ReAwakening the Heart:
Caring and Renewal in Nursing Practice™
A program to engage the heart and spirit of nurses! We designed a day-long retreat in which nurses can explore and renew their personal connection to nursing practice.
We begin with a focus on the essential but often neglected balance between caring for self and caring for others. Through personal discovery and self-reflection exercises, nurses gain insight into their beliefs, dreams and visions while forming community with other nurses.
Nurses are introduced to holistic nursing philosophy, which offers a context for providing relationship-centered care and human caring science, and provides a foundation on which to ground complementary healing modalities. Emphasis is placed on the healing power of self-care as an essential characteristic of the compassionate caregiver.
Interwoven throughout the curriculum are integrative modalities presented with the intention of assisting participants in gaining practical and experiential knowledge in the integration of these sought after skills. The program also offers nurses an understanding of the specific nursing practices that fall under the umbrella terms of holistic, complementary, alternative and integrative healthcare. Nurses receive 7.8 contact hours of continuing education credit.
Nurses find ReAwakening the Heart rewarding because it provides them with a day of retreat and renewal. Nursing leaders have endorsed it as a valuable program for improving nursing morale and enhancing caring behaviors.
“The course facilitated exploration of why we chose nursing as a profession, it reminded us of the roots of today's nursing practice in discussion of theorists and nursing scientists and it allowed us to share some caring moments with our peers. This program was presented in NYC on 9/14/01, only 3 days after the terrorist attacks and we literally still felt under siege. NYUMC was a central site for both the medical examiner and families. Nothing was normal and there was even a bomb threat during the day. I will never forget that the instructor was willing and able to care for the nurses here in the midst of that chaos and they will not forget how she cared for them that day.”
Roseann Pokoluk RNC, MA, CNRN, LMT
Staff Development Coordinator, NYU Medical Center
“I would love my co-workers to come to this program. This program reminds you of why you chose to become a nurse. If all my co-workers could experience this program we would be a different group providing a new kind of care.”
Suzanne Chenowith, RN
Staff Nurse, Conway, NH
“This program is absolutely wonderful! The staff that participated in the program found it to be inspirational and energizing. I would highly recommend it to any organization that wishes to recognize their staff and take them to another level of professional commitment.”
Peggy Reiley, RN, PhD,
Chief Nurse Executive, Scottsdale Healthcare, Scottsdale, AZ