End-of-Life Care Practitioner Program

SYLLABUS

Charlie Garfield PhD, Founder Shanti Project, Metta Institute® Faculty Member

Synopsis of Course Themes

The course develops over the four thematic residential weekends and two 8-day residential learning intensives.

Weekend 1: COMPASSIONATE SERVICE
Synopsis: Service as a Spiritual Path, Compassion and Altruism, Mutual-Benefit, Self-Care, Compassion Fatigue, Personal Death Awareness, Establishing Support Systems.

Play Sample Audio Clip:
Rachel Naomi Remen, MD
The Calling of Service (4:28)

Weekend 2: SUFFERING AND TRANSFORMATION
Synopsis: Value of Suffering, Gifts of the Wounded Healer, Sacred Art of Dying, Stages of Transformation, Differing Belief Systems, Forgiveness and other Healing Practices

Play Sample Audio Clip:
Zoketsu Norman Fischer
The Truth of Suffering (3:07)

"The themes of the weekends continued to surprise and challenge me, reaching new depths even when I thought I 'knew' something about the topic."
Ramita Bonadonna RN Educator,
program graduate, Folly Beach, SC

8-day Intensive: DEEPENING RELATIONSHIP
Synopsis: Deep Listening, Counseling Techniques, Human Development Models, Projection and Transference, Tasks of Dying, Grief as a Path to Wholeness.

Play Sample Audio Clip:
Charles Garfield, PhD.
Gifts of the Wounded Healer (3:27)

Faculty member Frances Vaughan mentors program graduate Renate Krauss, hospice volunteer and bodyworker, Mill Valley, CA

Weekend 3: MYSTERY AND AWE
Synopsis: Medicine and Mystery, Embracing Not-Knowing, Understanding Symbolic Language, Facilitating Rituals, Accessing the Unconscious, Changing Perspectives of Self Near Death.

Play Sample Audio Clip:
Rabbi Alan Lew
Lifting the Veil of Mystery (4:03)

8-day Retreat: CULTIVATING PRESENCE
Synopsis: Introduction to Contemplative Practices, Mindfulness Training, Death Practices, Sustaining an Inner Life, Cultivating Capacities of Heart, Mind and Body, Healing Power of Human Presence.

Play Sample Audio Clip:
Frances Vaughan, PhD.
Creating a Sense of Self (2:15)

Weekend 4: TRANSITION AND COMPLETION
Synopsis: Transition and the Dying Process, Completing a Life, Integrating Personal Change, Bringing Learning to Workplace, Creating a Network, Transmission/Graduation Ceremony.

Play Sample Audio Clip:
Frank Ostaseski
The Five Precepts of Service (2:34)

Graduates develop lasting friendships. Carol Holmes, CNA, Sandpoint ID; Tio Rogers, bereavement counselor, British Columbia; Sharon Lukert, hospice chaplain, Santa Rosa, CA

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