Plattsburgh, NY – For cancer survivors, the journey doesn’t end when treatment does. Research suggests that Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) can help participants manage the emotional and physical challenges that come after treatments are complete while building resilience and a greater sense of well-being. Beginning Thursday, Sept. 3, the University of Vermont Health Network - Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital (CVPH) FitzPatrick Cancer Center will offer a free eight-week MBSR program tailored to cancer survivors and individuals receiving maintenance treatments.

Through Oct 22, the MBSR group will meet each Thursday from 5 to 7 pm at CVPH. The two-hour classes will include different types of formal and informal meditation, mindful movement, small group discussion and instruction on home practice.  One all-day class is included to provide participants with the opportunity to practice in silence with guidance for an extended period.

“Living with cancer and after treatments have ended can bring new challenges. This program offers survivors information, education and tools to help them navigate that part of survivorship,” explains Charlotte Gosrich, RD, JD, a certified MBSR instructor.

Gosrich, who will lead all eight sessions, said MBSR can help participants become fully aware, present and accepting of things as they are, which can support healing. “It is the most scientifically researched training program for mindfulness.”

Started in the 1970s at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, MBSR is now offered in more than 700 medical centers and universities worldwide.

For more information, please contact Gosrich at cgosrich@cvph.org. Email Alex Fleming, FCC oncology social worker at afleming2@cvph.org to register.

###

About Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital
University of Vermont Health Network - Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital (CVPH) is a private, not-for profit hospital in Plattsburgh, NY.  Established in 1967 with the merger of Champlain Valley and Physicians Hospitals, CVPH joined Fletcher Allen Partners in 2012, which in 2014 became The University of Vermont Health Network.  Together with its partner hospitals, the UVM Medical Group and a home health agency, CVPH provides high quality, cost effective care, close to home. Services include an award winning cardiac services program, accredited cancer center, freestanding ambulatory surgery center, comprehensive rehabilitation services and a 24 hour physician-staffed Emergency Department.  Governed by a 15-member Board of Directors, CVPH is accredited by the Joint Commission and licensed by New York State and Medicare/Medicaid Approved.  Learn more at UVMHealth.org/CVPH or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.

About University of Vermont Health Network
The University of Vermont Health Network is an integrated system serving the residents of Vermont and northern New York with a shared mission: working together, we improve people’s lives. The partners are:

• University of Vermont Medical Center
• University of Vermont Health Network Medical Group
• University of Vermont Health Network – Alice Hyde Medical Center
• University of Vermont Health Network – Central Vermont Medical Center
• University of Vermont Health Network – Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital 
• University of Vermont Health Network – Elizabethtown Community Hospital 
• University of Vermont Health Network – Porter Medical Center
• University of Vermont Health Network – Home Health & Hospice

Our 4,000 health care professionals are driven to provide high-quality, cost-efficient care as close to home as possible. Strengthened by our academic connection to the University of Vermont, each of our affiliates remains committed to its local community by providing compassionate, personal care shaped by the latest medical advances and delivered by highly skilled experts.