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Finding Meaning in Medicine and Nursing:
Revitalizing the Heart of Your Work
A 2-day CME/BRN workshop with Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D.
Open to physicians, residents and nurses (including PAs and NPs)
October 9 & 10, 2009
This workshop is an invitation to join with other teaching and clinical professionals from across the country who want to revitalize their practice and bring their heart to their work. This will be an inspiring two days for both clinicians and educators to reconnect to their original vibrant sense of service.
Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen will share the Institute for the Study of Health & Illness's (ISHI's) innovative personal and group processes to strengthen authentic colleagueship and implement self-care. Clinicians will develop skills to enable them to live closer to their values and find deeper meaning in their work.
Educators will learn innovative techniques for enriching CME/BRN programs, or teaching residents and students. All participants will also experience the simple and highly effective Finding Meaning in Medicine and Finding Meaning in Nursing group technique and be enabled to implement it at their worksite.
Since 1992, ISHI's programs have helped thousands of clinicians and clinical teachers experience a deeper sense of satisfaction, meaning and community in their work. The innovative methods used in ISHI's workshops and trainings interweave experiential, didactic and contemplative work in a discovery model useful to those designing ongoing training, support groups and day-long programs for professionals and professional students. This workshop will enable educators and group leaders to apply some of ISHI's proven discovery model strategies to the unique needs of their own professional learning groups. Come prepared to discover and cultivate a greater sense of joy and satisfaction in your service to your patients and your students.
Each of the four sessions of Revitalizing the Heart of Work is a presentation of one or two innovative group techniques that can be integrated into an existing professional educational program or become the basis of a new program design. These tested approaches enable a professional study group to become a community of inquiry into the underlying values of a profession and enable individuals to reaffirm their passion for their work. Participants will have the opportunity to personally experience these techniques before learning how to use them. In addition, participants will learn to establish Finding Meaning professional support groups at their workplace.
About the Finding Meaning process: The Finding Meaning in Medicine and Finding Meaning in Nursing group process developed by the Institute for the Study of Health and Illness is a simple, no-cost way to explore and strengthen professional values and motivation in the company of other clinicians and educators. Organized as an ongoing conversation and discovery process, these self-led group meetings enable service professionals and professional students to uncover the true meaning of their work through story and personal insight and find inspiration within a community of peers. Forming an authenticÊcommunity of colleagues with shared values is often the key to greater passion and commitment in professional work.
Mill Valley, California
Has the passion gone out of your teaching? Has your sense of calling as a clinician worn thin? Then come prepared to discover and cultivate a greater sense of joy and satisfaction in your service to your patients and your students.
Who should attend:
This workshop is for clinicians and/or educators in medicine and nursing who are interested in exploring and strengthening the unique and personal meaning of their work, deepening their self-care, applying a variety of innovative experiential approaches in their teaching, and learning how to implement Finding Meaning in Medicine or Finding Meaning in Nursing support groups for themselves or for their colleagues, students, and residents.
Educational Goals
Participants will have the opportunity to:
• Reaffirm and strengthen deeply held professional values;
• Experience support from a community of professional peers;
• Learn how to create and maintain interactional safe space between professionals;
• Explore the relationship between interactional safety and personal and professional transformation;
• Learn experiential techniques to deepen meaning and commitment for themselves and their students;
• Discover the power of story to capture professional meaning;
• Experience the power of story to create professional community;
• Explore and strengthen a personal commitment to service;
• Explore and share the meaning of their work with other professionals;
• Learn a tested group format approach to uncover professional meaning and build authentic community;
• Recognize those areas of clinical focus in the care of their patients where cultural sensitivities may be hidden;
• Recognize interactional areas in the care of their patients where customs and cultural sensitivities may be operating;
• Recognize those areas of clinical focus in their interaction with students where cultural sensitivities may be hidden;
• Recognize interactional areas in their interaction with students where customs and cultural sensitivities may be operating;
• Increase competence and confidence in eliciting those sensitivities from patients and students and acting upon them.
• Teach these skills to students, colleagues and residents.
Educational Objectives About Rachel Naomi Remen, MD: Rachel Naomi Remen is one of the earliest pioneers of holistic and integrative medicine. She is the Founder and Director of The Institute for the Study of Health and Illness (ISHI) at Commonweal, a professor of clinical medicine at UCSF School of Medicine, and the nationally known author of Kitchen Table Wisdom and My Grandfather's Blessings. The Healer's Art, the holistic curriculum she developed for medical students at UCSF in 1992, is now taught at sixty medical schools nationwide. For the past thirty years her presentations, writings and CME workshop programs have enabled thousands of health professionals to heal their isolation, remember their calling and revitalize their work.
The Institute for the Study of Health and Illness at Commonweal designated this live activity for a maximum of 12 AMA PRA Category 1 credit(s)™ - Physicians should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity. This credit may also be applied to the CMA Certification in Continuing Medical Education.
CE contact hour credit for nurses: Credit for 12 CE contact hours for nurses is available. Provider approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing, Provider Number 10064. 12 CE contact hours is available for licensed California nurses.
Disclosure Policy: The Institute for the Study of Health and Illness has implemented a process where everyone who is in a position to control the content of any educational activity must disclose any relevant financial relationship with a commercial interest.
Disclosure Information: The speakers, presenters and planning committee members for this educational activity disclose no relevant financial relationships with commercial interests.
Workshops logistics
Location: Acqua Hotel, 555 Redwood Highway, Mill Valley, California Registration & payment: Pre-registration is required. To register online with a credit card, click here or to download a registration form you can mail in with a check, click here. Note: To ensure prompt processing of your registration, please be sure to send your check with a completed registration form to the correct address listed on the form (complete information is on the downloadable form linked above). If you have questions or problems, please contact Corrie at workshop@rachelremen.com or call 707-575-6801.
