There are moments in healthcare that don’t happen in an operating room, or during a diagnosis.
They happen in conversation.
Sometimes, it’s a patient lying in a hospital bed, unsure of what life will look like after they leave the care of the hospital. Sometimes, it’s a family trying to make sense of what comes next in the future of unknowns. And sometimes, it’s simply someone who hasn’t had anyone stop and take a moment to listen for a long time.
These intersections, between diagnosis and discharge, are where Registered Social Workers step in.
At Dartmouth General Hospital, social workers like Allison Muise and Haley Keeping are part of an unseen and unsung layer of care – one that focuses on not just the medical side of a hospital stay, but on the human-lived realities that come with patient’s care.
“I think at its core, social work is a helping profession,” says Haley Keeping, who has been practicing social work for 14 years. “We’re there to listen, to think through solutions with individuals and families, and to support them in making choices that align with their values.”
Haley started her Social Work career in Senior Care, and Allison started in Mental Health & Addictions. For Allison, who entered the profession of social work more recently, that same purpose is just as clear as Haley’s.
“I’ve always wanted to do something with people,” she says. “Something that involved the struggles, barriers, and mental health issues that a person might be facing.”
While there are differences in the way these two women began their journey into the profession, their work met at the same place: Dartmouth General Hospital, where they have been supporting human beings through moments of uncertainty, transition, and vulnerability.
Social work is a role that goes beyond just medicine – it’s also difficult to define in a single sentence. No two days look the same.
“It’s fast-paced, complex, and with a lot of moving parts,” Allison explains. “You’re working with a big interdisciplinary team, and the people you’re supporting are often very ill.”
For Haley, the work is equally as fluid.
“One moment you’re helping someone access government support, and the next you’re coordinating with a family; sometimes you’re sitting with someone at the end of their life, helping them work through the logistics of that,” she says.
Much of the social work role centres on what happens after the medicine. After the diagnosis. After everything. Helping patients prepare for their discharge and navigate their next steps in life.
This might mean adjusting to a new disability, managing new medications, or figuring out how to meet basic needs in their “new” body.
“People ask questions like, ‘How am I going to cook? How will I shower? All my groceries are rotten or expired from being in the hospital, how do I replace them?’,” Allison says.
While other healthcare professionals address the physical recovery of patients, social workers focus on the emotional and practical realities that come with a stay in hospital.
“A lot of what we do is emotional support, being there for people,” she adds. “Helping people process what this all means for their life, their future.”
The bottom line when speaking to these social workers is this: Connection Matters.
“People want someone to talk to,” Allison continues. “The social piece is just as important as equipment or funding.”
That connection, and face-to-face interaction, can take many forms: listening to a patient telling their story, or building trust over multiple visits with someone more guarded.
“Some people are just waiting for someone to come in and say, ‘I’ll listen,’ and I get to be that person for them,” she says.
And for Haley, that privilege of listening and hearing people’s stories is what makes the profession so meaningful. “I’m constantly surprised by people’s capacity,” she says. “Their resilience, their ability to keep going, even after everything that they’ve been through.”
Over the course of Haley’s career, much of her work has focused on older adults; they are a population she says is often overlooked. “There is a lack of acknowledgment of the challenges that seniors face,” she explains. “And when you layer in things like mental health stigma, or financial barriers, it creates a quiet kind of invisibility.”
Haley says that this perspective is crucial to understanding social work.
“It’s not just about asking why a person is in a situation. It’s about asking what systems led them there,” she says.
“Anybody is one crisis away, especially right now. People are often choosing what they go without. Shelter. Or Food. Or medication.”
Those gaps can affect anyone, not just the most visible or vulnerable populations.
“Most of the people I work with aren’t unhoused,” Haley adds. “They’re neighbours. Your friends. Your coworkers. Someone who has just experienced a gap.”
And in those moments, even the smallest interventions can help people feel like they have someone in their corner.
“This is where support from the Dartmouth General Hospital Foundation plays a critical role,” Haley says.
Through the Patient Essentials Fund, social workers are able to help patients with immediate needs that fall outside of traditional coverage. Things like medication, food, clothing, or basic household items. It allows them to say, “There is something we can do. Let us help you.”
For Allison, those moments are some of the most rewarding.
“When the stars align, and I get to say, ‘Yes, I can help you with that,’ it feels like magic,” she says. And while the support might seem small, like a gift card, piece of equipment, a warm coat, new sneakers… Its impact for the patient can be profound.
“It’s enough for someone to feel like somebody had their back,” Allison explains. “And that feeling matters. We can’t solve every problem, but we can ask people, ‘What small thing can I take off your plate right now?’ which makes a world of a difference for patients.”
Despite the challenges, both of these social workers speak about their work with a sense of pride and purpose – and even joy!
“I love my job,” Haley says. “There are hard days, of course. But I wake up every day and I’m so grateful to be able to come here and do this work.”
For all the stories. The struggles. And the resilience of humankind.
And in the quiet moments, between diagnosis and discharge, between the crisis and recovery, social work is about making sure that no one has to face those moments alone.
