Listening Reflecting Healing

Powerful Patient, 2011 Week 2

Host: Joyce Graff, http://powerfulpatient.org, editor@vhl.org 800-767-4845

Beginning January 13, 2011 Listen Program guide for this show

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You have just received a diagnosis, and it lands like a bombshell. Genetic counselor Mary-Frances Garber speaks with Joyce about her private counseling practice, helping people come to terms with a diagnosis of a complex genetic disease and its implications for their own and their family's health.

Ms. Garber tells us how to break the problem down into manageable chunks and begin to take charge. In her conversation with Joyce she describes some of the things that a genetic counselor can do.

About our Guest

Mary-Frances Garber is a board certified, licensed genetic counselor who practices supportive genetic counseling that is intended to complement the more traditional genetic counseling offered in medical centers. Her focus is on the emotional responses patients and their partners may have following various obstetrical and genetic complications.

A few of her "Things to Remember":

• Each person is unique in the way they respond to these issues. Counseling may involve a one-time visit or multiple sessions, whatever it takes to initiate healing and moving forward.

• It is normal to struggle at the time of a new diagnosis or loss. However, with supportive counseling one can heal and move forward.

• Everyone deals with a genetic diagnosis or loss in a unique way. There is no normal timeline or order of emotions, and it is important to surround yourself with those who give you time and will listen and understand.

• The need to express one's feelings of anxiety either one on one with a professional or in a group setting is a healthy thing.

Ms. Garber 's website can be found at: www.listeningreflectinghealing.com