Lloyd Symington Foundation - Supporting the Heart and Soul of Cancer Care

RECENTLY FUNDED PROGRAMS

Buddhist Practice When it Really Matters 2006-2009
Nina Wise, Director
San Rafael, CA

The grant funds a two-part self-care program provided by Nina Wise at Spirit Rock Meditation Center for people with life threatening illness, caregivers and loved ones. The program begins and ends with a day long intensive and includes ten weekly meetings. Nina Wise will guide participants through a series of transformative Buddhist practices and creative self expression practices that they can continue after the program ends to deepen their self- knowledge and self-care and help them better negotiate the path of illness. The funds will also support the development of a website with dharma talks and guided meditations that can be downloaded so that people unable to attend the classes in person will have access to the teaching and practices.

Psycho-Spiritual Integration and Transformation Program 2008-2009
Kathleen Wall, Director
San Jose, CA

The grant funds an eight week program in Psycho-Spiritual Integration and Transformation (PSIT) for 20 people: 15 people diagnosed with cancer and 5 health coordinators. PSIT is a unique clinical intervention, developed by Carl Peters M.D., M.A. and Kathleen Wall, PhD, that addresses both the psychological and spiritual aspects of being and evolving. The project also aims to disseminate the process by training health care providers in PSIT to make it available to other cancer survivors. At the end, 12 participants will be interviewed in order to conduct research on their experience in the program.

Bringing Mind-Body Medicine to the Middle East Cancer Consortium - MECC 2008-2010; funding renewed 2011-2013
Nancy Harazduk, Director
North Potomac, MD

The grant funds a series of didactic and experiential presentations in mind-body medicine that are integrated throughout the annual three day conference for cancer health care professionals sponsored by the Middle East Cancer Consortium. Attending the conference are 60-80 participants from throughout the Middle East, all health care workers in the field of oncology. The mind-body medicine intervention strategies taught and experienced by the MECC conference participants promote health and well-being physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually; they also enhance deep self-awareness and self-care. The mind-body medicine practices and group experiences help participants move beyond political differences into a place of common humanity where they strive together toward the common goal of reducing suffering and death due to cancer. The collaboration between the Mind-Body Program at Georgetown University School of Medicine and MECC began in 2006.

Training Cancer Health Professionals in the Mandala Process 2009-2010
Judith Cornell, Director
Carmel Valley, CA

The grant funds the training of 2 qualified health care professionals working with cancer patients to facilitate the Mandala Process. The two selected professionals attend in early 2009 the Mandala: Awaken Out of Suffering Facilitation Training given by Judith Cornell, Ph.D. using as a core text her most recent book “Mandala Healing Kit for Spiritual and Emotional Healing.” The two trained professionals return home and participate in a two year internship with Judith Cornell during which they facilitate the Mandala Process in a minimum of five weekend programs per year or a 16 week, once a week, cancer support group.

Soul Care for Caregivers (formerly The Soul of Caregiving: Transformational Writing & Guided Imagery for Insight and Well-Being) 2009-2011
Susanne West
San Rafael, CA
www.susannewest.com

The grant funds at least 6 workshops, offered free of charge, for volunteer and professional cancer caregivers in the Bay Area taught by Susanne West, MA, CHT. In addition to the “Soul Care for Caregivers” and “Caregiving and Boundaries” workshops, a new “Creativity for the Caregivers Soul” workshop will be offered. The workshops assist participants with the challenges and stressors of caregiving and provide creative opportunities for psycho-spiritual growth and transformation. In addition to the workshops, the grant funds final preparation for publishing Susanne West’s book, Soul Care for Caregivers: How to Help Yourself While Helping Others including: revisions, professional editing, proofreading, formatting, cover design and preparation for printing.

Ayahuasca for Cancer Patients 2009
Robert Forte
Santa Cruz, CA

The grant funds a preliminary pilot study on the curative effects of ayahuasca and the indigenous medicine of the Amazonian rainforest on cancer patients in its native context, Peru. Ayahuasca is a powerful, curative plant, with sacred and spiritual properties, that grows along the Amazon in South America. It has been revered for its healing powers for hundreds of years by the cultures of the Upper Amazon. This study will focus on the effectiveness of ayahuasca, icaros, (songs of the spirits of the jungle plants for healing and vision) and other healing rituals, in treating cancer in two individuals from the United States who will travel with Robert Forte, the project director, to Peru where they will be treated for a month by a traditional curandero in Peru. The status of the cancer in both patients will be assessed before and after the ayahuasca treatment by the oncologists treating the patients in the United States.

Ceres Community Project: Healing Foods Cooking Course 2010-2011
JoEllen DeNicola, Nutrition Director
Sebastopol, CA
www.ceresproject.org

The grant provides funding to underwrite four Healing Foods Cooking Courses in 2011 at the Ceres Community Project in Sebastopol, CA. Each course teaches participants how to cook wholesome, organic meals with locally grown ingredients and how to maintain a healthy lifestyle through such practices as yoga, qigong, journaling, fine arts, and meditation. The classes are offered to cancer survivors (70%), care-givers and health care professionals. The mission of the Ceres Community Project, founded in 2007, is to restore food to its place as primary medicine for healing and healthy communities.

