Moira Mulhern was wrapping up her practicum for her Ph.D. in community health psychology 13 years ago when she reached a turning point. She was working at the Bloch Cancer Center teaching biofeedback to patients undergoing cancer treatment, and she saw such dramatic improvement in their quality of life that she knew she wanted to be able to make an impact like that the rest of her career. “I was hooked,” she says.

In her 12 years of practice, she has provided support, awareness and education for people with chronic illnesses, and she has designed stress-management training programs for local hospitals and businesses. But in the back of her mind, she had a vision for something more.

As she worked with patients, Mulhern noticed gaps in the services available to help the chronically ill. Few medical professionals had the time or training to help families deal with the roller coaster of emotions that came with diagnosis, for instance. Families facing a life-threatening disease had little strength or knowledge to fight their way through the medical system alone.

In her vision, Mulhern saw a service that treated the whole family and the whole person, and so in March of 2001 she created Turning Point, an organization that addresses the physical, economic, psychological and spiritual needs that accompany a serious illness. While it faces the same funding challenges that most nonprofits are facing now, that hasn’t diminished Mulhern’s goals. She sees Turning Point co-sponsoring with other services and partnering with the medical and business communities to fill the gaps in service that exist today.

Mulhern emphasizes that what Turning Point offers is not psychotherapy, but rather psychoeducation. “When patients are supported, educated and given additional skills to cope, they are empowered,” she says. “It is such a great feeling to facilitate that process.”

For more information about Turning Point, call 816.753.3075.