Who Should Attend

The conference is intended for nurses, mental health workers, social workers, hospice personnel, physicians, clergy, school counselors, and anyone else who deals with issues related to tragedy, terminal illness, death and grief for families and youth.

Objectives

• Learn about the major successes and best practices of the past 30 years serving families and youth, as well as the mistakes.
  
  
• Identify critical competencies for offering care to those suffering from unthinkable events in their lives.
  
  
• Learn how to integrate effective approaches to dealing with profound change and loss, including methods from clinical psychology and trauma intervention.
  
  
• Identify strategies for effective, contemporary bereavement care.

Conference Sessions

Barbara Sourkes, PhD Director, Pediatric Palliative Care Program Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford	Living with Uncertainty: Psychological Aspects of Palliative Care for Children Children with a life-threatening illness, as well as their healthy siblings, live with extraordinary challenges in the face of uncertainty. How they negotiate the illness will be presented in “mirror image” in order to understand the psychological underpinnings of the experience. The concept of resilience lends itself to understanding families in pediatric palliative care. Key Learnings To identify the psychological issues for children and their families in palliative care. To recognize the parallel processes in the experience of the ill children and their healthy siblings. To understand the concept of “resilience” in the context of pediatric palliative care. Barbara Sourkes, PhD became the first John Kriewall and Elizabeth Haehl Director of the Pediatric Palliative Care Program at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford in 2001. Dr Sourkes, a pediatric psychologist, has spent her entire career working with children living with life-threatening illness and their families. She is currently a Board Member at Kara.
Donna Schuurman, EdD, CT Executive Director of The Dougy Center for Grieving Children and Families	Children and Families: Integrating Grief after Tragedy and Loss  Grieving a tragic death in a society that urges us to “move on” and “get over it” compounds the already formidable difficulties families experience adapting to life after their loss. This session will review the literature on successful strategies for serving bereaved children, teens, young adults and their families, including concepts from resiliency research, grief and trauma, and Post-Traumatic Growth. Key Learnings Two key and foundational needs of grieving children, teens and adults. Factors which contribute to resilience after a death. Incorporating the concept of Post-Traumatic Growth. Donna Schuurman, EdD, CT, is the Executive Director of The Dougy Center for Grieving Children and Families in Portland, Oregon. Since its founding in 1983 The Dougy Center has served over 20,000 children, teens and their families and has received national and international acclaim for their pioneering peer support model for helping children cope with the death of a family member.
Barbara Beach, MD Medical Director, The George Mark Children’s House  Pediatric Hospice and Palliative Care	Tools and Approaches for Working with Children and Families Facing Suffering and Loss  This workshop will cover key aspects of medical, child life, psycho-social and spiritual care provided to children and their families. It will include presentations from members of the George Mark Children’s House Pediatric Palliative Care interdisciplinary team, which supports life-limited children and helps their families maximize their quality of life. Key Learnings Describe the necessary tasks which must be accomplished by the MD for optimum care. Identify child life specialist strategies to assure appropriate comprehension and coping skills. Develop a unique skill set to build rapport and strengthen a family’s emotional and practical resources. Barbara Beach, MD, is the Co-Founder and Medical Director of the George Mark Children's House. Dr. Beach, a pediatric oncologist with Children's Hospital and Research Center in Oakland for more than 30 years, is a longtime advocate of children's palliative care and end of life issues.
Mike Amylon, MD Emeritus Professor of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford Founder of Camp Okizu	Helping Young People Move Forward After the Unthinkable When it comes to children, no matter where they are developmentally, dealing with death or a loss can be very confusing. While there’s nothing we can do to remove the sad truths of the world, there are some things we can do to help children through those troubled times. Dr. Amylon will offer insights into some of the most difficult issues in helping children deal with death, grief and loss. Key Learnings Society has misconceptions about grief: You don’t just “get over it” with time. Peer support is extremely important in the grieving process for siblings and parents. Grievers need to connect with others, getting “permission” to move forward. Mike Amylon, MD is currently an active Emeritus Professor at Stanford University in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology/Stem Cell Transplantation after spending over 30 years caring for children with cancer and other blood disorders and doing clinical research studies to improve their outcomes. His longstanding interest in the psychosocial impact of the cancer experience has led him to involvement in community support organizations such as Okizu, which offers camping and other peer support programs for children with cancer and their families.

Agenda

Continuing Education

This conference has been approved for 6.0 hours of Continuing Education Units (CEUs) for nurses by VAPA Nursing Education, CABORN Provider #00299.

This conference meets the qualifications for 6.0 hours of CEUs for MFTs and LCSWs as required by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences. The BBS provider number is 618.

The VA Palo Alto Health Care System (VAPAHCS) is approved by the American Psychological Association to offer continuing education for psychologists. The VA Palo Alto Health Care System maintains responsibility for the program. This activity is offered for six (6) hours of CE credits. Psychologists are responsible for reporting their own credits to the MCEP Accreditation Agency and for remitting the course reporting fee.

Important Notice:
To receive CEUs, you are required to sign in and out at the CEU table on the day of the conference.

• Sign in must be no later than 8:30am.
• Sign out will be no earlier than 4:30pm. At the time of sign out, you will need to return your completed evaluation form, which will be provided at the conference.

Conference Location

The conference will be held at the Conference Center at SRI, 333 Ravenswood Avenue, Menlo Park, CA. The conference center is in the International Building. The entrance to the parking lot is at the corner of Middlefield Road and Ringwood Avenue. You then walk one block to the International Building. Parking close to the building is also available for those with limited mobility.

SRI Campus Map

Directions

From Highway 101, take the Willow Road exit and go west toward Menlo Park. After about 1 mile, turn right onto Middlefield Road. At the 1st traffic light, turn left onto Ringwood Avenue. The entrance to the conference parking lot will be on your right.

From Highway 280, take the Sand Hill Road exit and go east toward Menlo Park. Go about 3 miles and turn left onto El Camino Real. At the 4th traffic light, turn right onto Ravenswood Road. Proceed past the main entrance to SRI and turn right on Middlefield Road, then right onto Ringwood Avenue. The entrance to the conference parking lot will be on your right.

Registration: Pre-registration discount extended to April 30, 2009.

Registration Fee (includes continental breakfast and lunch):

THROUGH April 30
General Admission $125
VA Staff & Kara Volunteers $95
Students and Seniors (65 and older) $65

 

Register On-line Now!

Or mail this registration form and payment to:

Kara
457 Kingsley Avenue
Palo Alto CA 94301

If you are paying by credit card, you may also fax your registration to:
(650) 473-1828.

Refund Policy:
Registration fees for canceled registrations will be refunded if the cancellation is received by April 18, 2009. No refunds will be issued after that date.

Spring 2008 Conference Slideshow

Contact Us

457 Kingsley Ave
Palo Alto, CA 94301
650-321-5272

Office hours are M-F, 9AM to 4PM Pacific time.
Here is a map to our office.

Kara is the Gothic root of the word "care."
It means to reach out, to care, to lament, to grieve with.