Refunds: Due to the constraints of budget planning and administration, no refunds will be issued after September 9. However, you may reassign or transfer your registration at no charge.
Cancellation Policy: A full refund (less processing fee of $25) will be issued for cancellations BEFORE September 9.
Work exchange & scholarships: This workshop is a fundraising effort for the Institute for the Study of Health and Illness (ISHI) at Commonweal, a nonprofit organization. We regret that we are unable to offer work exchange or scholarships for this event.
Lodging: A special discounted room rate has been negotiated for workshop attendees at the Acqua Hotel in Mill Valley, California, the workshop site. You can reserve these rooms (with special room rate) online, by following this link: You can also call the Acqua Hotel's toll-free reservation line at (888) 662-9555 to reserve one of these rooms, which are available on a first come, first serve basis. You MUST request the account name "RACHEL REMEN WORKSHOPS" at the time of booking by phone in order to get the special rate.
Lodging note: If you want to stay at the Acqua Hotel, please know that there are many other events going on in the area during this weekend, and it is crucial to make reservations well in advance. Book your hotel room as soon as possible, so as not to be disappointed!
Many participants fly in from all over the country to attend our workshops. If you are arriving by plane and will be renting a car, either the San Francisco or Oakland airport are recommended. The SF airport is approximately an hour south of the Acqua Hotel; the Oakland airport is around 90 minutes - it depends on the time you fly in and traffic, which can be quite heavy during morning and evening rush hours. We suggest participants fly in the evening before a workshop, and leaving the morning after it's over - and leave plenty of time to get to either airport.
If you don't plan to rent a car, we recommend flying into San Francisco International and taking the Marin Airporter shuttle service that has a stop very near the Acqua Hotel (Seminary Dr/Mill Valley).
Additional lodging: We can provide names of alternative accommodations in a range of prices in the immediate vicinity of the event. Click
here for this list.
Meals: There will be 90 minutes available to eat lunch each day, from approximately noon to 1:30 pm. You may choose to either pre-order (when you register) a catered box lunch that will be served onsite during the workshop, or opt to eat out at one of the many restaurants in the immediate area (in which case, you will need a car as there is no easily accessible public transportation). The box lunches cost $17.00 (inc. tax) per person, per day, and must be pre-paid. They will vary each day, and you may choose either vegetarian or regular (meat) lunch. For example:
Box Lunch #1: Grilled chicken focaccia sandwich, pesto pasta salad, biscotti Note: If you are on a special diet or cannot eat carbs, we recommend that you eat lunch at a restaurant where you can be sure to have your needs met.
To pre-order a lunch online, please go to the online registration form. If you are registering by mail, be sure to checkmark the desired lunch(es) when you send in the form and include payment with the form. The Acqua Hotel does not have its own restaurant; however they do offer a very good continental breakfast for hotel guests staying with them. There are only a couple of restaurants within walking distance for lunch or dinner. We offer the option of ordering a box lunch each day of the workshop. However, if you are not local and arrive via airport shuttle, you may need to call a cab to get to restaurants for dinner. In the past, many participants have opted to go out to eat together, making impromptu plans during the workshop.
A list of local restaurants is available, click
here.
Map: Area map and directions are available, click here.
Participants will be able to:
• List the characteristics of a "community of inquiry";
• Set up the dynamics of discovery model learning within a professional group;
• Learn an exercise for reclaiming the perspective of the heart in professional work;
• Teach two techniques of rapid personal stress reduction appropriate for the workplace;
• Practice a journal exercise for revitalizing work experience;
• Define and experience "generous listening";
• Learn a group technique using symbols to uncover the individual and collective meaning of professional work;
• Implement an exercise for freeing oneself of training expectations and claiming a personal ideal professional model;
• Write an individual and collective mission statement;
• Implement a Finding Meaning in Medicine or a Finding Meaning in Nursing group for colleagues, residents or students;
• Identify 2 specific clinical areas in their own clinical work where cultural sensitivities may be operating;
• Identify 4 specific interactional areas in their own clinical work where cultural sensitivities or customs may be operating;
• Identify 2 specific clinical areas in their own work with students where cultural sensitivities may be operating;
• Identify 4 specific interactional areas in their own work with students where cultural sensitivities or customs may be operating;
• Create cultural and linguistic competency (CLC) question schedules to elicit culturally sensitive information and preferences from colleagues, students and patients of differing cultural backgrounds;
• Use Generous Listening to elicit cultural sensitivities and preferences;
• Teach CLC question schedules to students and colleagues;
• Teach Generous Listening to students and colleagues.
CME credit for physicians: The Institute for the Study of Health and Illness at Commonweal is accredited by the Institute for Medical Quality/California Medical Association (IMQ/CMA) to provide continuing medical education for physicians. The Institute for the Study of Health and Illness at Commonweal takes responsibility for the content, quality and scientific integrity of this CME activity.
Dates: October 9 & 10, 2009
Hours: 9:00 am – noon and 1:30 – 5:00 pm
Cost (includes printed materials):
$495 for physicians (CME credit included) Pre-registration required.
$395 for RNs (BRN-approved CE contact hour credit included) Pre-registration required. PAs and NPs should register in RN category.
$250 for medical residents (CME credit included) Pre-registration required.
Reservations (October workshop only): Acqua Hotel
To confirm reservation, follow search prompts for date availability, rates & room choice. Based on availability at the time of request, guests can then select their preferred reservation date and room type. Rate changes may occur during a guest stay, based on day and length of stay. Daily rate details will be noted on each hotel confirmation notice. All reservations are accepted based on space availability. A two-night minimum may be in effect on selected weekends.
Box Lunch #2 (veggie): Grilled vegetables focaccia sandwich, pesto pasta salad, biscotti