Being a Compassionate Companion is curated from teachings that were recorded at the Metta Institute End of Life Practitioner Program. That program, first developed in 2002, was offered annually for 14 years. Taught by a world-class faculty, the training provided healthcare clinicians and non-professional caregivers with unique approaches to mindful and compassionate end of life care. In offering this program, Metta Institute wants to open their archives of 14 years of groundbreaking and visionary teachings and utilize them in a way that serves a much wider audience. 

Being a Compassionate Companion is organized around the development of three key elements: self-awareness, compassion, and skillful action. This course introduces the Five Precepts of Service, mindfulness practice, the cultivation of compassion, and a discussion of the wounded healer. 

Caring for people with serious or life-threatening illness can be an intense, intimate, and deeply alive experience. It often challenges our most basic beliefs. It is a journey of continuous discovery, requiring courage and flexibility. We learn to open, take risks, and forgive constantly. Taken as a practice of awareness, it can reveal both our deep clinging and our capacity to embrace another person's suffering as our own. This course will help participants to develop the skillful means necessary to accompany those facing serious or life-threatening illness.

We invite you to open yourself to the practices and insights offered here, and we thank you for your practice and service to others.

Frank Ostaseski and the Metta Institute