When mental health professionals talk about grief they are usually talking about grief in response to death. It’s the most common form of grief and the most widely acknowledged in our society. Western culture doesn’t like to talk about death but following the death of a loved one the grief hits and takes center stage [...]
Archive for August, 2009
We’re All On an Odyssey
Posted in Caregiving, tagged "Sailing Home", Buddhist perspective on death, care for the caregiver, caregiver burnout, caregiver empowerment, caregiver health, caregiver needs, caregiver stress, caregiver support, coaching caregivers, Greg Katz, Hospice, Norman Fischer, Odysseus, The Odyssey on August 28, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Welcome to Caregiver Friday!! Over the past few months I’ve been spending time reading and studying about Odysseus, the story of “The Odyssey”. If you haven’t explored it, it’s a wonderful story and so applicable to life today which to many would be a surprise. The lessons are explored by many authors who take their [...]
What if Everyone Came Clean?
Posted in after the diagnosis, coping with chronic illness, coping with life threatening illness, living with chronic illness, Living with Illness, Uncategorized, tagged coaching illness, Greg Katz, illness coaching, medical errors, medical malpractice, partnership with doctors, patient empowerment, self-empowerment, transparency in healthcare, University of Illinois, Wall Street Journal on August 27, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
We live in a litigious society. When it comes to errors made in medical settings, the stories of the legal battles would blow your mind. The bottom line is no one likes to be lied to and we all know that cover-ups aren’t a hit with most people. The lessons we learned as kids about telling [...]
Too Many Deaths from Errors
Posted in after the diagnosis, coping with chronic illness, coping with life threatening illness, living with chronic illness, Living with Illness, tagged "How Doctors Think", coaching illness, Death from Medical Errors, Greg Katz, illness coaching, Jerome Groopman, partnership with doctors, patient empowerment, self-empowerment, Wall Street Journal on August 26, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I was reading an article in the Wall Street Journal yesterday about how hospitals are owning up to their errors. I think this is great because studies show that the big malpractice suits come not because of the malpractice, but because the physician/hospital didn’t acknowledge the wrong nor did they apologize…I guess they’re making progress. [...]
Are You a High Roller?
Posted in after the diagnosis, coping with chronic illness, coping with life threatening illness, living with chronic illness, Living with Illness, tagged bankruptcy, Cancer, coaching illness, COBRA, Greg Katz, health insurance, Healthcare Reform, illness coaching, patient empowerment, pre-existing condition on August 25, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
A friend of my parents recently quit her job. The circumstances aren’t important, what is important is the conversation that followed. My mother asked her if she was going to take the COBRA option which allows you to pay out-of-pocket for your health insurance. In most cases you can do that for 18 months unless [...]
Thomas Merton and Suffering
Posted in after the diagnosis, coping with chronic illness, coping with life threatening illness, living with chronic illness, Living with Illness, tagged coaching illness, Greg Katz, health and healing, Health and Suffering, holistic health, illness coaching, patient empowerment, Seven Storey Mountain, spiritual wellness, Spirituality and Health, suffering, Thomas Merton on August 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
When I stumbled upon the works of Thomas Merton I was amazed at how prolific he was as well as the impact he could have with such a short life. His is one of the best auto-biographies because it doesn’t follow the time line you would assume from a man considered to be one of [...]
Invisible Injuries
Posted in after the diagnosis, coping with chronic illness, coping with life threatening illness, living with chronic illness, Living with Illness, tagged care for the caregiver, caregiver burnout, caregiver empowerment, caregiver health, caregiver needs, caregiver stress, caregiver support, coaching caregivers, gratitude, invisible injury, partnership with doctors, patient-caregiver relationship on August 21, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Welcome to Caregiver Friday!!! I want to start this post with two simple words…”Thank You”. I wanted to start with these words because it’s the two words most caregivers/wellness partners don’t hear often enough if at all. I’ve sat in hundreds of caregiver support groups where the biggest complaint is feeling unappreciated. I know you [...]
Is Surrender Really About a White Flag?
Posted in after the diagnosis, coping with chronic illness, coping with life threatening illness, living with chronic illness, Living with Illness, tagged coaching illness, emotional release, giving up, Greg Katz, health and wellness, holistic health, illness coaching, patient empowerment, surrender, white flag of surrender on August 19, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The old cartoons always had two opponents in the heat of battle and finally up from a hole, or coming out of a cave was a white flag signalling surrender. I personally do not know the history of the white flag but I do have personal experience with the idea of surrender. We’ve come to [...]
Who Holds the Greater Faith?
Posted in after the diagnosis, coping with chronic illness, coping with life threatening illness, living with chronic illness, Living with Illness, tagged art and healing, coaching illness, David Whyte, health and healing, holistic health, illness coaching, patient empowerment, poetic medicine, Poetry, poetry therapy, Spirituality and Health on August 18, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Over the past year I’ve become more and more intrigued by poetry. I didn’t much like it while in high school, and I avoided any and all poetry courses in college…so what’s the difference? Maybe it’s maturity (ha ha), a clearer understanding of writing styles, or a greater appreciation for all things creative. I’m inclined [...]
What Kind of Dealer Are You?
Posted in after the diagnosis, coping with life threatening illness, living with chronic illness, Living with Illness, tagged "The little book on meaning, coaching illness, fear and health, Greg Katz, health and healing, health and wellness, holistic health, illness coaching, Laura Berman Fortgang, patient empowerment on August 17, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Now don’t get all excited…the word dealer here is meant as in a card dealer, not a drug dealer. Just wanted to set the record straight from the beginning; although the response if you thought it was the latter would have been funny. Getting back to matters at hand. Picture yourself in a casino and [...]
