Mental health professional and podcaster, Dr. Lia Gaggino, discusses the impact of long-term medical care on caregivers and provides strategies to address and support their mental well-being.

Dr. Gaggino is the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) District V representative to the AAP Board of Directors, chairs the AAP Board Committee on Policy, served as Chair of the AAP National Nominating Committee in 2019 and partners closely within the Michigan Chapter of the AAP. She is an expert faculty member for the EDC Zero Suicide Institute and has been a consultant to the Michigan Clinical Consultation and Care (MC3) Pediatric Mental Health Care Access Program (PMHCA) since its inception in 2012.

A primary care pediatrician with 34 years of clinical practice, Dr. Gaggino also served as the Medical Director of Behavioral Health for Bronson Healthcare System from 2015-2020. Her work included implementing the Zero Suicide framework and creating integrated behavioral health programs embedding social work in 26 child and adult primary care clinics.

Dr. Gaggino is the host of the Pediatric Meltdown podcast featuring over 235 interviews with experts on the emotional well-being of children, adolescents, young adults and the pediatric clinicians who care for them. She was also a contributor and consultant to the popular “American Girl’s The Care and Keeping of You: The Body Book”.

Selected podcasts and readings: Roadmap Project podcast ⁠ Palliative Care/Grief and Loss⁠ Helping Kids Thrive: A Parent’s Story Several episodes on physician well-being ⁠ Critical incident stress management (CISM)⁠

View the transcript.

Music: Daylight by JayJen

Sponsored by the West Virginia Department of Human Services, Office of Maternal, Child, and Family Health/Children with Special Health Care Needs Program and the West Virginia Family 2 Family Health Information Center and Produced by the West Virginia University Center for Excellence in Disabilities.