“Defending the Caregiver!” by Lon Kieffer, is a revolutionary concept of “EnterTrainment.”

This two (2) hour one man show, a Dramatic/Comedy is a hilarious way to teach Caregivers how to take care of their MOST difficult person of them all: THEMSELVES!

The LIVE show “Defending the Caregiver!” and the associated self-study follow-up via internet (2 additional hours), was approved by the Delaware Nurses Association, an accredited approver by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation for 4 CH (Credit Hours).

“Defending the Caregiver!”– a project started by Lon Kieffer, RN, BSN and Nursing Home Administrator (NHA) following a 25-year career in Healthcare where he observed Caregiver’s both, professional (Nurses, Social Worker’s, Therapist, and yes, even macho Doctors) and non-professional (Family members, neighbor’s, co-workers, etc…) take on the challenge of Caregiving by demonstrating certain consistent personality traits, coping mechanisms and various degrees of success, failure, depression and yes… BLESSINGS in the process.

First, Lon made his observation of the Caregiver “type”—a sort of emotional co-dependency he described as “a sprinkle of narcissism with an inferiority complex” where his fellow Caregivers went around trying to control the world, taking care of everyone EXCEPT themselves!

Second, he stumbled onto research, particularly Myer’s-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)® literature that identified a certain personality type (ESFJ) appropriately named “The Caregiver!” and immediately saw the connection.

Next, Lon did some additional research on Caregivers and their frequency of Depression and found that Caregivers (Nurses and Doctors in particular) have a very high rate of depression, yet a low rate of seeking treatment for depression. Having had a familial exposure to clinical depression and having successfully applied Cognitive Therapy to his own, non-clinical yet episodic and occasional depressive thoughts he learned of David Burns, MD, and his research regarding Depression and Cognitive Distortions in the book; “Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy” and his “Ten Cognitive Distortions” or thinking and coping mechanisms that can lead into depressive thoughts.

Lastly, Lon immediately recognized a plethora of parallels between, and vivid recollections of, humorous observations that represented a virtual marriage of the ESFJ “Caregiver” personality and how they classically utilize (and over-utilize) the “Ten Cognitive Distortions” in order to survive the high-stress, high-emotion circumstances of their role as Caregivers.

Finally, Lon merged these observations with his personal concept known as “EnterTrainment” where Entertainment comes first and Training is a bi-product of a shared enjoyable event.

Lon is not only an RN and NHA but an internationally known Motivational Speaker, Author and Consultant. His “Get Out of Bed and Go to Work!” philosophy of “EnterTraining” was taught to him by Nurses in a Nursing Home. He is now in the process of turning one of his lectures, “Defending the Caregiver!” into a full-blown one-man dramatic-comedy stage show/play that will highlight the personality traits of those that seek, or accept, the role of Caregiver and the harsh (but not always tragic and sometimes funny) realities of this role. It is Lon’s hope that by increasing the awareness of the difficulties of the role of Caregiver, the personality traits that make them both perfect for the job AND prone to the often debilitating aspects of this role– he can help the Caregiver to survive and thrive; to see his or her way to realize a perspective that is instead of Depressing– a Blessing!

Lon asks that you enjoy his, “You might be a Caregiver if…. “ statements; offer some of your own, and stay tuned as he develops this site and forges onward to the World Premiere of “Defending the Caregiver!” in the Spring of 2010.

This continuing nursing education activity was approved by the Delaware Nurses Association, an accredited approver by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.

“Defending the Caregiver!” is approved for 4 CH’s

NOTICE REGARDING CONTACT HOURS: In order to qualify for CH’s criteria for successful completion includes;

• Attendance at a live event AND, participation in two hours of a guided independent internet based self-learner directed activity.

• Online Completion/submission of an evaluation form.

• Achieve a passing score on a post-test.