Santa Clara University

Continuing Education Classes - Counseling the Family Caregiver on End-of-Life Issues

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PLEASE NOTE NEW DATE!

Counseling the Family Caregiver on End-of-Life Issues


CPSY x681

Day Saturday, December 6, 2008
Time 2pm-5pm
Room Arts & Sciences Bldg., Wiegand Room (#102)
Credit 0.3 CEUs. 3 CE Hours
Cost $83

As the baby boomer generation ages, more and more people are facing the prospect of caring for parents and other loved ones with life-threatening and terminal illnesses. With the stunning capability of modern medicine, people may be told that they have a life-threatening illness months or even years in advance of passing away. As a consequence, patient and families potentially have more choice than ever before about how and where the end of life will occur. Unfortunately, most people are unprepared for the responsibility of making such choices and the intense emotions that can accompany them.

Although psychotherapists are frequently trained in the care of bereaved individuals, they rarely are trained to work with patients and families before the death has occurred. In this four-hour course, you will learn the basics of working with these issues. Although we will focus primarily on working with family members, we also will cover some techniques for working with patients themselves. The emphasis will be overtly practical, including techniques for aiding family members to communicate better with physicians, make important care decision, learn to talk with their dying loved one about emotional topics, as well as search for meaning throughout the care-giving process and cope with their own anticipatory grief. This course is ideal for mental health care professionals or other interested professionals with little training in caring for dying patients and their families, or for those looking to brush up on basic skills.


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David B. Feldman, Ph.D.

Instructor
David B. Feldman, Ph.D. is an assistant professor of counseling psychology at Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, California, where he teaches courses in cognitive-behavioral therapy, brief psychotherapies, and personality theory. He holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Kansas and completed a health psychology fellowship at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System, Palo Alto, California. His research and writings have addressed such topics as hope, meaning, and growth in the face of physical illness, trauma, and other highly stressful events. In all, he has authored 29 articles and book chapters, presented at twelve national and international conferences, and conducted countless research studies. His new book, The End-of-Life Handbook: A Compassionate Guide to Connecting with and Caring for a Dying Loved One, (New Harbinger Publications, January 2008) addresses the needs of families as they face the life-threatening illness of a loved one.