Have you lost someone you love to euthanasia?

Join us for a healing retreat, Project Anna and Simeon, which includes supper followed by a pastoral talk on grieving by Fr Lui Santi, an opportunity for sharing and memorial service. The first of its kind in Canada, this event will be on Wednesday November 20th, 2024, and will begin at 4:30 p.m.

This is a collaboration with St. John the Compassionate Mission, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, St. Mary’s Refuge, and Compassionate Community Care. It will be at St. John the Compassionate Mission (155 Broadview Ave in Toronto). Please register in advance by emailing: assist@stmarysrefuge.org or call us at 519-439-6445.

Please share this event and its details widely with your contacts and friends.

St John the Compassionate Mission and St Mary’s Refuge cordially invite you to this important event which includes an expert speaker, talk, dinner, and social. Dr John Berkman, PhD, Professor of Moral Theology, will speak on MAiD in Canada: An Evil that’s Going to Get Worse on Wednesday November 6th, 2024.

4:00 PM Mission hosts Vespers (Evening Prayers)

5:00 PM Dinner and Fellowship

6:30 PM Guest Speaker Talk

7:40 PM Guest Speaker Q & A

8:00 PM Compline

Please register in advance, by calling the mission at 416-466-1357

Project Anna and Simeon is a ground-breaking and pilot project and seminar event for those who are grieving following the loss of a loved one through Medical Assistance in Dying (also known as MAiD or euthanasia). This is a single day retreat which will offer hospitality, support, reflection, and sharing for those who are hurting from losing a loved one from MAiD.

Saturday May 25th 2024

12 pm (Noon) - 8 pm

St. John the Compassionate Mission,

155 Broadview Ave Toronto, ON

Meals will be provided. There will be an opportunity to share, hear from guest speakers and certified counsellors and grief support workers. For more information and to register email outreach@stmarysrefuge.org

Suggested donation is $100. Registration deadline is Monday, May 13th, 2024.

PATIENT (COMMUNITY) ADVOCACY TRAINING

Gain the skills and confidence to be an advocate in the healthcare system.

FREE Online Training – Live on Zoom!

Thursday, February 29th, 2024 @ 7-9 p.m. EST

To register for online Zoom session, please click here.

Register Now! Meeting capacity is limited to 100 participants.

Training provided by Kathy Matusiak Costa, Executive Director of Compassionate Community Care, and Alex Schadenberg, Executive Director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition.

Being With, My Story Visitor Volunteer Training

 Gain the confidence to journey and visit with those who are suffering, socially isolated, sick, or dying, to renew their hope and purpose in life.

FREE Visitor’s Training – Live Online!  Everyone is encouraged to attend.

Registration is available online here and is required to attend the two online Zoom sessions.

Thursday, February 15th, 2024

and

Thursday, February 22nd, 2024

7:00 PM to 9:00 PM CST,

8:00 PM to 10:00 PM EST

 To order hard copies of the Being With training manual and/or My Story workbook, please contact us at info@beingwith.org or call 519-439-6445. This special training is provided by Compassionate Community Care and being made available for the Archdiocese of St. Boniface and anyone who would like to join remotely.

Compassionate Community Care is a registered charity comprised of health care professionals and volunteers who provide support to vulnerable persons and their families during times of illness and crisis. 

Being With Volunteering Training Oct 28th 2023

Hosted by Archdiocese of Vancouver

A free 2-session training to gain the confidence to journey and visit those who are suffering, socially isolated, sick, or dying, to renew their hope and purpose in life. This practical training session will give you the tools you need to make a difference in someone’s life.

FREE Visitor’s Training – Live and Online! Everyone is encouraged to attend. 

Registration is required for both online Zoom session and in-person sessions. All materials will be provided for during this session.

Saturday October 28th, 2023 8:30 a.m.- 1:30 p.m. 

Star of the Sea Parish Centre, 15262 Pacific Ave., White Rock 

8:30 am: Mass; 9:00 am Continental Breakfast. 

Training Workshop is two sessions: 

9:45 am: Session 1, Being With Training. 11:15 am: Break. 

11:30 am: Session 2, Being With Training. 1:00 pm Q & A. 

