I must say that this newsletter reaches you from me in a state of utter discombobulation!  My husband and I took our son (actually my stepson) to college as a Freshman last weekend.  Intellectually I knew that I would be in a state of adjustment, but I had no idea how undone I, my husband and I, and our little family could become!  We are adjusting, but our whole family system is in a state of flux.  Our little 4-legged stool is suddenly a 3-legged stool!  Much rebalancing, rearranging, readjusting going on for all of us.

Even if you are prepared for one of the legs to be removed, you still careen wildly in an effort to not fall and to regain balance once it occurs.  The shocking effect of this developmental transition brings me to my message to you in this month's newsletter.  You, oh Healer, are a person in the flow of life with its myriad changes and challenges and developmental shifts - just like the patients you treat! 

I have a colleague, a fellow healer, who took her daughter to college the week before we did- each time I see her, if we go past the usual greetings and into real conversation, she becomes tearful.  And, she, usually quite physically healthy, is now sick with a cold.  Another colleague just sent her son into first grade.  She too has tearful  moments.  Another colleague continues to adapt to the loss in the last year of a fellow colleague and friend to cancer even while managing the care of her aging father who is in the hospital.  Yet another recently had a baby and is taking on additional patient hours so their partner does not have to work; his whole world is upside down - fulfilled personally and stretched professionally.  I could go on and on.  You could share similar stories of developmental shifts you and your own colleagues are experiencing.

It does not take much reflection to observe with deep knowing that of course any one of these events might  leave us unbalanced, disoriented and thrown off of our steady course.  Yet, I find as Healers, we sometimes seem to be the worst at acknowledging our own humanness.  We too need to process (holistically: mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually and relationally) all that these life events and shifts in meaningful relationships can bring for us.  When we add our own personal process to the process of treating our patients, engaging meaningfully in their life issues, you can see how the overwhelm could set in  - at least temporarily!   The transference that can emerge within us and between our patients and us can be heightened, more complex, and even confusing at these times. If not dealt with appropriately, the temporary confusion and overwhelm can become long-standing and even chronic, possibly resulting in compassion fatigue, even jeapordizing the quality of self-care and patient-care that we provide.

I have been overwhelmed since leaving my son in another state in a setting he has never before been in.  As excited as I am for him (and believe me I am thrilled!)  I have not been my usual self - personally or professionally.  I am in a state of flux.  Space is needed; time is needed; attention to the re-settling, re-balancing, integrating anew is needed.  My experience of myself and my experience of others is a bit different, a little off-kilter.  I am finding a new normal.  I find that if I do not attend to these major effects within me, they will spill over consciously and unconsciously to my patients and other parts of my life.  This is not good for me or you as the healer, and it is not good for those we are healing.  You and I, as healers needs to relax and renew; re-orient and re-settle...re-integrate all that is changing within and without.

As I attend to me, and think of this profound need for integration and restoration,  I am also keeping an eye toward Moonstone Center's upcoming 6 CEU event on October 27, 2012, Restoring the Healer...What a perfect time for this offering for so many of us who live full, relational personal lives even while sitting relationally with the very often tumultuous lives of our patients...  Take time in October to join me and Simone Marke't, Certified Yoga Therapist and experience Dynamic Education in a Setting of Self Care...come let us guide you in Restoring you, the Healer while Exploring Somatic Transference and Compassion Fatigue. We so hope to be able to attend to you there.

In the meantime and until next month, please join me in breathing, relaxing, journaling, and creating  space for all of the life changes that we as Healers are experiencing in our personal lives this month.

Peace to you,

Elisabeth and the Moonstone Center Team

 

 

See you on October 27, Fellow Healer...

Peace,

Elisabeth

  

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Restoring the Healer:  

Exploring Somatic Transference and Compassion Fatigue  

Registration is open for Moonstone Center's next 6 Hour Continuing Education Event!  Restoring the Healer: Exploring Somatic Transference and Compassion Fatigue is scheduled for Saturday, October 27, 2012 (see below for more info).  It will be led by Simone Marke't, Certified Yoga Therapist and myself.  At Moonstone Center, we approach each CE Event with a commitment to dynamic education in a setting of self care.   More info below.  Register Now! 

  CLINICAL SUPERVISORS!  Contact Julie Brown, Moonstone Center Events Manager, for discount on bringing your group of supervisees!

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See my WEB TV INTERVIEW with

Monica Lee,

Artist, Designer, and Web TV Host 

on  Smart Creative Women Web TV Show! 

  

"Dr Elisabeth Crim on Listening to Yourself and Finding the Right Flow for Your Life!"

www.smartcreativewomen.com

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 LACPA PRESENTS!

     

 Mirrors of the Mind:  The Psychotherapist as Artist

September 29-30, 2012

A juried exhibition of visual and performaing arts created by psychotherapists and students,

Inclding presentations on Creativty and the Power of Art!

This free event is sponsored by Los Angeles County Psychological Association's

Community Outreach Committee,  Chaired by Dr. Terry Marks Tarlow    

  

Gus Harper Gallery, 11306 Venice Blvd, 

Los Angeles, CA 90066   

 

For More Info visit LACPA website:  www.lapsych.org

 

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Check out the Side Bar!

Upcoming Events, Book Recommendations, Sources of Whole Health 

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CONSULTATON GROUP!

 

  Dancing the Transference

with Dr. Elisabeth Crim

 Forming Now!

 

 

Rest.  Restore.  Renew.

 

 

Restoring the Healer:  

Exploring Somatic Transference and Compassion Fatigue  

Registration is open for Moonstone Center's next 6 Hour Continuing Education Event!  Restoring the Healer: Exploring Somatic Transference and Compassion Fatigue is scheduled for Saturday, October 27, 2012 (see below for more info).  It will be led by Simone Marke't, Certified Yoga Therapist and myself.  At Moonstone Center, we approach each CE Event with a commitment to dynamic education in a setting of self care.   More info below.  Register Now!

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