In Memoriam of Lillian Passoni
Queens Counseling for Change is saddened to announce the passing of Lillian Passoni at home surrounded by family on June 16th, 2022 after a brief illness.
Lillian’s career spanned over 50 years and focused on working with underserved, justice involved and marginalized individuals. She was a trailblazer throughout her career.
Lillian was part of opening one of the first outer Borough Child Protective Centers in NYC in the late 1960’s. She worked with Children’s Services until 1990 when she obtained her Master’s Degree in Social Work and then became a New York State Parole Officer. In 2003 she retired from Parole and was a founding Director of Queens Counseling for Change. She spent her energies focusing full time on developing and operating Queens Counseling for Change and later New York Counseling for Change’s OASAS program. In her ”retirement”, Lillian continued on as a clinician in 2018 with Queens Counseling for Change and continued to work with clients until several weeks before her passing.
Lillian provided care to thousands of individuals over her career. She was at times the strict parent needed and at other times the encouraging and warm presence reassuring fragile/traumatized individuals they could make it. She worked with anyone regardless of what they may have done, focusing rather on what they may be able to achieve.
In addition to delivering direct clinical services, as a supervisor, Lillian worked with many young professionals providing training and education, as well as guidance on how to be an ethical and effective professional. Because of whom she was, Lillian would also provide the extra emotional support that some students needed while going through a rigorous training. She ensured diversity was recognized, discussed, respected, and cherished. She never feared speaking her mind and took opportunities to use her own life experiences to discuss the importance of diversity and redemption, challenging others to move towards a greater acceptance of others.
Lillian was one of the hardest working professionals that many of us knew and at times she had 4 jobs. In addition to being a dedicated social worker, she was an even more dedicated mother and grandmother. She was always focused on ensuring she provided to her family both financially and emotionally. Anyone that knew Lillian knew that even if you were in mid- sentence if one of her children called you had to wait!
We know that Lillian’s legacy lives in all the persons that she has worked with and provided counseling for. We have our stories, and we welcome you to use this space to reflect on your stories and experiences with Lillian, or maybe share a memory you had with her. This way, her legacy will continue living through the memories and stories of all that knew her.
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