To register for in-person session please register here or copy and paste this link into your browser: https://secure.rcav.org/being-with-training/ To register for online Zoom link click here 

In-Person Event: Being With Visitor's Training

This workshop is designed to help people accompanying those who are lonely, chronically ill or who are living with disabilities.  By being with people we can renew hope and purpose in their lives and ours.  We can create a culture of caring, not killing. 

Place:  The Gathering Room at the Evangelical Free Church 

                  1100-11th Ave North, Williams Lake, B.C.

 Time:  9:30 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.  (Lunch, tea and coffee are provided)

 Cost:  $10.00 per person Please register ASAP.  To register contact:  Jane @ 250-392-2609, Cecilia @ 250-398-6309 or email cecilia3schaub@outlook.com

This workshop is designed to help people accompanying those who are lonely, chronically ill or who are living with disabilities.  By being with people we can renew hope and purpose in their lives and ours.  We can create a culture of caring, not killing.

PATIENT ADVOCACY TRAINING

Gain the skills and confidence to be an advocate in the healthcare system.

FREE Online Training – Live on Zoom!

September 27th, 2023 @ 7-9 p.m. EST

Register Now! Meeting capacity is limited to 100 participants.

With Kathy Matusiak Costa, Executive Director of Compassionate Community Care, and Alex Schadenberg, Executive Director of EPC.

Register here:

https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMsdu6vrzMqHdXHQA7KNZrLIzUOvzEG8lO-

Empowering you to empower others.

Alliance For Life Ontario is hosting Compassionate Community Care:

Being With Visitor Volunteer Training

Gain the confidence to journey and visit with those who are suffering, socially isolated, sick, or dying, to renew their hope and purpose in life.

FREE Visitor’s Training – Live and on Zoom!

Saturday September 23rd, 2023 10 a.m.- 12 p.m. EST & 1 p.m.- 3 p.m. EST

In person Session: Saint Joseph's Church, 409 Paisley Rd, Guelph, ON N1H 2R4 In-Person Registration at 9:30 am

Workshop is two sessions, each session is two hours. There will be a 1 hour lunch break in between the two sessions. Bring your own lunch, coffee and tea will be provided. For in-person session, please RSVP to Jakki Jeffs by email: aflo@mgl.ca or call: 519-820-3399. For those joining online, please click on link below and use the same link to rejoin the session in the afternoon.

Register Now: Online meeting capacity is limited to 100 participants.

With Kathy Matusiak Costa, Executive Director of Compassionate Community Care, and Alex Schadenberg, Executive Director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition.

For Online Session, Please Register at: www.beingwith.org > Events

Event Sponsored by Guelph & Area Right to Life

Elder Abuse Prevention Ontario hosted Kathy Matusiak Costa from Compassionate Community Care as a guest speaker for one of its fall webinar series featuring Ontario organizations that help prevent elder abuse and protect the vulnerable.

Kathy shared effective ways to reduce social isolation and loneliness and how to improve quality of life and well-being for seniors. The session reviewed the ‘Community Advocacy Training’ on how to be an effective community advocate and approaches to empower individuals to empower others. Resources and materials available to promote compassionate community growth and support in your community were discussed.

Through the webinar CCC highlighted how to:

• Recognize issues vulnerable people may experience and support them in getting the help they may need to live fuller lives.

• Be an effective advocate for vulnerable seniors, as well as people with illness or disabilities.

• Work with CCC to provide visits and support to those in their area.

Live webinar was recorded on Wednesday, September 20th, 2023 from 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm ET. To watch the webinar, click here.

Couples for Christ Ottawa invite you to their upcoming Gift of Life Conference:

Saturday, September 16th, 2023

1:00 pm - 4:00 pm St Theresa Church, 95 Somerset St. W. Ottawa, ON

Speakers include Dr Andrew Mai, MD CCFP(PC) and Kathy Matusiak Costa, Director of Compassionate Community Care.

Kathy will share more about the work at CCC, the Being With My Story Visitor’s Program, Community Advocacy training, and will help empower participants to empower others. Guests will learn how to provide effective support as dedicated volunteers and promote practical ways to reduce social isolation and loneliness and how to improve quality of life and well-being within your communities. Everyone is welcome to attend, admission is $10. Vigil Mass at 4:30 pm, Registration starts at 12:00 pm. Light refreshments provided during intermission.

