End-of-Life Care Practitioner Program

SYLLABUS

Faculty member Norman Fischer embraces program graduates Kathy McGreggor, parish nurse, Memphis, TN, and Francine Margolius, RN, University of South Carolina

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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