New Program at CDP Teaches End-of-Life Caregivers Novel Ways to Cope with Stress

(I-Newswire) March 10, 2010 - Congressional District Programs (CDP) announced today the acceptance of a new program called, “Share the Gift Foundation.”

Share the Gift Foundation has created a workshop called Beyond Compassion that responds to the void caregivers confront when dealing with the tumultuous feelings accompanying end-of-life care for a loved one. As the sole caregiver during the dying process of her own mother, author and licensed counselor Cathryn Taylor faced this void first-hand. Through her own loss, Taylor realized that most caregivers, personal, as well as professional, are ill-equipped to deal with the myriad of emotions associated with the end-of-life care of a loved one. “There is an emptiness which leads to excessive burnout. Caring for a loved one as their life comes to an end is stressful. Without the tools to deal with this stress caregivers can succumb to exhaustion, apathy and despair."

Taylor’s passion to impart this knowledge to fellow caregivers resulted in her inspiration to start a charitable project at Congressional District Programs. She was committed to address this need and provide options beyond the inevitable consequences of loss.

“Losing my own mother tested my faith in my ability to cope. It made me appreciate that over the thirty-year course of my professional career I had acquired the skills needed to ride the ebb and flow of grief. Being equipped with the ability to resolve the tumultuous feelings which arose enabled me to access a point of power beyond my wildest imagination. In fact, the very fears provoked by this inevitable loss became the gateway for me to actually return to a renewed, more profound, state of faith and hope. Once there I discovered a capacity for a love beyond compassion, beyond belief.”

Taylor’s Beyond Compassion Programs are designed to equip caregivers with tools that invite them to approach grief and loss with a sense of empowerment and enrichment. “We want to teach individuals how to stay open to the process of death both for their benefit and the benefit of their loved ones or the patients with whom they are working,” she explained.

Through this nonprofit program, Taylor will be assisting professional and personal caregivers. The Beyond Compassion Program will offer a series of workshops aimed to introduce caregivers to progressive exercises which will increase their ability to manage the stress which accompanies end-of-life care. These classes will teach caregivers self-administered techniques to cope. They will learn how to identify the five stages of grief and be provided with the methods to resolve the emotions which accompany each stage.

Taylor, a native Nebraskan and a resident of both the San Francisco bay area and the Twin Cities of Minnesota tailored her program to serve the needs of anyone in the caregiver’s role. Familiar with the caregiver’s dilemma of being housebound due to the responsibilities to their loved one, her programs are not only available as in-person seminars and workshops but can also be accessed through the Internet in a self-study series and/or group session teleconferences and webinars.

Donations to Share the Gift Foundation’s program Beyond Compassion are tax-deductible. They will help to provide professional and personal caregivers the necessary tools to cope with the stress of caring for loved ones or patients.

About CDP

Beyond Compassion is a project of Congressional District Programs (CDP), a 501(c)(3) public charity. CDP believes that there is an ever-growing need for new and different charitable programs. By allowing individuals to begin programs under the auspices of CDP, people can address specific charitable needs on a local, national, or even global level.

CDP is a fiscal sponsor that handles all the administrative work for these charitable programs, including receiving donations, receipting donors, and filing all appropriate state, federal and local reports. This allows the Program Managers to be more focused on achieving their charitable goals. All donations to these CDP programs are tax-deductible. For more information about Congressional District Programs contact Katie Kern at 703-538-8867, or via email at Katie@cdprograms.org. Visit CDP’s website at www.cdprograms.org.

About Congressional District Programs:
CDP, a 501(c)(3) public charity. CDP believes that there is an ever-growing need for new and different charitable programs. By allowing individuals to begin programs under the auspices of CDP, people can address specific charitable needs on a local, national, or even global level.
CDP handles all the administrative work for these charitable programs, including receiving donations, receipting donors, and filing all appropriate state, federal and local reports. This allows the Program Managers to be more focused on achieving their charitable goals. All donations to these CDP programs are tax-deductible. For more information about Congressional District Programs contact Katie Kern at 703-538-8867, or via email at Katie@cdprograms.org. Visit CDP’s website at www.cdprograms.org.

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Congressional District Programs