Sustainable Caregiving Resources
Sustainable Caregiving Video Page
Attentional Balance and Grounding
Articles
Farb, N. A., Anderson, A. K., & Segal, Z. V. (2012). The mindful brain and emotion regulation in mood disorders. Canadian journal of psychiatry. Revue canadienne de psychiatrie, 57(2), 70–77. doi: 10.1177/070674371205700203
McGonigal, K. (2021, September 13) The Big Brain Benefits of Meditation. Yoga Journal
Parker, C. (2015, April 22) Compassion meditation reduces ‘mind-wandering,’ Stanford research shows. Stanford News
Porges S. W. (2022). Polyvagal Theory: A Science of Safety. Frontiers in integrative neuroscience, 16, 871227. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnint.2022.871227
Books
| Pocket Guide to the Polyvagal Theory: the transformative power of feeling safe The science of our natural response to danger and how to use it to build safety. |
| In an Unspoken Voice: How the body releases trauma and restores goodness In an Unspoken Voice is based on the idea that trauma is neither a disease nor a disorder, but rather an injury caused by fright, helplessness and loss that can be healed by engaging our innate capacity to self-regulate high states of arousal and intense emotions. |
| Finding Meaning: the 6th Stage of Grief Working Book In this companion workbook to David’s bestselling book Finding Meaning: The Sixth Stage of Grief, you will come to understand your unique and personal experience with grief and begin to work through the loss, releasing the hurt and learning to grieve with more love than pain . . . because love never dies. |
Handouts
The STOP Practice: Pause and breathe in the middle of life
Directed Attention, Selected Practices: Summary of a few grounding practices
Practice: Positive Memory Intensification adapted from Peter Levine, PhD (Serious Illness)
Practice: Orienting Adapted from Peter Levine on trauma therapy, this is a grounding practice that demonstrates to your brain you are not in physical danger.
Video Clips
Just Breathe Mindful Schools. (2015, January 26) YouTube
In this powerful short film, watch and hear from elementary school students learning to use mindfulness (noticing how they’re feeling) to navigate complex feelings. By Julie Bayer Salzman and Josh Salzman (Wavecrest Films)
Stress Responses & Meeting Difficult Emotions
Articles
Cohn, M. A., & Fredrickson, B. L. (2010) In search of durable positive psychology interventions: Predictors and consequences of long-term positive behavior change. The journal of positive psychology, 5(5), 355–366. doi: 10.1080/17439760.2010.508883
Fredrickson, B. L., Cohn, M. A., Coffey, K. A., Pek, J., & Finkel, S. M. (2008). Open hearts build lives: positive emotions, induced through loving-kindness meditation, build consequential personal resources. Journal of personality and social psychology, 95(5), 1045–1062. doi: 10.1037/a0013262
Books
| The Mindfulness-Based Emotional Balance Workbook: An eight-week program of improved emotion regulation and resilience This workbook offers an eight-week program using emotion theory and mindfulness-based techniques to help you manage the overwhelming thoughts and feelings and cultivate emotional balance. |
| The Upside of Stress: Why stress is good for you, and how to get good at it McGonigal shows readers how to cultivate a mindset that embraces stress, and activate the brain's natural ability to learn from challenging experiences. |
Handouts
Selected Poems & Quotes: Viktor Frankl Quote & “The Guest House” by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
Soften-Soothe-Allow for Emotions: Adapted from Mindful Self-Compassion program by Kristin Neff & Christopher Germer
Links
Atlas of Emotions
The Atlas of Emotions, by Paul and Eve Ekman, is an interactive graphic tool that builds awareness of the many flavors of basic emotions.
Video Clips
How to Make Stress Your Friend TED. (2013, September 13) YouTube
Psychologist Kelly McGonigal urges us to see stress as a positive, and introduces us to an unsung mechanism for stress reduction: reaching out to others.
Positive Intentions
Articles
Brown, S. L., Smith, D. M., Schulz, R., Kabeto, M. U., Ubel, P. A., Poulin, M., Yi, J., Kim, C., & Langa, K. M. (2009). Caregiving behavior is associated with decreased mortality risk. Psychological science, 20(4), 488–494. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02323.x
Brown, R.M. and Brown, S.L. (2014), Informal Caregiving: A Reappraisal of Effects on Caregivers. Social Issues and Policy Review, 8: 74-102. doi: 10.1111/sipr.12002
Fredrickson, B. L., Grewen, K. M., Algoe, S. B., Firestine, A. M., Arevalo, J. M., Ma, J., & Cole, S. W. (2015). Psychological well-being and the human conserved transcriptional response to adversity. PloS one, 10(3), e0121839. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0121839
Poulin, M. J., Brown, S. L., Ubel, P. A., Smith, D. M., Jankovic, A., & Langa, K. M. (2010). Does a helping hand mean a heavy heart? Helping behavior and well-being among spouse caregivers. Psychology and aging, 25(1), 108–117. doi:10.1037/a0018064.
