STAND BY ME

Informal caregivers - the parents, children, siblings, and partners supporting their loved one through illness - are the true linchpin determining each patient's illness experience and the quality of care they received. Yet most caregivers have no formal training or support when they are thrust into the role.

That is why Dr. Allison Applebaum founded the Caregivers Clinic at Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital in 2011, the nation's only comprehensive service focused explicitly on meeting the needs of informal caregivers. Drawing on a decade of clinical and research experience as well as sharing her own personal caregiving journey, Dr. Applebaum developed a program that blends essential practical tools with a meaning centered psychotherapeutic approach to help caregivers and their loved ones are able to navigate illness with the support they need.

Stand By Me puts the practical tools and transformative support of that program in the hands of readers everywhere. The book covers crucial topics including:
- Understanding and advocating for healthcare resources
- Normalizing advanced care planning to take the guesswork out of care decisions
- Navigating difficult conversations to foster honesty, connection, and meaning

Heart-centered, groundbreaking, and urgently needed, Stand By Me offers caregivers the support, strategy, and validation they need to find meaning and peace throughout their caregiving journey.

Allison J. Applebaum, PhD. is a clinical psychologist specializing in psycho-oncology, the field devoted to supporting the mental health of all individuals affected by cancer. She is an Associate Attending Psychologist in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), and an Associate Professor of Psychology in Psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City. Additionally, she is the Founding Director of the Caregivers Clinic at MSK. The Caregivers Clinic is the first of its kind in the world and provides targeted psychosocial care to caregivers - family members and friends - of patients receiving cancer care at MSK.