New Book Launch: Seasons of Life

After months of discussions and preparation, the Asia Pacific Hospice Palliative Care Network is excited to finally announce the launch of our new publication, Seasons of Life: A Reflective Journey of Beginnings and Finales

About

‘Seasons of Life’ is a self-care book that incorporates art with tips on self-care and mindfulness. This book was conceptualised with our healthcare and frontline workers in mind. With the ongoing pandemic, these healthcare heroes have served others tirelessly at the expense of their own physical, emotional and mental health.

Our Executive Director, Mr Giam Cheong Leong, reached out to Dr Andy Hau Yan Ho and Dr Gilbert Fan, for their expertise on mindful self-compassion and self-care respectively. With the help of Ms Lam Yuen Kei, a social work graduate, they came together to develop self-care techniques and tips on practicing mindfulness while utilising paintings that were generously donated by the Singapore Life Art Society.

Each painting is accompanied by a quote or poem, and a prompt or tip for self-care and mindfulness. Through this book, we hope to provide an avenue for the reader to begin their own journey of self-care as well as serve as a reminder to take a breather and take care of themselves.

We distributed over 1000 copies of the book to palliative care services in the Asia Pacific region to distribute to their healthcare workers, caregivers etc.

We would like to thank our main sponsor, CoSeClinic Services Pte. Ltd, for enabling us to publish this book.

The book is available in both English and Mandarin.

Preview

Preview_SOL by APHN

Editors

Dr Andy Hau Yan Ho

Dr Andy H.Y. Ho, PhD, EdD, MFT is an Associate Professor of Psychology and Medicine at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He is also the Vice President and President Elect of the Association for Death Education and Counseling (USA), and serves as Board Director of the prestigious International Work Group of Death, Dying and Bereavement (IWG). Andy specializes in the research and teaching of public health palliative care, psychosocial gerontology, and community empowerment. He has pioneered a number of award-winning psycho-socio-spiritual interventions for supporting patients, caregivers, and vulnerable population groups; produced numerous public health campaigns and short film documentaries for the promotion of life, death, and grief literacy; authored over 120 top-tier publications; as well as presented in over 200 keynotes, plenary and invited lectures. Andy is the first Asian Recipient of the ADEC Academic Educator Award in 2018, while receiving the prestigious Nanyang Education Award in 2019, and conferred the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Hong Kong in 2020. His social and scholarly contributions are recognized with distinction by academic, professional and government bodies around the world.

Ms Lam Yuen Kei

Ms Lam Yuen Kei is a social work graduate with an interest in psychiatry. She took four years to graduate from junior college and six years to graduate from university. This is why she is especially grateful to all her alma maters – National University of Singapore, Tembusu College, Raffles Institution, Raffles Girls Secondary and Marymount Convent school – for their support, faith and belief in her. Her education has nurtured her fascination at how the human mind and body work. This includes “Sight”, which she considers one of her blessings as it enables her to see many things in life. She enjoys eating, exercising and taking naps.

Mr Giam Cheong Leong

Mr Giam Cheong Leong is the Executive Director of the Asia Pacific Hospice Palliative Care Network and the Programme Director of the Lien Collaborative for Palliative Care Programme. He has been active in the region towards capacity building and advocacy for palliative care. Leading a team of volunteer healthcare workers around the world, the team provides free palliative care education to doctors, nurses and allied health workers in low to middle income countries, thereby enabling them to build sustainable palliative care services in their hospitals. To date, the Lien Collaborative programme has trained about 460 healthcare workers from 140 hospitals covering Myanmar, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, India and China.

Dr Gilbert Fan

Dr Gilbert Fan, RSW, FAPA is a Clinical Supervisor (Satir), Fellow of the American Psychotherapy Association (USA) and Registered Social Worker. Gilbert’s professional doctorate is in Social Work & Futures Studies. He has extensive experience as a medical social worker, having worked in both general and tertiary hospitals and a short teaching stint at the Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP) lecturing in the Behavioural Sciences. He continues to teach in various capacities in social work and counselling programmes at both local and foreign universities. He was appointed as Master Practice Leader by the Ministry of Social & Family Development in 2015-2019 and Fellow of the Social Service Institute in 2016-2019 and 2020 to the present. Gilbert is the Co-Chair for Volunteer Engagement, Advisor & Master MSW to the Department of Psychosocial Oncology, National Cancer Centre Singapore.

How To Get A Copy

Head over to our merchandise page to purchase your copy today!

Published on: 22 February, 2022 | Last modified: 22 December, 2022