For this year’s Congress we are focusing on the often unspoken about “Elephants in the Room” when we teach and promote whole person care. There are many such elephants. As well as focusing on a few that we are aware of, we will provide a space for participants to bring their own elephants to explore with the group. We have designed this congress as a progressive healing journey starting with the most personally threatening challenge that we all face, our own mortality, and progressing through successive half day sessions on dealing with trauma, negotiating an often-alienating healthcare system, and concluding by sending participants away with a sense of their own wholeness and resilience. To aid in this process we will have a public lecture, plenary talks, daily self-care sessions, workshops, papers, posters, and panel discussions, as well as an evening of “Bitter Sweet” entertainment. A link to the program for the Congress.
The public lecturer and plenary speakers with titles of their talks are shown below.
Mary Grossman
Public Lecture: Promoting Healing and Resilience
of the People with Cancer: A Nursing Perspective
Ira Byock
Plenary Session: Mortality-Informed Care for Whole Persons
Meredith Fox
Plenary Session: Trauma Informed Education
Fred Hafferty
Plenary Session: The System as a Problem and an Essential
Resource
Tom Hutchinson
Plenary Session: Resilience, a Key Personal
and a Group Responsibility
The Elephant in the Room
The underlying personality enlivening the whole Congress
(Please bring your own, but on a leash)