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Community Education

Our Community Education programs facilitate constructive conversations in the community about serious illness, caregiving challenges, end-of-life and grief. 

CaringMatters strives to develop community knowledge and skills around serious illness, caregiving challenges, end-of-life and grief-related topics that can be applied to daily life. Our meaningful educational events and discussions help build a caring and compassionate community.

For information on Community Education, please contact

Leigh Bluestein, leighb@caringmatters.org or 301-990-7927

Thank you to our Community Education funding partner

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Upcoming Workshop

At A Loss: Online Writing Workshops (2 sessions) via Zoom
Dates: April 11, 2024, 7:00pm - 8:30pm 

Facilitator: Karen Paul, MFA

*The workshop is now FULL! Thank you for your interest!

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Grief needs expression. Spending time with your grief, getting to know its contours and writing about it helps with the process of integrating your grief into your story and learning to live with it. In these writing workshops, offered free of charge, participants will be given ideas and prompts for writing about loss and grief. Each online workshop will be a private, safe place to write your story, to share it if you choose, and to use words and language to make sense of your feelings.

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Karen Paul is a Montgomery County, Maryland, resident and writer who has used CaringMatters’ services and now serves on the CaringMatters Board of Trustees. Karen writes often about loss and grief and her work has been published widely, including in the Washington Post, New York Times, Boston Globe, Modern Loss, Lilith Magazine, San Antonio Review, Open Secrets, and Motherwell. Karen has an MFA in creative writing from the Vermont College of Fine Arts and is working on a memoir about widowhood. 

Upcoming Webinar

Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy: Extending Compassion and Whole Person Healing

Wednesday, March 27, 2024, 11:00 am - 12:00 pm 

People living with serious illness or approaching end-of-life often experience anxiety and depression despite evidence-based counseling, medical interventions, and compassionate palliative care. Many medications to treat anxiety and depression cause notable side effects, take time to become effective, and may not alleviate the emotional suffering and anguish from serious illness or a terminal diagnosis.

 

This webinar will explore the history of psychedelic drugs, research results and opportunities, available resources, and their potential to alleviate suffering and improve quality of life for those experiencing serious illness, such as cancer, or those approaching end-of-life.

 

Participants will learn about:

  • The history of psychedelic drugs

  • The therapy process and expectations

  • Potential use and benefit for those with serious illness or at end-of-life

  • Resources, future research and opportunities to access treatment

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Presenter Mark Bates is a clinical psychologist at Sunstone Therapies who provides psychedelic-assisted therapy with a focus on whole person healing. Mark believes that psychedelic therapy helps people heal core wounds and access their higher selves in unique ways. Mark received his clinical psychology degree from the military's medical school and completed the Center for Psychedelic Therapies and Research certificate program at the California Institute of Integral Studies. He has also received training in multiple psychedelic-assisted psychotherapies and participated in ethnobotany studies in Ecuador and Brazil. 

Past Community Education Presentations Include:

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  • Webinar - Prepare for the Inevitable: Financial Planning to Prepare for the Death of a Family Member

  • Webinar - Seniors and Social Isolation

  • Webinar - Suffocated Grief and Black Youth Coping with Loss

  • Webinar - How to Support Grieving People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

  • Webinar - Caregiver Stress in Asian American Communities

  • Webinar - Providing Inclusive and Affirming Care for the LGBTQ+ Community

  • Webinar - Caring for the Caregiver

  • Webinar - The End-of-Life Doulas: A Collaborative Approach to End-of-Life Care

  • Webinar - Grief Support for the Black Community: Understanding the Culture of Trauma and Developing an Empathy-Driven Mindset

  • Webinar: Grief: Support for Yourself and Those You Care About

  • Webinar - Grief in the Workplace: Guidance for Employees and Employers

  • Webinar - ​Voice Your Choice: Preparing for Health Care Emergencies

  • Webinar - Speaking Grief Film Discussion

  • Webinar - LGBTQ+ Seriously Ill Seniors: Opportunities for Better Care

  • Webinar - Grief and Self-Care in the Time of COVID-19

  • Webinar - Supporting Grieving Students After a Death: How We Can Help Them Build Resilience in a Time of Physical Distancing

  • Navigating Transitions for Your Loved One's Care

  • Nine To Ninety Film Screening & Discussion

  • Caregivers' Toolkit: Community Resources for Patients & Families Facing Serious Illness

  • Voices of Grief Film Screening & Discussion

  • Managing Grief in the Age of 24-Hour News & Social Media

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