Upcoming Events

The Aaron and Sarah Franzblau Institute for Continuing Education at Daughters of Israel is presenting two additional seminars as part of its Spring 2012 Series. “Compassion Fatigue: Bearing the Suffering of Our Clients,” is scheduled to be held on Thursday, May 24, 2012, from 9:30 a.m.- 12 noon, and “Finding a Good Way to Give Bad News,” will be held on Thursday, May 31, 2012, also from 9:30 a.m.-12 noon. Registration and kosher continental breakfast for both sessions will begin at 8:30 a.m. The two seminars will be held at the Daughters of Israel Plafsky Family Campus, 1155 Pleasant Valley in West Orange, NJ.

It is known that those working in the caring professions are among those to provide the mental health services to clients suffering from psychological trauma following life altering events.  This program will focus on the emotional exhaustion from working with such clients, or Compassion Fatigue (CF)."   The program will explore how CF differs from other occupational hazards such as Secondary Trauma (ST) and job burnout.Experience suggests that individuals working with those suffering illness, catastrophic events and trauma, who listen to the stories of fear and suffering of others are often themselves struck with a form of burnout called compassion fatigue. Compassion Fatigue presents in many forms, but most often as a deep physical, emotional and spiritual exhaustion accompanied by acute emotional pain. Compassion fatigue is flourishing today – some blame this on the demands of managed care causing physicians, nurses and other helping professionals to see more patients, do more paperwork, and have less autonomy than ever before. Seminar participants will be able to identify those professionals, para-professionals and volunteers who often deal with a self-imposed pressure requiring them to live up to their own high standards. Participants will be able to define the differences between Compassion Fatigue, Secondary Traumatic Stress and Job Burn Out. Participants will discuss and explore who is most susceptible and at risk and the signs and symptoms. Discussion around how Compassion Fatigue can be prevented and how one can cope with this issue will be presented. Participants will be provided with supporting literature as well as case examples.

Few clinicians have been formally, or even informally, trained in giving bad news.  The task can cause great stress.  Using communication techniques which undermine patient trust and satisfaction is often a pitfall for clinicians.  An overview of how bad news is defined as well as the challenges Social Workers, RNs, mental health practitioners and physicians face when asked to give bad news thousands of times during the course of a career will be explored. Bad news can be defined as any information adversely altering an individual’s expectations for the future.   Social Workers, RNs, mental health practitioners and physicians give bad news thousands of times during the course of a career, as do managers in the work place. This seminar will examine the challenges that helping professions and employers must face, including giving information consistent with the individual’s prior understanding of the disease or situation; discussing bad news while supporting individual’s hopes for good outcomes and addressing emotional reactions, ie. crying, anger.

ABOUT OUR PRESENTER: Janet Pincu, MSW, LNCW, CALA, The last 25 years of Janet’s career has been devoted to serving geriatric clients and their families. She has always been passionate about working with seniors and initially gained experience in the assisted living industry. Prior to joining Freedom Home Healthcare, Janet was a Medicare certified Psychotherapist and Geriatric Care Manager. As the Senior Director for Freedom’s client services team, she has supervised student interns who are pursuing a graduate degree in the field of social work and hopes they find geriatric care management to be just as rewarding. Janet is dedicated to being an advocate for Freedom’s clients and their family members. It is extremely rewarding for Janet to know that she working with a talented team of clinical and customer service professionals who are committed to helping seniors age in place and maintain their safety, dignity and independence.

 

The cost of each seminar, which includes a kosher continental breakfast, is $70.

 

 

For more information and/or to register, please contact Colleen Thompson, Assistant Administrator, at 973-400-3341 or at cthompson@doigc.org.