Books
| Man’s Search for Meaning The author account of his time in Nazi concentration camps and explores human capacity to choose how we relate to adversity. |
| A Fearless Heart Thupten Jinpa, Ph.D., introduces the evidence-based practice of compassion as taught in the course Compassion Cultivation Training at Stanford that Jinpa helped to create, showing that compassion can be a path through suffering, a key to robust health, and even an effective way to reach our goals. A Fearless Heart includes the practice of living from our highest values and intentions. |
Handouts
Poem: Shoulders by Naomi Shihab Nye
Practice: Repeating Question adapted from Dignity Therapy (Chochinov) and GRACE (Halifax) (Serious Illness)
Practice: Purpose and Values (Setting Daily Intention) Adapted from Kelly McGonigal
Video Clips
The Science of Compassion: Origins, Measures, and Interventions - Steve Cole, Ph.D. from lecture at Science of Compassion conference in Teluride, CO (2012, August 27). YouTube (~14 minutes) In this video clip, Steve Cole describes the biological benefits of intention for the greater good.
Challenging Relationships
Articles
Bernhardt, B. C., & Singer, T. (2012). The neural basis of empathy. Annual review of neuroscience, 35, 1–23.
Klimecki, O. M., Leiberg, S., Ricard, M., & Singer, T. (2014). Differential pattern of functional brain plasticity after compassion and empathy training. Social cognitive and affective neuroscience, 9(6), 873–879. doi: 10.1093/scan/nst060
Woodruff, L (2019, September 17) Caregiving’s impact on intimacy AARP Family Caregiving
Zaki, J. (2015, October 20) Choosing Empathy. Edge (Transcript)
Books
| The Art of Forgiveness, Lovingkindness, and Peace Practices for bringing healing, peace, and compassion into our daily lives. These practices offer simple ways to meet life’s challenges with acceptance and hope. |
| Forgive for Good: A Proven Prescription for Health and Happiness A nine-step forgiveness method that makes it possible to move beyond being a victim to a life of improved health and contentment. |
| Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life: Life-Changing Tools for Healthy Relationships (3rd edition) Nonviolent Communication provides a method to communicate needs efectively without accusation or blame. |
| Love in the Time of Chronic Illness: How to fight the illness, Not each other Offers practical and thoughtful guidance from medical, spiritual, and legal experts to help get through crises and grow stronger as a couple. |
| Loneliness: Human nuture and the need for social connection Describes loneliness as a sense of social isolation or social rejection and describes how it disrupts our immune system and how to overcome this state to achieve better health and happiness. |
Handouts
Aspiration about listening and compassion by Thich Nhat Hanh
NURSE Statements for articulating empathy (VitalTalk)
Poem: If Prayer Would Do It by Stephen Levine
Metta (Wishes for Well-Being) for Caregivers From Roshi Joan Halifax and Sharon Salzburg
Poem: Have Compassion For Everyone You Meet by Miller Williams
Links
Pain Reprocessing Therapy: Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT) is an evidence-based approach for treating chronic pain. PRT aims to rewire neural pathways in the brain in order to deactivate pain.
Video Clips
#Empathy explained by Matthieu Ricard Shining Hope Foundation. (2013, May 11) YouTube: Matthieu Ricard shares his thoughts on empathy. Video creation/edition by varialstudio
Empathy: The Human Connection to Patient Care. Cleveland Clinic. (2013, February 27) YouTube: Filmed at the Cleveland Clinic; about how we truly don't know what's going on inside everyone we see.
