November 2023
We wish to celebrate and honor our Caritas Colleagues and share their contribution and commitment to Caring Science. This month we are celebrating: Lorraine (Lori) Marie Gdanetz, PhD, RN, Alumnus PCCN, Caritas Coach®. Lori is WCSI's Caritas Coach Education Program® (CCEP) Program Director and Faculty Associate. She is also an Assistant Professor/Graduate Faculty at Gannon University, Villa Maria School of Nursing and the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, College of Nursing.
My Journey
My journey to WCSI was fostered by a need to reconnect with the “Why” I became a nurse and a deep desire to share my passion for sacred service with others. This journey led me to seek out a doctoral program with a focus in Caring Science which was being offered at that time at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, College of Nursing. Through this experience I discovered my love for technology, global outreach, and education. Caring Science offered a theoretical framework and a way of being that transcends physicality towards the use of online platforms, virtual means, and aesthetics to deepen connections in nursing education.
A path that unfolded for me next, was a program of research and publications focused on “Transpersonal Relationships” and “Caring Moments” which evolve with a caring intention and use of technology to co-create deep relationships within a virtual space. Initially, this way of being was with nursing education. As time went by, my passion grew to encompass using technology, a caring intention, the 10 Caritas Processes®, and Aesthetic Ways of Knowing as the foundation for co-creating research and being a researcher.
The global shut-down associated with the COVID pandemic guided me to an amazing research team who intentionally incorporated the use of Caring Science, Aesthetic Ways of Knowing, and the 10 Caritas Processes to deepen our understanding of nurses’ experience during the pandemic. Occurring parallel to this research, was the transition of the Caritas Coach Education Program by the WCSI team to a fully online program. I was blessed with an invitation to join the CCEP Faculty in late 2021 which evolved to an invitation to be the CCEP Program Director.
Walking alongside the CCEP Faculty Family has been life changing for me! Gifts shared by this team has supported the evolution of CCEP to a WCSI trademarked learning platform. The WCSI learning platform offers technological features to deepen connections (videos, chats, collaborations), removal of language and accessibility barriers, and offers a means to connect on a global level. A recent example of the global outreach which has emerged is the Latino-Iberoamérica CCEP. In September of this year, I was blessed and humbled to attend the first graduation of 11 Spanish speaking Caritas Coaches along with our 6 Spanish speaking Caritas Coach Faculty from 7 countries in South America and Portugal.
My sacred journey is continuing and is open to mysteries and all possibilities.
Contributions to the legacy of Caring Science
I am actively preserving and promoting the legacy of Caring Science coupled with my love for technology to integrate the foundation of Unitary Caring Science; Ethics of Belonging, Ethics of Hand, and Ethics of Face, and the 10 Caritas Processes in all aspects of my life (personal/professional) and globally. Technology and a caring intention open virtual connections to caring moments, all possibilities, and transpersonal caring moments. Thus, expanding the reach of Caritas, healing, caring, love, and human-to-human connections while minimizing language barriers to deepen inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility on a global level through the Caritas Coach Education Program® and research.
Areas of Expertise
Caring Science, Aesthetic Expression, Online Education
Location
Erie, Pennsylvania U.S.A.
Publications
Gdanetz, L., Hamer, M., Thomas, E., Tarasenko, L., Horton-Deutsch, S., & Jones, J. (2018). Technology, educator intention, and relationships in virtual learning spaces: A qualitative metasynthesis. Journal of Nursing Education, 57(4),197-202.
Gdanetz, L.M. Transpersonal caring relationships as part of an online nursing education environment (Dissertations/Theses - Doctoral Dissertations). University of Colorado Denver, Anschutz Medical Campus.
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