Ithaca College

 Ithaca College Gerontology Institute and Finger Lakes Geriatric Center are sponsoring their first Clinical Training Fellowship in Palliative Care.  Over the next year, seven mental health clinicians will receive evidence-based training in trauma-informed hospice and palliative care.  

 With ongoing support from this program, the Clinical Fellows will implement this training in their home palliative and/or hospice care programs in five counties across rural upstate New York. “Palliative care means enhanced healthcare for people who are seriously ill, at any age and any stage of their illness. Serious illness can re-ignite prior psychological traumas, even if they have been laid to rest for years. Serious illness can also lead to intensive medical intervention, which can be traumatic in itself,” says Barbara Ganzel, Director of the Gerontology Institute. “Mental health care can be an important part of palliative care, including the ability to understand, assess, and treat symptoms of trauma. But there are very few mental health practitioners in upstate New York who are trained to do this work with seriously ill clients.”* To meet this need, the Gerontology Institute and the FLGEC developed the Clinical Training Fellowship in Palliative Care to teach mental health providers about trauma-informed approaches to care for seriously ill clients.    

* Ganzel, B. L. (advance access publication December 6, 2016). Trauma-Informed hospice and palliative care. The Gerontologist, 00, 00, 1-11.  doi:10.1093/geront/gnw146

“This amazing opportunity for our regional clinicians is made possible by grant funding from Ithaca College and the FLGEC, which in turn is funded through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA),” stated Karen Brown, the FLGEC program coordinator.”