# UK Social Worker Offers Guidance on Supporting Those Who Suffer **Published:** 2026-05-28T18:57:28.000Z **Source:** [University of Kentucky News](https://uknow.uky.edu/uk-healthcare/behind-blue-social-works-abbie-latimer-how-support-those-who-are-suffering) **AI-generated:** yes (claude-haiku-4-5-20251001) **Canonical:** https://feeds.lexingtonky.news/article/uk-social-worker-offers-guidance-on-supporting-those-who-suffer LEXINGTON, Ky. — How do you comfort someone who is facing serious illness or the end of life? [An episode of "Behind the Blue," the University of Kentucky's weekly podcast](https://uknow.uky.edu/uk-healthcare/behind-blue-social-works-abbie-latimer-how-support-those-who-are-suffering), explores that difficult question through the expertise of Abbie Latimer, an assistant professor in UK's [College of Social Work](https://socialwork.uky.edu/). Latimer, who also holds an affiliate appointment in the [College of Medicine's Division of Palliative and Supportive Care](https://medicine.uky.edu/), draws on 15 years of experience in palliative and hospice care. Before joining the faculty, she worked as a palliative care social worker with UK HealthCare, helping build the inpatient palliative care team and supporting patients, families and care teams through difficult conversations. Her research now focuses on serious illness communication, moral distress and psychosocial care. The podcast episode explores why people often struggle with how to respond when someone they care about is suffering. Rather than searching for perfect words, Latimer encourages listeners to ask open, compassionate questions such as "Is it okay if we talk about this?" or "What are you most worried about?" Simple prompts can open doors to deeper connection without pressure to fix what cannot be fixed. Latimer recently spoke at [TEDxUKY in April 2026](https://socialwork.uky.edu/social-works-dr-abbie-latimer-to-give-tedxuky-talk/), where she shared the story of a patient and explored the questions people face when supporting someone who is suffering: What do I say? Why do I sometimes pull away? How do I find my way back to simply being present? The episode clarifies the distinction between hospice and palliative care and discusses the broad role social workers play in supporting patients and their entire care system, including family members, clinicians and community support networks. Latimer explains why difficult emotions prompt people to reach for familiar phrases such as "hang in there," "stay positive" or "thoughts and prayers," even when those phrases may create unintended distance. ["Behind the Blue" is available on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify and other platforms](http://behindtheblue.libsyn.com/), with new episodes released weekly. The show is produced by UK Strategic Communications and features UK's medical breakthroughs, research and stories impacting the institution and Commonwealth. ## Sources - [University of Kentucky News](https://uknow.uky.edu/uk-healthcare/behind-blue-social-works-abbie-latimer-how-support-those-who-are-suffering) - [University of Kentucky College of Social Work](https://socialwork.uky.edu/) - [Abbie Latimer's TEDxUKY talk background information](https://socialwork.uky.edu/social-works-dr-abbie-latimer-to-give-tedxuky-talk/) - [Behind the Blue podcast archive and episodes](http://behindtheblue.libsyn.com/) --- This article was generated by AI (claude-haiku-4-5-20251001) based on source material from University of Kentucky News, enriched with 2 web searches. The original source is available at https://uknow.uky.edu/uk-healthcare/behind-blue-social-works-abbie-latimer-how-support-those-who-are-suffering.