Certificate Program
October 21-30, 2015
Light on the Hill Retreat Center
Van Etten, New York
Leaders: Kirsten DeLeo, Pam Russell, and others
The premise of the contemplative spiritual care approach lies in the fact that if we truly want to be useful, the only place to start is with ourselves; to work with our own mind and so transform ourselves.
Far more than an academic training aimed at solely educating health care professionals, this training encourages personal transformation and growth by offering participants the unique opportunity to explore their own understanding about death, and its spiritual dimension, and how they relate to life and those they care for.
Inspired by Sogyal Rinpoche’s The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, this program brings together authentic and practical contemplative resources with the knowledge and skills of modern hospice and palliative care. It offers the unique opportunity to study and practice together in a community of like-minded peers from across the country and abroad.
**We still have some openings, and we have extended registration to September 28th. Those who learn about the program through Light on the Hill and register now will receive a 50% discount off tuition.**
Online sessions: Sept 28, 2015 – Jan 24, 2016
Residential session: October 21 – 30, 2015
The course combines 15-weeks of on-line learning with an 8-day residential retreat at Light on the Hill, and it addresses crucial training needs most frequently requested by professionals, including:
- communicating about dying and death
- enhancing empathy and compassion
- helping patients find new meaning, sources of strength, and ways to make a genuine connection with loved ones
- facilitating the process of healing relationships, resolving unfinished business, and saying goodbye
- creating a peaceful environment for dying
- supporting the bereaved
- healing / preventing burnout
To register and for more information about this program, visit http://www.spcare.org/en/ceolc/main. Or, contact Crystal via email. Be sure to let her know you learned about the program through Light on the Hill to receive the 50% discount.
Faculty
Kirsten DeLeo, MA, International Trainer.
Drawing on more than fifteen years’ experience accompanying people through the last phase of their lives, Kirsten leads trainings for professionals and the public in Europe and the US. Trained in Hakomi body-centered psychotherapy, Kirsten has been active in the hospice movement since the early 90’s. Since 2003, Kirsten has served on the faculty for Spiritual Care’s Contemplative End-of-Life Care Certificate Program, which she also co-designed.
Pam Russell, LMSW. Senior Educator in Rigpa’s Spiritual Care Education Program, leading meditation and educational programs for healthcare professionals. Pam has been a practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism for over 35 years, and she is currently a student of Sogyal Rinpoche. She serves as a meditation instructor with Rigpa and offers bereavement care during Rigpa retreats. Her work as a social worker has focused on facilitating bereavement support groups, most recently with Hope Club, a division of the American Cancer Society located in upstate New York.
Dr Ann Allegre MD, FACP, Director of medical programs, Kansas City Hospice, medical director of palliative care, Providence Health, professor of medicine, University of Kansas School of Medicine and educator for the Spiritual Care Education Program. She was awarded the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine “Project on Death in America Community Leadership in Palliative Care Award” in 2007, in recognition of her outstanding contributions to the advancement of the field of palliative medicine through the education and training of future leaders.
See more details about the faculty on the Spiritual Care Program website.