Tina's Bio & Background

"I have dedicated my life to creating a more kind and productive world."

Tina Staley, LCSW

Tina Staley is a licensed clinical social worker based in Denver, Colorado. With 25 years of professional counseling, research and quality-of-life experience, Tina has developed the skills to help individuals, groups and organizations become kinder and more productive. 

 

Tina has worked with hundreds of organizations nationwide. highlights include:

  • Tina was part of a research/clinician team at Duke Cancer Institute studying effective psychosocial interventions to improve quality of life.
  • Tina's quality of life research was the subject of the film What Love Is: The Duke Pathfinders 50 by acclaimed filmmaker Ted Bogosian. 
  • Tina was a presenter at TEDxAsheville. You can watch Tina's full speech, The Perfect Last Day, at this link. 
  • Tina cofounded Reimagine, an online curriculum for individuals, caregivers and others impacted by a cancer diagnosis.
  • Tina created Cancer Guides, Valley Angels and cofounded Pathfinders, all supporting cancer patients and their families in the Roaring Fork Valley in Colorado.
  • Tina co-authored the award-winning book, Living Fully, Dying Well, available here. 

Publications & Presentations

Publications

Abernethy AP, Herndon JE, Coan A, Staley T, Wheeler JL, Rowe K, Smith SK, Lyerly HK.  Pilot study of Pathfinders, a psychosocial intervention for cancer patients. Supportive Care in Cancer 2010;18(7);893-8.

Smith, SK, Herndon, JE, Lyerly, HK, Coan, AD, Wheeler, JL, Staley, T, Abernethy, AP.  Brief Report: Correlates of quality of life-related outcomes in breast cancer patients participating in Pathfinders pilot. Psycho-Oncology 2011;20(5):559-64.

 

Presentations

“Impact of Pathfinders, an integrative mind-body spirit psychosocial intervention, on patient-reported symptoms in a breast cancer population.”  Oral presentation at the 2007 Fourth International Conference of the Society for Integrative Oncology.  San Francisco, CA.  November 16, 2007. Abstract number 18180. Journal of the Society for Integrative Oncology 2007;5(4);188. 

“Pathfinders: An integrative psychosocial approach to supportive care in cancer.”  Oral presentation at the 2008 Multinational Association for Supportive Care in Cancer International Symposium.  Supportive Care in Cancer 2008; 16: 728 (abstract 20-198).  Houston, TX.  June 26-28, 2008. 

“Pathfinders: A psychosocial complement to cancer treatment.” Poster presentation at the 2008 American Society of Clinical Oncology Breast Cancer Symposium.  Washington, DC.  September 5-7, 2008.  (abstract 251; http://www.asco.org/ASCOv2/Meetings/Abstracts?&vmview=abst_detail_view&confID=58&abstractID=40250.)

“Pathfinders, an integrative psychosocial care program, improves quality of life, psychological measures, and fatigue in metastatic breast cancer patients.”  Oral presentation at the Fifth International Conference of the Society for Integrative Oncology, Best of the SIO Meeting session.  Atlanta, GA.  November 20, 2008. 

“Pathfinders, an integrative psychosocial care program, improves quality of life, psychological measures, and fatigue in advanced metastatic breast cancer patients.”  Poster presentation at the 2009 Annual Assembly of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine & Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association.  Austin, TX.  March 25-28, 2009.

“Impact of a psychosocial intervention on performance status and coping.”  Presented at 45th American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting.  Orlando, Florida.  May 29-June 2, 2009. 

“Pathfinders: A pilot study of an integrative psychosocial care program for cancer patients.”  Presented at the 2009 Multinational Association for Supportive Care in Cancer International Symposium.  Supportive Care in Cancer 2009; 17(7).  Rome, Italy.  June 25-27, 2009. 

“Targeting psychosocial resources to improve quality of life in cancer patients.” Poster Presentation, Annual Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center Conference, Durham, NC, October 5, 2009.

“Impact of a psychosocial intervention on quality of life outcomes in cancer patients.” Paper Presentation, Annual Meeting of the Society for Social Work and Research, San Francisco, CA, January 14, 2010.

“Impact of an intervention targeting psychosocial resources for cancer patients.” Poster Presentation, Annual Association of Oncology Social Work Conference, Phoenix, AZ, May 12, 2010.

“Targeting psychosocial resources in a pilot study of Pathfinders.” Poster Presentation, 5th Biennial Cancer Survivorship Conference, Washington, DC, June 17, 2010.

“Correlation between change in targeted psychosocial resources and quality of life-related outcomes in advanced breast cancer patients participating in a psychosocial intervention.” Poster Presentation, 6th Research Congress of the European Association for Palliative Care, Glasgow, United Kingdom, June 10, 2010. 

“Developing practitioner-researcher partnerships in oncology social work.”  Panel Presentation, Association of Oncology Social Work, St. Louis, MO, May 5, 2011.

“Pathfinders: Forging a Partnership Between Social Work and Medicine to Conduct Psychosocial Intervention Research.” Workshop Presentation, Society for Social Work Research, Washington, DC, January 11, 2012.

Pathfinders as a Model for Evidence-based Practice. Workshop Presentation, Association of Oncology Social Work, Boston, MA, June 1, 2012.

Presentation National Cancer Institute Sixth Biennial Cancer Survivorship Research Conference.  “Cancer Survivorship Research: Translating Science to Care” June 14-16, 2012, Dr. Amy Abernethy and Tina Staley.