Palliative and End-of-Life Care

Online Post-Master’s Certificate Program

This certificate program provides an integrated sequence of courses to promote the interaction of theory and practice. The program will also enhance clinical practice knowledge; expand assessment and clinical intervention skills; examine assessment and treatment needs of patients and their families; use a biopsychosocial-spiritual framework; and provide opportunities to develop leadership skills.

This certificate program is part of NYU Silver's Zelda Foster Studies Program in Palliative and End-of-Life Care (PELC), which encompasses a range of initiatives designed to develop and mentor PELC social work leaders at all stages of their careers.

Program Highlights: 

• Interaction of theory and practice; clinical practice knowledge
  
• Assessment and clinical intervention skills
• Biopsychosocial-spiritual framework

Modules

• Module 1: Theories of Attachment, Loss, and Bereavement (14 CEs)
  
• Module 2: Ethical Issues in Palliative Care/Pain and Symptom Management: Multidimensional Perspectives (20 CEs)
  
• Module 3: Practice Seminar (20 CEs)
  
• Module 4: Interdisciplinary Collaboration and Leadership Development (14 CEs)

“In this program, the faculty treated students as peers, and the collegial atmosphere allowed students—at all levels of experience—to feel comfortable participating in our own learning. The faculty’s enthusiasm and commitment to teaching, as well as their own work in this field, was a highlight of the program.”

- Nicki Weiss, MSW Pathways to Care program at Westchester Jewish Community Services, Hartsdale, NY

This certificate requires the completion of 17 two-hour sessions over the course of two semesters. Assignments include weekly readings and a final learning assessment in the form of a project.

An MSW and at least 1 year of post-Master's experience in or related to Palliative and End-of-Life Care (PELC) is required to apply to this program. We hope that students will draw from that experience while in the classroom setting.

Students are allowed one absence per module. Exceptions require pre-approval from the Program Director.

*** To enroll in the Practice Seminar and the Leadership modules, the student must be currently working in a position that is in or related to the PELC field and one of your reference letters must be from a current supervisor. If you are unsure about your current position qualifying for this module, please contact silver.zeldafosterstudies@nyu.edu.

The program runs live online from 6:00-8:00pm ET over the course of the 2025-26 academic year.

Fall 2025

Module 1: Theories of Attachment, Loss, and Bereavement

• August 21, 28
• September 4, 11
• October 23, 30
  
• November 6

Module 2: Ethical Issues in Palliative Care/Pain and Symptom Management: Multidimensional Perspectives

• September 18, 25
• October 2, 9, 16
• November 13, 20
• December 4, 11, 18

Spring 2026

Module 3: Practice Seminar

• January 8, 15, 22, 29
• February 5, 12, 19, 26
• March 5, 12

Module 4: Interdisciplinary Collaboration and Leadership Development

• March 26
• April 2, 9, 16, 23, 30
• May 7

Jocelyn Walls, LCSW

Jocelyn Walls is the Mentorship Director for NYU Silver’s Zelda Foster Studies Program in Palliative and End-of-Life Care, which encompasses a range of initiatives designed to develop and mentor PELC social work leaders at all stages of their careers in the areas of clinical practice, education, research, publication, and administration.  Jocelyn’s clinical career has been in the field of oncology, working as both an inpatient and outpatient social worker for the cancer centers at Mount Sinai Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital and Yale New Haven Health Smilow Cancer Hospital. Her research has focused on the role of mentoring in the field of social work, clinical interventions for chronic cancer patients and self-care for oncology clinicians.  She currently has a private practice working primarily with individuals managing a life-limiting illness and loss.

From the Director: 
“The Post-Master’s Certificate Program in Palliative and End-of-Life Care is based on the belief that the people with whom we are privileged to work are the experts. Our approach to teaching echoes that collaborative belief, with faculty moving fluidly between the positions of ‘expert’ and ‘co-learner.’ We are committed to creating a safe and respectful environment that acknowledges the role of practice wisdom and validates emotion and spirituality in the learning process.”

