When Your Patient Becomes Seriously Ill

Presenter: Franca S. Posner | fsposner@gmail.com

Category: 1
CE Hours: 1.5

Workshop Description: This workshop is designed to explore the ways our therapeutic relationships shift from the first moment a client receives news of a serious life-threatening or life shortening illness. 

The target audience is all clinicians! Any client can receive a serious diagnosis at any time, so exploring
these issues can provide a useful framework for any clinician, from newer clinicians to more seasoned, 
and everyone in between!

* A variety of different scenarios will be discussed, including continuing clinical work with the patient, assisting them in understanding their diagnosis, helping them advocate for themselves by finding the appropriate medical team to best meet their needs and the needs of their family, referring to a clinician with expertise in the particular area of their illness if the current treating clinician does not have expertise in this area, considering conjoint sessions with family/significant others, and the importance of using supervision to process the experience the therapist is having when a patient becomes seriously or terminally ill.

Workshop Objectives:

1. Participants will demonstrate an increase in person awareness of the explicit and implicit biases about serious illness, death and dying.
   
2. Participants will develop an increased awareness of how to assist clients in beginning to regain emotional and physical equilibrium following diagnosis of a serious illness.
   
3. Participants will develop increased awareness of the value of clinical/peer supervision when a client becomes seriously ill.