Catharine C. Whiting, a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) with extensive experience in the Chattanooga area, has joined the staff at the Chattanooga-based Austin Hatcher Foundation for Pediatric Cancer.
Ms. Whiting, a Michigan native and a graduate of the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga (B.S., 2010) and Southern Adventist University in Collegedale, Tn. (MSW, 2013), comes to the foundation from the Southeast Center of Excellence in Chattanooga, where she has served as senior clinical case manager since the summer of 2015.
The Southeast Center of Excellence is part of a statewide network of five centers funded by the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services (DCS), serving children and families in the state’s Southeast Region. The center works with DCS to provide consultation for children with complex medical, behavioral, psychological and psychiatric problems who are in custody or at risk for custody. Ms. Whiting’s responsibilities at the center included clinical assessments; diagnosis evaluation and clarification; and complex trauma case evaluation.
Previously, Ms. Whiting was a research consultant at the Center for Counseling at UT-Chattanooga and a clinical child/adolescent therapist at the Centerstone community health organization in Chattanooga. She will work out of the foundation’s Educational Advancement Center (EAC) in downtown Chattanooga, a state-of-the-art facility providing programs and services at no cost to young cancer patients and their family members.
"Pediatric oncology has always been an area of interest for me,” Ms. Whiting said. “The EAC is fabulous, with a central location for our community, where we can offer services that families often don’t have the resources to secure. “We’re here for the families, which is wonderful.”
“The addition of Catharine to our growing staff adds not only a quality LCSW but also someone who understands and appreciates the Chattanooga community and the surrounding region,’” said Austin Hatcher Foundation President Amy Jo Osborn.
“Catharine is the latest member of an ‘all-star’ staff lineup we are assembling but more importantly, she also underscores our commitment to our base, Chattanooga. Whatever expansion we may experience, the growth and lasting stability of the Austin Hatcher Foundation is linked to that base – now and forever.“