Janice Dixon didn’t realize how unprepared she would be to learn she had metastatic cancer.

Her treatment would involve both radiation and chemotherapy. She questioned if she could endure months—perhaps years—of treatment, and how she would cope with the physical and emotional effects of cancer and powerful drugs, and the resulting life changes.

Fortunately, she had a Pathfinder.

A Pathfinder counselor works one-on-one with patients and is certified in the Pathfinders strengthbased model of psychosocial care, The Seven Pillars of Personal Recovery. The Pathfinder stays with the patient through either remission or the end of life. By providing support from first diagnosis and addressing the issues that accompany cancer, the program fosters profound healing and personal growth for patients, families and caregivers, regardless of the medical outcome.

The brainchild of two Aspen locals, social worker Tina Staley and psychotherapist Kristin MacDermott, Pathfinders annually helps hundreds of cancer patients and their families, both in Colorado and at the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center. Launched in Aspen in 2003, Pathfinders first served patients in the Roaring Fork Valley; by 2006 the program’s success convinced researchers at Duke University to study the Pathfinders model and determine the program’s effect on key psychosocial outcomes for cancer patients. After two years, research demonstrated that the Pathfinders program had a significant positive impact in the areas of psychological distress, despair and numerous physical symptoms, as well as improving coping and empowerment and providing a better perception of patients’ physical status.

“Tina and I started Pathfinders because we saw that patients were struggling through the cancer experience with little or no emotional support,” explains MacDermott. “Families need help accessing resources and navigating through the medical system. Patients need an advocate. They also need tools for coping with the stress along with the social, emotional and spiritual issues that accompany a cancer diagnosis.”

Having recently co-written Living Fully, Dying Well, a dialogue between spiritual leaders and medical healers, Staley is bringing her years of cancer-treatment experience to a broader audience. Luminaries like Rabbi Zalman Schachter and Mother Tessa Bielecki share stories, insights and valuable practices that transform death from a source of fear to an opportunity.

What’s more, Pathfinders is also making its celluloid debut. Emmy-winning filmmaker Ted Bogosian has begun filming What Love Is: Pathfinders, a one-hour documentary about MacDermott, Staley and the Pathfinders program premiering in Aspen in early summer. The film chronicles the program’s evolution and the transformative power of the pillars.

While Duke University continues its research, Pathfinders now boasts nearly 80 valley volunteers, known collectively as the Pathfinder Valley Angels. They cook and deliver meals, run errands, babysit, provide companionship and serve other needs for anyone facing a difficult recovery from cancer, an accident or an illness (they even shovel snow!). More than Pathfinders, Staley and MacDermott are true trailblazers.

For more information about Pathfinders or to donate or volunteer, call 970-925-1226 or visit pathfindersforcancer.org and pillars4life.com.