Talk about Change

Life Transitions

Patient Conversations

Times of transition are the occasions when we see our lives and ourselves most clearly. It is the time to talk. If there is someone in your life facing a challenging transition, the chance to look at life as a meaningful whole and speak openly about it is a caring gift.

Patient Conversations, designed specifically for individuals facing complex transitions, was initiated two years ago at a cancer center in New England. These conversations proved to be an important way to give people facing major change an opportunity to talk openly and clarify their thoughts.

Barbara was waiting for surgery. When her doctor came to say hello, he found her lying on the gurney, wearing her operatic helmet and braids. “I just wanted to get a smile from him,” Barbara recalled. “I wanted him to notice me, to think about who I am as a person.”

Lydia used Patient Conversations to its fullest extent when, with characteristic honesty and courage, she addressed her past, present and future. From the start of her struggle with cancer, Lydia wanted to set an example for others. She found a way to achieve this goal when she was chosen to carry the Olympic Torch in 2002.

Patient Conversations is tailored to people facing a wide variety of challenges, as well as the caregivers who tend them. Clients include a number of doctors who talk about their work, a gentleman diagnosed with Alzheimer’s who gave the gift of his history and reflections on his diagnosis to his family, and a number of men who have talked openly about their struggle with prostate cancer and the way in which it has affected their lives.

Please Note: To protect our clients’ privacy, we have not used actual names. However, the excerpts and circumstances are exactly as presented. Client references and writing samples are available on request.