Objectives

• Learn a comprehensive resilience-based Family Systems-Illness Model and how to apply it to situations where one or both members of a couple are coping with a serious illness and/or disability.
• Learn guidelines to help partners mobilize, view the illness experience as "our challenge," and seize opportunities for relational healing and growth.
• Learn concrete skills to help couples maintain intimacy in the face of caregiving demands and threatened loss, overcome gender-role constraints, and counteract relationship imbalances that can emerge with an illness.
• Understand use of assessment/consultations, brief interventions, and other timely and cost-effective applications of the Family Systems-Illness Model.
• Learn about problems in collaboration — including value conflicts regarding care among health insurers/facilities, health and mental health professionals, patients, and families — and how to effectively work with these situations.

About the Presenter

John S. Rolland, M.D.
Dr. John S. Rolland is Professor of Psychiatry and Co-Director of the Center for Family Health at the University of Chicago and its affiliate postgraduate family and couples therapy training institute. An AAMFT-Approved Supervisor, he is immediate Past-President of the American Family Therapy Academy (AFTA).

In addition to his training in medicine and psychiatry at the University of Michigan and Yale University, Dr. Rolland received a master's degree from the Harvard School of Public Health. He then was the Founder and Director of the Center for Illness in Families at Yale University. Widely recognized for his conceptual model, clinical work, and research with families facing serious physical disorders, he has published extensively including his landmark book, Families, Illness, and Disability: An Integrative Treatment Model. He is co-author of his recently edited book, Individuals, Families, and the New Era of Genetics: A Biopsychosocial Perspective.

Dr. Rolland is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and a former Fellow of the Institute for Social and Policy Studies at Yale. His professional honors include AFTA's Innovative Contributions to Family Therapy Award and the Blanche Ittleson Award from the American Orthopsychiatric Association. From 2000 to 2006, he founded and co-led an international project in Kosovo, the Kosovar Family Professional Education Collaborative.

Agenda

About the Program

In Sickness and In Health: Helping Couples Meet the Challenges of Serious Illness and Disability
Serious illness and disability are among the greatest challenges couples face. Often shame, anger, guilt, burnout, and isolation can undermine their partnership just when they need each other the most. Dr. Rolland's resilience-based Family Systems-Illness Model provides a psychosocial map to help couples and families navigate the changing landscape in the experience of illness over time. His innovative approach integrates the psychosocial demands of various types and phases of illness with family and individual life-cycle challenges, multigenerational legacies, and beliefs. This workshop will apply his model to address the core issues couples face with illness. Guidelines will be offered to help partners mobilize, view the illness experience as "our challenge," and seize opportunities for relational healing and growth. Participants will gain skills to help couples maintain intimacy in the face of caregiving demands and threatened loss, overcome gender-role constraints, revise destructive "illness narratives," grieve the loss of life dreams and goals when necessary, and counteract relationship imbalances that can emerge during the course of an illness. He will discuss timely, cost-effective applications in different clinical settings, including use of preventive family consultations, psychosocial checkups, brief interventions, and psychoeducational couples groups. A clinician's own issues concerning illness and loss are often activated when working with couples facing these challenges and may block clinical responsiveness. Guidelines will be offered to address common problems (e.g., distancing, over-involvement, vulnerability, spillover into personal lives) in order to enhance therapeutic effectiveness.

Sponsored By

The University of Georgia
Pre-Professional Graduate Certificate Program in Marriage and Family Therapy
College of Family and Consumer Sciences

• Department of Child and Family Development
• Family Therapy Doctoral Program

School of Social Work
College of Education

Who Should Attend

All professionals dedicated to clinical excellence, including:

• Psychologists
• Psychiatrists
• Counselors
• Social Workers
• Clergy
• Youth Workers
• Substance Abuse Counselors
• Marriage and Family Therapists

Continuing Education Credits

The University of Georgia is Approved Provider #4050 and will grant 6.0 hours for the National Board for Certified Counselors.

The Georgia Composite Board of Professional Counselors, Social Workers, and Marriage and Family Therapists will recognize 6.0 core hours through academic sponsorship by the three specialty areas.

The University of Georgia Center for Continuing Education Conference Center and Hotel will award 0.6 Continuing Education Unit (CEU).

The Examining Board of Psychologists does not grant prior approval but will accept clock hours for attending programs in the field.

Certificates will be awarded at the end of the Institute.

Program Planning

Brian A. Glaser, Ph.D., Chair
Jerry E. Gale, Ph.D.
Nancy Rothenberg Williams, Ph.D.

About Your Event

The Georgia Center
The Georgia Center for Continuing Education Conference Center & Hotel, located on the beautiful, historic campus of the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia, provides educational conferences, courses, and programs for lifelong learners. A total living and learning environment, the Georgia Center includes a 200-room hotel, restaurants, banquet areas, conference rooms, auditoriums, a fitness center, and a computer lab — all under one roof. As a unit of UGA's Office of the Vice President for Public Service and Outreach, the Center brings the University's teaching, research, and service expertise to the people of Georgia and beyond! For more information, visit www.georgiacenter.uga.edu.

Special Needs
If you require special services or have dietary restrictions, contact Jean Mann, at 706-542-2237 or Jean.Mann@georgiacenter.uga.edu at least 5 business days before your event.

Lodging at the Georgia Center Hotel
For your convenience, a block of rooms is being held for your event until 5:00 p.m. ET, January 6, 2010. Policies: (1) Tax Exemption — The State of Georgia only allows tax-exempt charges for a payment by a state-issued credit card or check or by a direct bill to a state agency (with a Georgia State Tax Exemption Certificate). (2) Lodging Cancellation — Cancel your reservation by 4:00 p.m. ET the day prior to your scheduled arrival to avoid being charged one night's room and tax. (3) Check-in is 4:00 p.m. ET; checkout is 11:00 a.m. ET. (4) At check-in, you must present your method of payment or a completed credit card authorization form (call 800-884-1381 for a copy, Monday-Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET).

Travel Information
Athens, Georgia, is located about 60 miles northeast of Atlanta. For directions and airport shuttle information, see www.georgiacenter.uga.edu/directions. A parking deck is located adjacent to the Center ($10 per night; vehicle height limit, 7 feet). Athens is served by Athens-Ben Epps Airport as well as Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, which is located about 90 minutes southwest of Athens. Scheduled ground shuttle service and rental car services are available between Hartsfield-Jackson and the Georgia Center.

Event Cancellation Policies
(1) A cancellation received by 5:00 p.m. ET on or before January 22, 2010, will be refunded, minus a $35 processing fee. No refunds will be issued thereafter; substitutions will be allowed. (2) To change or cancel your registration, call 800-884-1381, Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET. (3) If an event is cancelled for any reason, the Georgia Center will not be responsible for any charges related to travel.

Registration

Fees:

Early fee paid on/before January 8, 2010 — $120
Fee paid after January 8, 2010 — $150
Early student fee paid on/before January 8, 2010 — $75
Student fee paid after January 8, 2010 — $95
Early faculty fee paid on/before January 8, 2010 — $100
Faculty fee paid after January 8, 2010 — $120
Certificate student — $50