KEYNOTE ADDRESS AND GENERAL SESSION SPEAKER:

Barbara Rubel, MA, BCETS, CBS

Categories: Resiliency, Stress Management, Motivation

Triumph over loss and find inner resilience to deal with life’s challenges, from the loss of a job or relationship to loss of a loved one. Three weeks before she gave birth to triplet sons, Barbara Rubel’s father, a retired New York City police officer, took his own life. This heartbreaking experience launched Rubel on a personal mission. She inspires audiences to tap the power of resilience within them and survive the soul-searching journey into the essence of loss. Barbara’s story was featured in the Emmy award-winning PBS Documentary, Fatal Mistakes. Her riveting talks, laced with humor, focus on ritual and resilience and offer wisdom, tools and techniques to anyone facing a difficult, life-changing situation. Her best selling books, But I Didn’t Say Goodbye and Death, Dying, and Bereavement focus on healing. She is the co-author of the U.S. Dept. of Justice Training Manual, Compassion Fatigue. Rubel is a nationally recognized author and speaker, noted for her ability to provide motivating and insightful presentations on surviving loss of relationships, life changing events, and how to grow through crisis. Barbara has inspired thousands of people to deal with unfinished business, search for meaning in their lives and overcome life’s hurdles. Rubel's background in psychology, community health, and thanatology come together to create a dynamic talk that helps those who have experienced stressful events to survive and thrive in spite of the curves life has thrown them. A nationally-known consultant on traumatic loss, Barbara is the Director of the Griefwork Center, Inc. in NJ. Her presentations convey optimism, compassion and hope to anyone coping with life’s major challenges.

GENERAL SESSIONS, KEYNOTES, WORKSHOPS, CORPORATE TRAINING, AND CONSULTATION

Building Resiliency: Preventing burnout and compassion fatigue in Professionals

This must-attend presentation has been developed to provide professionals with the techniques they must master to deal with their own work related stress. We will describe the significance of resiliency to manage a stressful career. Are you burning out? Has compassion fatigue made you consider leaving your present job? This is a presentation of empowerment for overworked professionals and is designed to help you master the turning points in your life. Say goodbye to stress, burnout and compassion fatigue and say hello to relaxation, balance, and empowerment. If you want to recognize strategies to enhance resiliency, so you can continue supporting those impacted by life changing events, this presentation is for you! Learn strategies to handle the pressure when you're working inside a pressure cooker.

Palette of Grief®: Dealing With Life Changing Events

This presentation begins with an overview of life changing events and their impact on individuals. There will be a creative activity, the Palette of Grief®. This interactive exercise is geared to assist and train professionals to identify the physical, cognitive, behavioral, emotional, work related, social and spiritual reactions due to life changing events. The Palette represents some of the reactions people experience due to loss, stress, burnout and compassion fatigue. This presentation is "hands on" with attendees reviewing effective ways to help individuals and themselves after being exposed to traumatic experiences.

Death, Dying, and Bereavement: Providing Compassion During a Time of Need

This presentation addresses the circumstances and special needs of the dying and those who companion them. Unique issues professionals face when providing compassionate care to those in need; Everything you need to know about death, dying, and bereavement; Strategies for working with patients who are terminally ill; Identify strategies to support family members; Implement practical interventions with patients and their families for greater quality of life. The presenter of this workshop wrote the 30 hour continuing education course book for nurses, Death, Dying, and Bereavement.

Integrating Palliative Care into Long Term Care

This program will be addressing end of life for residents in nursing facilities and assisted living facilities. The discussion will focus on concerns regarding terminal care, significance of residents and family as decision makes, the role of food and hydration, the judgment of futility. ethical aspects of pain management, the roles of hospice, the challenges faced with survey process, and the needs of staff who support residents who are at the end of their life.

1. Describe an overview of palliative care:

Through lecture, discussion and handouts, participants will discuss palliative care; complimentary therapists, design a palliative care team by identifying ways to recruit palliative care staff; state physician's recommendations for improving palliative care; examine anticipatory grief; list attitudes and fears about death and dying; identify end of life care; illustrate how to do an assessment when devising a palliative care plan; and identify when it is in the resident's interest to shift toward a palliative care plan

2. Describe ethical issues in the transition to palliative care in long term care and nursing homes:

Through lecture, discussion and handouts, participants will identify the significance of values and culture in long term care; discuss respect, compassion, truth telling, and confidentiality; Compare 5 moral principles; Identify moral dilemmas and the significance of informed consent and advance directives; summarize a living will; describe futile treatment and ethical aspects of pain management; Identify families in decision making and effective communication at the end of life; define the doctrine of double effect; review issues related to withdrawing treatment, fluids and terminal weaning; explain challenges to palliative care in nursing homes such as high staff turnover, staffing shortages, lack of available hospice or palliative care teams and regulatory scrutiny.

3. Describe coordination of services between hospice and long term care:

Through lecture, discussion and handouts, participants will identify diagnosis among hospice patients; state the scope of hospice services; list the interdisciplinary team; examine what nursing homes expect from hospice; review the hospice benefit under Medicare Part A; illustrate the potential benefits of hospice/nursing home partnership; and describe grief and bereavement issues of residents, families, and staff in a long term care setting.

4. Identify ways to prevent compassion fatigue among professionals who work in long term care settings:

Through lecture, discussion and handouts, participants will review sources of stress; describe burnout; acquire skills to prevent compassion fatigue in staff; and formulate a personal and professional care plan to prevent staff turnover in long term care

When Tragedy Strikes: Knowing What to Say and do After Sudden Loss

This presentation is for professional helpers who want to learn more about conditions that make grief traumatic. This workshop begins with an overview of the reactions of sudden loss survivors and victims. There will also be a discussion on the impact of sudden violent death on the family. The next part of this session instructs the attendees to learn effective communication skills and review effective ways to provide support after a sudden death. Victim advocates and those who companion survivors and victims will gain the skills needed to emotionally support people in crisis.

Who should attend:

Some of our Programs . . .

GENERAL SESSIONS, KEYNOTES, WORKSHOPS, CORPORATE TRAINING, AND CONSULTATION

Availability: Nationwide