Health Care Professionals Take On Challenging Roles in "The Life of a Group"
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 upport groups play a very important part of a cancer diagnosis because they give patients the opportunity to interact with others experiencing the same emotions. Although oncology clinic staff work with patients daily and are very knowledgeable in diagnosis, treatment, and recovery, sometimes it is difficult to understand what the patient is truly feeling.
 On Thursday, July 22, health care professionals will have the opportunity to explore the feelings cancer patients experience in dealing with their illness. As part of the Carol Cannon Chapman Memorial Lecture Series, the Thompson Cancer Survival Center will present "The Life of a Group", a dramatization of a support group for cancer patients.
Health care professionals who wish to attend should call 541-4500 to reserve a seat. The program begins at 5:30 p.m. with light refreshments. The presentation begins at 6 p.m. The program and parking are free.
The group is composed of physicians, nurses, and social workers from local health care facilities who portray cancer patients receiving treatment for a variety of cancer diagnoses. Three meetings of the group are presented in the dramatization: the first meeting, the middle phase, and the closing session. As the group evolves, the "patients" reveal the complex range of psychosocial issues which they confront. The goal of the program is to encourage health care professionals to react to patients as whole people and not just identify them by their illnesses.
The play has no written dialogue and the participants are encouraged to use their own experiences to "create" their character. The characters are probed by questions asked by Jerry Carter, DCSW, the director of the program and the group's social worker. His goal is to make everyone aware that sick people have choices in their treatments, how they relate to their families, and how they spend the rest of their lives.
The cast members meet for one rehearsal and they must rely on each other to continue the flow of dialogue. The participants must learn to interact with each other and listen, while leaving the audience with an understanding of the range of emotions cancer patients experience.
Pam Murph, LCSW, with the Thompson Cancer Survival Center, first met Jerry Carter in 1995 when doing small group work at H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla., and heard about "The Life of a Group."
"I was fortunate to finally see this program last year in San Diego with over 400 other oncology social workers," said Murph. "Everything I had heard about it was true - it was fantastic. This program has been the most powerful clinical experience that I have personally witnessed." Murph added, "The drama that unfolds before you is not staged, but largely improvised. It powerfully shows the diverse concerns that go well beyond the medical diagnoses."
Conceived over 17 years ago and directed by Carter, "The Life of a Group" has been acclaimed by student and professional oncology audiences throughout the United States and abroad. It has been presented for National Institutes of Health, American Cancer Society, Association of Oncology Social Work, National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship, American Group Psychotherapy Association, and at the First International Cancer Congress in Hong Kong.
"The Life of a Group" is sponsored nationally by SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals and is locally part of the Carol Cannon Chapman Memorial Lecture Series. Health care professionals may call (865) 541-4500 for additional information about the program.
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