Compassionate Service

Many caregivers come to a point in their career where they feel dissatisfied with traditional approaches taught in school and realize that spiritual care is often missing from caregiving.

The purpose of these weekend retreats is to teach caregivers such as nurses, social workers, chaplains and doctors to learn skills from Buddhist and other spiritual and psychological backgrounds and to identify spiritual and psychological issues related to caring for the dying and grieving, including cross-cultural and family concerns about dying. The program will demonstrate the ability to use contemplative practice as a framework for the care of the dying, including the ability to utilize specific compassionate care strategies for patient/family/transpersonal healing as part of our professional caregiving.

Gemmon will introduce tools such as:

About the Facilitator

Evi Gemmon Ketterer

is a certified ICU and Anesthesia Nurse trained in Switzerland. She has studied Buddhism since 1995. During her time as a nurse, she realized that knowledge does not provide holistic care for the patient and the family. She started to apply her practices of meditation and compassion at the Intensive Care Unit. In 2000, she met Joan Halifax and studied with her in the Being with Dying Process.

Gemmon has been an ordained Zen Buddhist Priest since 2002. She has led two retreats on the topic of The Wisdom of Impermanence for lay practitioners and co-facilitated a Being with Dying Retreats with Joan Halifax. Since July 2006, she has offered weekend retreats on contemplative caregiving for professionals and now opens it to long- time volunteers.

Gemmon has lived at the Zen Center of Los Angeles since 2003. She also works as a Volunteer with Compassion in Action at the VA Hospital in Los Angeles.

Writings and Guided Meditations of Gemmon on the topic of Contemplative Caregiving:

The Four Boundless Abodes

Newspaper Articel 1-2007

Guided Meditation on the Nine Contemplations of Atisha

Guided Co-Meditaion on Oneness/Seeing Purely

The Mission

Our intention is to:
• support caregivers in their search for holistic care of the dying human being and her/his family
• connect people from different institutions and realms of caregiving,
• teach how to take care of the caregiver,
• enhance the self-esteem of the caregiver and help against burnout and Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome,

• help those who are dying in our presence to feel safe and cared for
• offering ongoing spiritual support and contemplative tools to teams and institutions.

Registration and Fees

Cost: $200 including meals and housing.
The retreats start at 7 p.m. Friday and end at 3 p.m. Sunday.
Overnight stay at the center is possible and recommended.

Registration is completed with receipt of full retreat fee.
Refund is possible till two weeks in advance of the retreat.

Participants must register two weeks in advance of the retreat.
To register, send email to programsteward@zcla.org or call (213) 387-2353.