The Wellness Community-West Los Angeles will honor three women, Jann Williams, Jo Kaplan Feldman and Elisabeth Kennedy-Lesser, at a luncheon Oct. 20 hosted by the Friends of Wellness in Marina del Rey.
By Nora Fleming / Special to The Malibu Times
Life-altering experiences at The Wellness Community-West Los Angeles, a nonprofit organization that offers support groups for people affected by cancer, have not only provided people with a community and new attitudes about their lives, but the experiences have also led some to seek careers that have the same impact on other people The Wellness Community had on the them.
Two former group participants who survived cancer returned to school to become certified mental health professionals and now work as facilitators at The Wellness Community in Santa Monica. Two others became ordained rabbis after their experiences at the community.
This kind of impact is not surprising to those who connected to The Wellness Community.
There are roughly 13 licensed mental health facilitators on staff in Santa Monica, including Lynne Silbert, a licensed marriage and family therapist and a Malibu resident, who has worked at The Wellness Community for the past 24 years, something she said is not that uncommon, as most of the critical staff has been there 10 to 25 years.
While the facilitators are all licensed psychotherapists, they use the term “facilitator” and run small support groups on various topics and for people with various types of cancer, stages of cancer and age groups.
“We all feel passionate about the work,” Silbert said. “The idea is that we facilitate the patients to each other and help the cancer participant find control in his or her life, and ways he or she can deal with stressors in his or her life and find hope.”
When people are diagnosed with cancer and come to The Wellness Community, they are often debating what kind of quality of life they want, and can have for themselves and their families, Silbert said. Cancer is sometimes even a catalyst in their lives to make changes in their overall approach to life, through relationships and personal choices.
“When people come together in a group, they really become an extended family,” Silbert said. “We talk about real things, the deeper issues that go along with a diagnosis of cancer.
“I see a connection between people that I didn’t see elsewhere in the world. It’s a model of how all of us should be,” she added.
Dr. Harold Benjamin founded The Wellness Community at the Santa Monica location where Silbert works in 1982. Benjamin realized the need for an innovative strategy to cope with the nonmedical aspects of cancer after watching his wife suffer through the disease.
Benjamin, who eventually served as the organization’s national director, developed the Patient Active Concept, a breakthrough in healthcare that focused on the psychological and social impact of treating cancer. His mind-body approach included group sessions where people diagnosed with cancer could discuss issues, problems and concerns with a licensed mental health facilitator. All groups were, and still are, free of charge.
Benjamin’s approach to treating the non-medical side of cancer is still used by all The Wellness Communities today. There are currently 24 Wellness Communities in the United States, three in creation and two international, in addition to more than 70 satellite facilities.
“People with cancer who participate in their fight for recovery, along with their health care team, rather than acting as hopeless, helpless, passive victims of the illness, will improve the quality of their lives and enhance the possibility of recovery,” wrote Benjamin, who died in 2004
Today, The Wellness Community has groups ranging from a chronic cancer group to one for people who are single with cancer to another for people under the age 40 with cancer, among others. There is also a number of what Executive Director Ellen Silver calls “mind-body” classes, such as yoga and Tai Chi, as well as a writing group.
“Our mission is to create a community for people affected by cancer,” said Silver, who came to The Wellness Community two years ago. “We give people a greater sense of hope and connectivity and the skills and tools to believe in themselves so they get up and get through the day.”
Because services are free, The Wellness Community hosts several annual fundraisers, in addition to accepting volunteer support and donations. Team Wellness, a marathon training group where runners each raise several thousand dollars, a gala dinner and a luncheon, taking place Oct. 20, are all annual occurrences.
This year, the luncheon will honor three women, Jann Williams, Jo Kaplan Feldman and Elisabeth Kennedy-Lesser, who have been impacted by cancer, either by providing care for others who had been diagnosed with cancer or after being diagnosed themselves, and have contributed to the community. The women were hand selected and voted for by Friends of Wellness, a group of volunteers that helps plan the event each year.
“Some people walk in here crying and scared, but laugh while they are here and are taller on their way out than on their way in,” Silver said of The Wellness Community. “I know the impact is amazing.
“Until there’s a cure, there’s The Wellness Community.”
The Oct. Friends of Wellness luncheon takes place at The Ritz-Carlton Marina del Rey, 4375 Admiralty Way, Marina del Rey, Cal. 90292. More information about The Wellness Community-West Los Angeles, and tickets for the luncheon, can be obtained online at www.twc-wla.org, or the national site, www.thewellnesscommunity.org