Taught
- SK656: Death, Dying and Bereavement
Contact Info: