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2011

About the Conference

Stories have the power to touch the heart, mind and soul. This conference will explore how to harness the power of listening as a means to facilitate grieving and promote healing. Participants will learn to hear and see the connections between cultures, religions and people, and to support the process of finding meaning in the end of life journey.

Who Should Attend

This conference will benefit spiritual leaders, lay leaders and parish nurses in the faith community, as well as health care providers, especially those involved in hospice and palliative care.

Conference Objectives

1. Examine personal and professional frameworks for influencing patient and family health through narrative techniques.
2. Offer strategies for enhancing listening skills to better understand the patient’s story.
3. Discuss the therapeutic effects of journaling during the last months of life.
4. Summarize ways in which storytelling can provide comfort and healing at end of life.

Faculty

Gail Rosen, MEd is a consultant, storyteller, bereavement facilitator, hospital volunteer and workshop leader for hospice, schools and special populations. She tells stories that address the “big questions” about life and death, purpose and despair, grieving and comfort. She is also the founder of the National Storytelling Network’s Special Interest Group, the Healing Story Alliance.

Panelists

Pam Czech
Parent and founder of Cassidy’s Hope Foundation

Laura Gerak, PhD
Division of Pediatric Psychiatry/Psychology
Akron Children’s Hospital

Sarah Friebert, MD
Director, Haslinger Family Center Pediatric Palliative Care
Akron Children’s Hospital

Jenny Hengle, RN
Showers Family Center for Childhood Cancer and Blood Disorders
Akron Children’s Hospital

Facilitated by Karen Ballard, MCM, BCC
Director, Chaplaincy Services
Akron Children’s Hospital

One Comment

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  1. Sandy Selby / Jul 21 2012

    A Chaplain’s Reflection on the Conference, by Karen Ballard

    “Honoring the Stories: Enriching Meaning at the End of Life” was the title and program content for the Annual Palette of Faith conference in 2011. Gail Rosen, nationally-known storyteller, bereavement facilitator and hospice volunteer, was the featured speaker who led us in some wonderful exercises of hearing stories and telling stories. She created the following litany by having participants complete two sentences: “When I simply listen, I………………….” and “When someone truly listens to me…………………..”
    Be blessed by this litany as you reflect upon how you would complete the sentences.

    When I simply listen, I
    Am taken out of myself and feel connection with another being.
    Hear heart and truth and sacred space.
    Can see into another heart.
    Feel good and learn much.
    Could hear the deeper stories behind the stories.
    Learn things I didn’t know I didn’t know.
    Learn so much and feel validated as a person.
    Hear what the other person has to say.
    Am touched with feelings.
    Feel connected to the speaker.
    Learn things and feel things.
    Am truly blessed.
    Heard a familiar story.
    Find meaning in what I hear.
    Can see how we are alike in many ways.
    Feel like I enter their story as a character.
    Have greater appreciations for another’s honesty, personal experience which gives me amazing
    faith in mankind.
    Feel love
    Can truly appreciate another person’s perspective and learn to see things a little differently.
    Feel honored to hear and be privy to such stories.
    Learn so much more, I’m more engaged; I’m more helpful to the speaker.
    Hear that there is God.
    Enjoy resting in the experience of others.
    Am able to connect with anyone and find commonality in our journey.
    Feel pleased that someone trusts me enough to share.
    My heart opens and I hear the voices of angels.
    Hear honesty, fragility which I can see in myself.
    Learn more; feel more; feel God.

    When someone truly listen to me,
    Words flow easier and it helps me process my ideas.
    They can receive what I am saying accurately.
    I simply felt loved, respected and important to them.
    I feel valued.
    I feel safe and whole again.
    I feel a new sense of freedom to be myself.
    They are showing respect, caring and love.
    They don’t need to say or fix anything.
    I always feel better
    I want to share more.
    I really feel I need feedback and validation.
    I am so grateful and I feel at peace.
    I am blessed.
    I feel that I exist in their world, too.
    I often start to cry.
    I feel more vulnerable.
    I rejoice!
    I feel like my story matters.
    My cup overflows and it feels safe.
    I share even more than I originally planned.
    The space around us seems to reverberate.
    I feel cherished.
    I feel a sense of healing and strength.
    I find myself intrigued by their thoughts.
    I feel more understood and accepted.
    I feel connected to them.
    I hope they understand.
    I am supported and not so alone.
    I feel so worthy and yet so humble.
    I’m thrilled.
    I hear better the meaning and grace of my own story.

    There is both information and inspiration to be experienced at our annual conferences. Plan now to attend the conference on November 29, 2012.

    Karen Ballard
    Director, Chaplaincy Services
    Akron Children’s Hospital

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