Brene´ Brown on Empathy (animated) RSA. (2013, December 10) YouTube: Difference between empathy and sympathy
The Practice and Power of Forgiving, Manny’s (2022, Mar 24) YouTube: Fred Luskin’s informal talk about the power of forgiveness
The Difficult Emotion of Grief and Chronic Sorrow
Articles
Ahlström G. (2007). Experiences of loss and chronic sorrow in persons with severe chronic illness. Journal of clinical nursing, 16(3A), 76–83. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2702.2006.01580.x
Books
| Healing Through the Dark Emotions Drawing on inspiring stories from her practice and personal life, and including a complete set of emotional exercises, Greenspan teaches the art of emotional transformation by which grief turns to gratitude, fear opens the door to joy, and despair becomes the ground of a more resilient faith in life. |
| Chronic Sorrow: A living loss (2nd Edition) Chronic Sorrow explores natural grief reactions to losses that are not final and continue to be present in the life of the griever. Chapters also provide guidance for those who struggle with living with irremovable loss, helping them plan for the future. |
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| Finding Meaning: The 6th Stage of Grief Workbook In this companion workbook to David’s bestselling book Finding Meaning: The Sixth Stage of Grief, you will come to understand your unique and personal experience with grief and begin to work through the loss, releasing the hurt and learning to grieve with more love than pain . . . because love never dies.. |
Handouts
Stages of Grief Cartoon by Yvonne Heath (loveyourlifetodeath.com)
Selected Poems “In the Blackwater Woods” by Mary Oliver and “Talking to Grief” by Denise Levertov
Post-Traumatic Growth Inventory Developed by RG Tedeschi & LG Calhoun
Finding Balance in the Presence of Suffering
Articles
Back, A. L., Rushton, C. H., Kaszniak, A. W., & Halifax, J. S. (2015). "Why are we doing this?": clinician helplessness in the face of suffering. Journal of palliative medicine, 18(1), 26–30. DOI:10.1089/jpm.2014.0115
Crum, A. J., Leibowitz, K. A., & Verghese, A. (2017). Making mindset matter. BMJ (Clinical research ed.), 356, j674. doi:10.1136/bmj.j674
Halifax, J. (2012, September 17) Practicing G.R.A.C.E: How to Bring Compassion Into Your Interactions with Others. Upaya Zen Center
Books
| Standing at the Edge: Finding freedom where fear and courage meet Halifax has identified five psychological territories she calls Edge States—altruism, empathy, integrity, respect, and engagement—that epitomize strength of character, yet can also be the cause of personal and social suffering. |
Handouts
Practice: G.R.A.C.E. Setting the stage for compassion in our encounter with others, developed by Roshi Joan Halifax
Meditation: Tonglen or Giving and Receiving: A Practice of Great Mercy by Joan Halifax
Links
2026 Grace Training (online), Upaya Center
2026 Grace Training (In Person), Upaya Center
Video Clips
Change your mindset, change the game TEDx Talks. (2014, October 15) YouTube
Dr. Alia Crum explores scientific results that show the influence of the mindset on the body, and how changing the subjective mindset produced different outcomes.
Gratitude Practice & Wellness Practice Journal
Books
| Thanks! How Practicing Gratitude Can Make You Happier Robert Emmons—professor at UCDavis and editor-in-chief of the Journal of Positive Psychology—examines what it means to think and feel gratefully in Thanks! and invites readers to learn how to put this powerful emotion into practice. |
Handouts
Gratitude Poster: How Gratitude Supports Health Greater Good Science Center
Poems: Selected Poems “Three Gratitudes” by Carrie Newcomer & “As If to Demonstrate an Eclipse” by Billy Collins
Practice: Wellness Practice Journal Use practice journal, developed by Rev. Judy Long, BCC, to establish gratitude practice, set daily positive intentions, and choose personal enjoyable weekly goals. Note: Print only the first 12 pages to get started.
Palliative Care
Get Palliative Care: Learn about Palliative Care. How can it help?
UCSF MERI Center Palliative Care Resource Page
End of Life Doulas Learn about end of life doulas who accompany the dying and their loved ones. Helpful to explore early if this is of interest.
Bay Area End of Life Doula Alliance
Books
| With the End in Mind: Dying, Death, and Wisdom in an Age of Denial Excellent account of how dying often occurs as well as an excellent narrative of palliative care. Additionally discusses CBT as a road map patients might wish to use to work with difficult emotions. |
| Life After the Diagnosis In Life After the Diagnosis, Dr. Steven Z. Pantilat makes sense of what doctors say, what they actually mean, and how to get the best information to help make the best medical decisions. Dr. Pantilat covers everything from the first steps after the diagnosis and finding the right caregiving and support, to planning your future so your loved ones don’t have to. He offers advice on how to tackle the most difficult treatment decisions and discussions and shows readers how to choose treatments that help more than they hurt, stay consistent with their values and personal goals, and live as well as possible for as long as possible. |
| Beside Manners This book was created after asking patients living with serious illness what they may or may not want people to say to them. This booklet is designed to support both the patient and you. |
Other Resources
Communicating with Friends & Family
Free websites to let people receive updates about you person's condition at the same time. You can choose who will receive it.
Lotsa Helping Hands Also provides allows people to sign up to provide assistance such as giving rides or bringing meals.
Additional Miscellaneous Resources
UCSF Patient and Family Cancer Support Center Link to various resources, workshops and events for patients and caregivers.
What Works For Me? List of practices from Sustainable Caregiving Workshop
Greater Good Science Center (GGSC) an online magazine of brief user-friendly articles about science based insights for a meaningful life developed at UC Berkeley
International Neuropalliative Care Society (INPCS) Website provides information about neurologic conditions if relevant for your and your person; open to caregivers and patients as well as medical professionals.
Books
| The Explain Pain Handbook: Protectometer This book describes how pain is associated with catastrophizing about pain and that understanding how pain functions can diminish catastrophizing and significantly reduce pain. |
| The Way Out This book combines accessible science with a concrete, step-by-step plan to teach sufferers how to heal their own chronic pain using Pain Reprocessing Therapy. |