Stephanie Rakofsky Named 2004 National Healthcare Social Work Leader of the Year

Stephanie Rakofsky, director of Social Work, Care Coordination and Counseling Services at South Miami Hospital, has been named 2004 Healthcare Social Work Leader of the Year by the Society for Social Work Leadership in Healthcare. The national award, the highest recognition given by the Society, honors one person each year for demonstrating excellence in leadership, solving complex psychosocial situations and promoting the social work profession.

Rakofsky has been a social worker for more than 32 years and director of Social Work Services at South Miami Hospital for 18 years. In 1990, Rakofsky established the hospital’s Counseling Center, which evolved into the Employee Assistance Program. In 1992, the Counseling Center played a critical role in helping employees whose lives had been disrupted by Hurricane Andrew. She also founded and led a support group for survivors of the storm. In the early ‘90s, Rakofsky was instrumental in introducing the hospital’s Behavioral and Collaborative Medicine Program, which offers therapy in music, art, movement and journaling, in addition to exercise physiology, meditation, stress management, massage therapy and yoga- and tai chi-style classes. This department also offers numerous support groups for patients and the community.

Prior to South Miami Hospital, Rakofsky worked at Coral Gables Hospital where she established the Social Work Services department in 1974. Before that, she was a staff social worker at the Jewish Hospital and Rehabilitation Center in New Jersey.

In 2002, she was honored as Social Worker of the Year in Miami-Dade County by the National Association of Social Workers and was selected as Florida’s Administrator of the Year in 1994. She is active in the community and serves on the Board of Directors of the Human Services Coalition. Rakofsky has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Cornell University, a master of arts from Columbia University Teachers College and a master’s degree in Social Work from Barry University.