To register please email: clcottawa@couplesforchrist.ca

CCC Meet & Greet
On Sunday July 23rd, 2023 from 2-5 p.m. at the home of Muriel and Dan McCash, 2270 Devon Rd, Oakville, Ontario.

You are invited to an elegant afternoon at the McCash residence, with cocktails and appetizers, music, information sharing, and friends.

“We have a good organization here and we’d like to share more about the important work CCC does.”

- Dan McCash

Special guests include Kathy Matusiak Costa, Director of CCC,
Brian Simpson, and a surprise guest speaker.

Please confirm your attendance by Wednesday July 19' by text message to Dan McCash at 416-707-1478 or email dmccash@hotmail.com

For more details please contact: Compassionate Community Care: 383 Horton St. E, London, ON N6B 1L6
Office tel. 519-439-6445 • info@beingwith.org • www.beingwith.org

PATIENT COMMUNITY ADVOCACY TRAINING

Gain the skills and confidence to be an advocate in the healthcare system.

FREE Online Training – Live on Zoom!

June 26th, 2023 @ 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. EST

Register Now! Meeting capacity is limited to 100 participants.

With Kathy Matusiak Costa, Executive Director of Compassionate Community Care, and Alex Schadenberg, Executive Director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition.

Register here

Empowering you to empower others.

St. Mary’s presents

Euthanasia Prevention Safeguards

Wednesday June 14, 2023

6:30 p.m. ~ Refreshments 7:00 p.m. ~ Presentation followed by Q&A

St. Mary Star of the Sea Church Hall

11 Peter St. S., Mississauga Ontario

with Alex Schadenberg, Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition and Kathy Matusiak Costa, Director, Compassionate Community Care

Promoted by Right to Life of Mississauga-Brampton and other partners.

Freewill offering. For event inquiries, call 647-237-5135.

For poster for the event, click here.

SERIES: PROTECTING SENIORS

Session 3 of 3:

ELDER ABUSE: A CLOSER LOOK

Talk was held live via Zoom on June 8th, 2023

12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. EST

Thank you to all who attended!

This event was recorded and is available on our YouTube page here.

Presentation by Mary Shkoury Prevention Consultant, Elder Abuse Prevention Ontario

Mary shared her passion and commitment of caring for Canadian Seniors rights at Elder Abuse Prevention Ontario, where her mission is to see Ontario continue to be a safe place for our seniors to live, be heard and be free from Elder Abuse.

This presentation provides viewers an opportunity to gain a better understanding of what constitutes elder abuse, how to recognize the risk factors and signs of abuse, how to report it and how best to support an older adult experiencing or at-risk of abuse.

SERIES: PROTECTING SENIORS

Session 2 of 3:

ELDER ABUSE AND THE MODERN FAMILY:

What You Need to Look Out for and to Know

Talk was held live via Zoom on Thursday, May 25th, 2023

12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. EST

This event was recorded and the recording is available on our YouTube page here.

Presentation by Hugh Scher, Human Rights and Health Law Lawyer

Hugh is an experienced Toronto health, human rights, employment and Constitutional lawyer. He has been involved in multiple precedent setting cases including: Rasouli v. Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, 2013 SCC 53 (SCC). and Bentley v. Maplewood Seniors Care Society, 2015 BCCA 91 (BCCA). He lectures regularly to lawyers, community representatives, universities and government on these issues and is frequently called on by patients, families and community groups for his expertise.

To all participants of the Honouring Our Seniors survey, Thank you!

You’re Invited to our Evening of Gratitude Event!

Live in-person and on Zoom!

Thursday, May 18th, 2023 from 4:00 pm-5:00 pm Refreshments will be served

Register Now! Meeting capacity is limited to 100 participants.

Click on this link to register in advance.

To RSVP for in-person event, please email us at info@beingwith.org or call 519-439-6445

In person event will be held at our office location: Compassionate Community Care at 383 Horton Street E. London, ON N6B 1L6

SERIES: PROTECTING SENIORS

Session 1 of 3:

What You Need to Know to Prevent Elder Abuse

Talk was held live via Zoom on May 11, 2023 @ 7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. EST

This event was recorded and the recording is available here!

Mark Baluyut, RN, spoke on the clinical and practical standards of care, sharing tips that seniors and their loved ones should be aware of in order to protect against elder abuse. When a patient is admitted to the hospital with “failure to cope” or worse, and they are neglected, what went wrong? How can we prevent this from happening?

