
Alice Ryan
Alice Ryan began her social work career over 23 years ago. Most of her practice orientation has been in large healthcare settings. She was drawn to the needs of patient and families as illness progressed towards the end of life. Her practice eventually led her to her current work in grief support, with special emphasis on the experience of complicated grief through the death of a child. Alice is particularly interested in finding ways to increase access to culturally responsive grief support for all communities. Although she values her presence in academia, she strongly identifies as a practitioner and believes that practice informs and shapes theories. Alice has been a social worker at Seattle Children’s Hospital since 2002 and is currently the Clinical Manager of the Journey Program, which is the hospital’s bereavement program. She has also been with the UW School of Social Work since 2010 and has been recognized with the MSW Student’s Choice Teaching Award for the academic years: 2015-2016, 2018-2019, and 2019-2020.