Terry Altilio, LCSW

Terry Altilio LCSW is a Palliative Social Worker with over 30 years of direct practice in acute care settings. She is a recipient of a Mayday Pain and Society Fellowship Award in 2006 and a Social Work Leadership Award from the Open Society Institute’s Project on Death in America to support a social work postgraduate fellowship and a social work listserv that currently networks over 900 social workers. In 2013, Terry was selected to receive the Project on Death in America, Career Achievement Award from the Social Work Hospice and Palliative Network. She lectures nationally and internationally on topics such as pain management, ethics, palliative care, and psychosocial issues in serious illness care, teaches in post-masters programs at NYU, Smith, and is guest faculty in an internet course through California State University San Marcos. In addition to co-authored journal publications, she is co-editor with Shirley Otis-Green and John Cagle of the Second edition of the Oxford Textbook of Palliative Social Work, 2022, and co-editor with Bridget Sumser and Meaghan Leimena of Palliative Care – A Guide for Health Social Workers published in 2019. Most recently she has co-edited Mirrors and Windows Reflections on the Journey of Serious Illness Practice.

Penny Damaskos, PhD, LMSW

Penny currently is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Psychosocial Oncology. Her career has focused on oncology social work specifically survivorship, staff support, LGBTQ, and leadership in healthcare.

Eunju Lee, LCSW

Eunju Lee is a long-time mentor and adjunct faculty of the Zelda Foster Palliative and End-of-Life Care (PELC) program at New York University; faculty practicum advisor for NYU MSW students; adjunct faculty for Fordham University's online MSW program, and Smith's PELC certificate program. Eunju has served on the board of the Social Work Palliative and Hospice Network (SWHPN) and their Health Equity Committee, presenting on the issue of decolonizing social work in the healthcare setting. She is a master trainer and board member for ESPEC, a program that teaches end-of-life and palliative care social work with a focus on the social determinants of health. She has worked in both hospice and oncology in a variety of settings. Before PELC work, Eunju's experience included labor and human rights advocacy in her native Korea and work with Asian-American domestic violence survivors in NYC. She sits on the Healthcare Advisory Council for Compassion and Choices. Her main interests are in expanding the lens and narrative of PELC social work outside of the dominant Western biomedical model to address the historical and cultural needs and affinities of marginalized communities.

Eunju received an MA in Social Service Administration from the University of Chicago, an MS in Organizational Development from American University, and a BS from the University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign.

70 NYSED and ASWB/ACE Continuing Education Contact Hours will be awarded for this program.

55 jurisdictions accept ACE-approved provider CE contact hours. ACE is not an approved Continuing Education provider in the states of New York (though NYU Silver is NYSED CE approved in NYS) and West Virginia, unless the event is outside of West VA. ACE only approves individual courses in New Jersey, though NYU Silver is CSWE-accredited and therefore accepted for licensed NJ professionals. Here is a full list of statutes related to social work CE.

Applications open April 15 and will be reviewed and accepted on a rolling basis until the program reaches its full capacity.

The full cost of this certificate program is $3,500. Students must complete all four modules to receive a certificate of completion and CE Contact Hours. The cost of this program includes the registration fee and cost of an online compendium of readings. There is an application fee of $50.

• Theories (15 CEs): $900 (due in the fall semester)
• Ethics/Pain (20 CEs): $1,150 (due in the fall semester)
• Practice (20 CEs): $700 (due in the spring semester)
• Leadership (15 CEs): $750 (due in the spring semester)

Total: $3,500

Available discounts include:

• 25% discount for NYU Silver School of Social Work MSW/DSW/PhD alumni
  
• 25% discount for practicum instructors currently working with NYU Silver School of Social Work graduate students.
• 15% discount for applicants who have already completed one NYU Silver certificate program.
• 50% discount for veterans.

Please note: discounts may not be combined.

Deposit: Upon acceptance into the program, a $250 non-refundable deposit is required to secure your place. This deposit is applied to the total cost of tuition.