Kasia Capisciolto, RN, is a mother and concerned advocate for the elderly and vulnerable. She shared her experience working at a facility that was in need of assistance from the government in order to provide proper care for its residents. What do seniors need to watch out for? Kasia gave practical considerations and talked about the needs senior residents have when evaluating their care options. Watch the recording here.

Recording Available!

When Speaking to Others About MAiD

On February 15th, we hosted over 80 people for our talk, When Speaking to Others About MAiD. This session was held online via Zoom for viewers as well as in person before a live audience.

Co-hosted with Alex Schadenberg of EPC, this informative event shed light on the meaning of preparing for death and why the moment of death is important to live well. Learn about the history of MAiD in order to help others and especially, those you care for when faced with MAiD for themselves or their loved ones. This session shares how to speak to others about MAiD, what has affected the elderly, especially over the last three years, and how to care for our own. To watch this recording, please visit us here.

 This event was originally held at St John the Compassionate Mission, for more information about the mission, please visit them here.

PATIENT ADVOCACY TRAINING

Gain the skills and confidence to be an advocate in the healthcare system.

FREE Online Training – Live on Zoom!

February 8th, 2023 @ 7-9 p.m. EST

Register Now! Meeting capacity is limited to 100 participants.

With Kathy Matusiak Costa, Executive Director of Compassionate Community Care, and Alex Schadenberg, Executive Director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition.

Register here:

https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAqcu2orTkrGNNCgOSAwLVoTVKYaRsb-pwn

Empowering you to empower others.

Day of Reflection

Saturday, Feb 4th - 10 AM to 4 PM in Parish Hall

Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church (Parish Hall)

78 Clifton Road (Mt. Pleasant & St. Clair)

Guest Presenter, Kathy Matusiak Costa, Director of Compassionate Community Care 

In June 2016, Euthanasia was legalized in Canada; at the time, many thought it would impact only a few. From then until June 2022, there have already been 11 620 reported assisted deaths in Ontario and the trend keeps going up. Among those who choose this are those who experience immense loneliness and hopelessness. How do we as Christians assist those who feel their life lacks value or purpose? A culture that values others can emerge when we accompany people through the difficult times of their life. 

OLPH Parish will be hosting a day of reflection on accompanying the lonely and vulnerable. Gain confidence to journey with those who are suffering, socially isolated, sick, or dying, to renew their hope and purpose in life. Explore how to empower others to do the same. See how our Catholic faith can guide us in this vision, as well as gain practical tools for how we each, in our own little way and state in life, can help others find hope.

Free Event | 

Register by Wednesday Feb. 1, 2023 | Potluck lunch will be served

Contact: Alison at aendrizzi@archtoronto.org

Join Us in Person or Via Zoom to Hear About Our Two Great Programs: Being With, My Story Volunteer Training and Patient Advocacy

Thursday January 26, 2023

1:30 pm - 3:00 pm at the Chancery Office, 700 King St West Hamilton, ON or by Zoom

Compassionate Community Care – Program Overview

This program provides non-medical support for persons who are vulnerable to depression, isolation, loneliness, pain, and death due to age, terminal illness, disability, or other conditions (“vulnerable persons”). Along with the Diocese, they can provide training for staff and volunteers for providing non-medical support to these persons. The aim is to help people have a complete circle of care that recognizes and respects the physical, social, psychological, and spiritual needs of those involved. During the session they will provide detail on their program, ‘Being With’, which trains volunteers to care.

Call Sarah in Family Ministry Office at 905-528-7988 or visit Upcoming Events at hamiltondiocese.com

Compassionate Community Care (CCC) offers ongoing seminars online called Being With Volunteer Training and Patient Advocacy Training which are offered to anyone remotely and free of charge.

You’re invited to our upcoming end-of-year event:

Checking in on our Being With, My Story Volunteers

FREE Online Volunteer Support Group Session

Tuesday, December 13th 2022 – 7:00 pm

Live on Zoom!

REGISTER HERE

Have you completed one of our Being With Trainings and followed through with meeting with others? Well then we want to hear from you! Join us for an hour of sharing, support, and helpful strategies to obstacles you may have faced or just drop in and say hi!

There will be a special prize awarded to 5 volunteers who join the session who had completed the training, and met within their communities. You don’t want to miss it! RSVP today.