Creating Hope 2010
Tina Gianfagna, President
Fishers, Indiana
www.creating-hope.org

The grant provides funds to underwrite eight daylong painting workshops to benefit cancer patients, their caregivers, and medical staff. The aim of these workshops is to reduce stress and enhance quality of life by means of creative self-expression through activities such as painting bookmarks and coloring mandalas. Creating Hope, a non-profit organization, was founded by a 36 year old wife, mother and breast cancer survivor who discovered that painting made her feel better. Through its mission, Creating Hope spreads the message that creativity and self-expression can help reduce the anxiety and mental stress of cancer; that every individual has been given a spirit gift, a special power within that, when expressed, has healing powers.

Healing Consulting: The Art Of Happiness Lectures 2010
Wendy Treynor, Director
Redondo Beach, CA
www.HealingConsulting.com

The grant funds a four part lecture series, The Art of Happiness, at The Wellness Community, South Bay Cities for cancer survivors and others in the community. The first lecture will include Wendy Treynor’s cancer story and perspective as both a scientist and human being, and how to cultivate a sense of joy, peace, freedom, and meaning in our lives. The second lecture will discuss how to alleviate suffering by clearing body and mind of negative emotion. The third lecture will cover scientific findings that elucidate the relationship between identity, emotion, self-esteem, depression, culture, and conflict. The final lecture will discuss spirituality as a process of coming to rediscover our true nature. Healing Consulting, with the motto “where science and spirit meet,” has the vision of integrating scientific knowledge and spiritual wisdom to enhance people’s quality of life.

Healing Therapies Program 2010
Sandra J. Wing, Founder
Pleasanton, CA
www.healingtherapiesfoundation.org

The grant provides funding amounts of $1000 each to three cancer patients living in the Tri-Valley region of the San Francisco Bay Area and currently undergoing chemotherapy or radiation treatments. These $1000 grants will pay for holistic therapies not usually covered by insurance, including acupuncture, therapeutic massage, and guided imagery. These therapies together with conventional approaches to cancer care such as chemotherapy and radiation, provide an integrative treatment approach which help give people with cancer the ability to take a proactive role in their treatment and recovery. Healing therapies help people with cancer calm their minds and relieve both physical and emotional suffering. These therapies often help people move forward and continue their treatment program. Sandra J. Wing, a dual cancer survivor, founded the Sandra J. Wing Healing Therapies Program in 2008. The foundation seeks to help cancer patients who do not have the resources pay for complementary therapies.

Living / Dying Project 2010
Dale Borglum, Executive Director
Fairfax, CA
www.livingdying.org

The grant provides funding to the Living / Dying Project to develop an interactive website which would provide emotional and spiritual support for the primary benefit of people facing cancer. The website will feature, as funds permit, an online forum monitored by Dale Borglum and other qualified guides; relevant articles by colleagues in the field; and weekly question-and-answer sessions. The website will also include guided meditations and recommended books, CDs, DVDs, and links to other relevant sites. The Living/Dying Project embraces the basic principles of the world’s religions: invocation, compassion and healing, and applies them to dying and caregiving. The Project believes that healing and transformation are available to those who are truly open to it.

Healing Yoga Foundation - Advanced Cancer Support Teacher Training Program funded 2011-2013
Kate Holcombe
San Francisco, CA
www.healingyoga.org

The grant provides funds to support Phase 1 of the development and launching of a 75-hour Advanced Cancer Support Teacher Training Program. The program will select and prepare 6 – 8 Krishnamacharya Healing and Yoga Foundation (KHYF) certified teachers to safely and appropriately teach yoga to people with cancer, and to conduct Cancer Support Retreat Days, weekly cancer support classes, and individual therapy for cancer patients in their local areas. Phase 1 will include: developing curriculum, establishing a schedule, creating course materials, lining up specialists, advertising and marketing, admissions, and final launch set for September 2011.

Touch, Caring and Cancer, Collinge and Associates 2011
William Collinge, PhD, MPH
Kittery, ME
www.collinge.org

The grant provides funds to distribute 300 copies of the program, “Touch, Caring and Cancer” to non-profit community cancer centers throughout the United States serving low income and underserved people with cancer. “Touch, Caring and Cancer” includes an instructional DVD and manual, in English, Spanish or Chinese, designed to teach family and friends to use touch and massage safely and effectively in caring for a loved one with cancer. The aim of the program is to bring comfort to people with cancer, reducing symptoms and side effects from cancer treatment; provide caregivers with a rewarding and satisfying caregiving experience; and strengthen family relationships. The grant will fund the application, selection and distribution process for cancer organizations receiving copies of “Touch, Caring and Cancer.”

Using Film to Promote Discussion about Death within the Cancer Community 2011
Michelle Peticolas
El Cerrito, CA
www.secretsoflifeanddeath.com

The grant provides funds to distribute 2 DVD’s – “Facing Death…with open eyes” and “Caring for Dying: the art of being present” with study guides - to 25 organizations that provide direct educational and support services to cancer patients. The cancer organizations will be carefully researched and identified in the San Francisco area and around the country. The filmmaker will personally present screening/workshops for at least ten of the locally selected organizations. The project aims to discover the best ways for using the films to encourage dialogue about death in the cancer community.

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