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Home > By Your Side

Compassion in action

By Your Side is a program of Episcopal Communities & Services (ECS) with a mission to support people in times of change and difficulty, particularly in health crisis, and to be at their bedside at the end of their lives as needed. Since 2011, the program has trained volunteer community members to be a compassionate presence.

By Your Side Foundations:

  • Compassionate presence
  • Healing and wholeness
  • Being present to ourselves
  • A framework for caring
  • A framework for healing
Two children hug an elderly woman sitting in an armchair, while another woman and an older man smile nearby in a warmly lit living room. Everyone appears happy and engaged with each other.
Logo with the words by Your Side in blue text, with Your highlighted on a blue brushstroke background. Below, it says An ECS Compassion Program.

Multi-faceted, integrated purpose

  • As a support for individuals and families going through major transitions, palliative care, and the end-of-life.
  • It is another way for us to have meaningful connections with others in the community.
  • An open and safe environment in which hard conversations can happen.
  • It is an outward manifestation of an ethos of respect, dignity, compassion, and possibility. Values that have been consistently present at ECS since our founding.

Training opportunities and partnerships

By Your Side partners with the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, the Instituto de Liderazgo for A Su Lado (Spanish-language By Your Side training), Keck Medical Center of USC, Olive View/UCLA Medical Center, and others. By Your Side End-of-Life Vigil Companions Training is coming soon to a community near you.

ECS Communities

As we continue to develop teams of volunteers to serve in hospital and other settings, since 2013 we’ve also trained team members, residents, and neighbors of our ECS senior living communities to be even more present with one another. Residents have companioned their peers having difficulty with changes in their lives, with challenging diagnoses, sometimes with increasing frailty. Staff and members of the greater community gain tools for taking care of themselves while being there for others.

Residents have companioned their peers having difficulty with changes in their lives, with challenging diagnoses, sometimes with increasing frailty. Staff and members of the greater community gain tools for taking care of themselves while being there for others.

For more information about By Your Side training and volunteering opportunities, please contact: Susan Brown 

An elderly couple, both smiling, stand close together outdoors. They wear brown leather jackets and glasses. Soft string lights and blurred greenery create a warm, festive atmosphere in the background.
An elderly couple, both smiling, stand close together outdoors. They wear brown leather jackets and glasses. Soft string lights and blurred greenery create a warm, festive atmosphere in the background.

ECS Communities

As we continue to develop teams of volunteers to serve in hospital and other settings, since 2013 we’ve also trained team members, residents, and neighbors of our ECS senior living communities to be even more present with one another. Residents have companioned their peers having difficulty with changes in their lives, with challenging diagnoses, sometimes with increasing frailty. Staff and members of the greater community gain tools for taking care of themselves while being there for others.

Residents have companioned their peers having difficulty with changes in their lives, with challenging diagnoses, sometimes with increasing frailty. Staff and members of the greater community gain tools for taking care of themselves while being there for others.

For more information about By Your Side training and volunteering opportunities, please contact: Susan Brown 

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