Virginia Satir is known for the model she developed to explain the process of change. Satir believed that all change involves six stages, ranging from the entrance of a foreign element into one’s status quo to ultimate growth and learning. Facing Terminal Illness: A Guide for Helping Professionals uses Satir’s change model to explain the experiences of a terminally ill woman, Debbie Ellington, and several hospice workers.
The video presents Debbie as she tells her story of being diagnosed with terminal cancer. She discusses her difficult reaction to this diagnosis and the emotional and physical pain she began to experience. Satir’s “foreign element” and “chaos” stages are used to explain the introduction of Debbie’s very difficult life change.
The video also presents the process of change from the point of view of the hospice workers. Several staff members talk about their own experiences working with such emotional cases, and how they move through the stages of Satir’s change model along with their patients. They emphasize the importance of self-care and supporting one another in order to be able to best help their patients.
The video covers all six stages of Satir’s change model and illustrates how the model, like all change, cycles again and again through people’s lives.
