More Than Medicine: How Hospitals Support Your Mental and Emotional Health

Episode 28: Being in the hospital can be overwhelming, whether you're a child facing a scary procedure or an adult receiving a life-changing diagnosis. In this episode of On Call, Off Script, a Jackson Health System podcast, we explore the emotional and psychological side of hospital care with clinical health psychologist, Lisa Alpizar, PsyD, with the Consultation Liaison Psychology Service for Jackson Behavioral Health and Talia Mor, Child Life Specialist from the Creative Care Team at Holtz Children's Hospital.

In this episode, Dr. Alpizar explains what her team of specialists do and how they help patients and families cope with their hospital experience, whether it's from a traumatic accident, a new diagnosis, to starting cancer treatment, and end-of-life care. The clinical psychology team works alongside medical teams to help patients navigate the immediate emotional and social impact of illness and hospitalization.

The episode also takes us inside the world of the Creative Care Team, who use education, play, and other therapeutic activities, such as music therapy, animal-assisted therapy, and recreational therapy, to help children understand and cope with medical procedures and difficult experiences.

Healing isn't only about treating the body. It's also about helping people feel heard, supported, and like themselves again no matter their age.

Guest Bios:

Lisa Alpizar, PsyD, is a clinical health psychologist for Jackson Behavioral Health on the consultant liaison psychology team. Her team works alongside various medical specialties to help hospitalized patients cope with the emotional and social impact of illness, injury, and major diagnoses. Dr. Alipzar’s specialty is health psychology, which considers the biological, social and emotional factors involved in medical and health conditions. She also has extensive training in psycho-oncology and works with oncology patients, including patients receiving care at the Taylor Breast Health Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital.

Talia Mor is a child life specialist with the Creative Care team at Holtz Children’s Hospital. She helps children and families understand and cope with hospitalization, medical procedures, and difficult diagnoses through developmentally appropriate education, play, therapeutic activities, and other forms of support. Mor’s team is an interdisciplinary group that grew from only a child life department to now include disciplines like music therapy, animal-assisted therapy, and recreationa