Introduction In the 7 years I have been working in the home help field I have noticed many areas where I feel simple changes to training and the communication methods involved with the home care field. While many of the problems of the field exist at executive and managerial levels which make them hard to simply solve many of the issues deal with the direct care professionals. Many of the training methods and Buddhist modalities specifically regarding deep listening practice, working with burnout, and compassion training would solve the problems I see present. In this paper I hope to demonstrate my understanding of these topics and put forward the practices I think could both help the caregiver and supported and realistically be implemented. Abstract The field of professional home care providers is undeserved by a lack of training and thus those within it are unskilled laborers. Having the direct care workers in this field, who's job it is to support those with cognitive disabilities, function as untrained workers is a major problem in the field. Through the establishment of training in compassion management, working with burnout, and deep listening practices like the ones we encountered in Buddhist Psychology 2 both the workers and supported in this field could benefit greatly. Keywords: home care, training, compassion, burnout, deep listening, disability In the years that I have worked in the home care field I have noticed many areas where I believe that the techniques that I have been introduced to in this Buddhist psychology class could be beneficial. It is my goal in this paper to explore those opportunities for growth in the industry and lay our frame works that I think could lead to beneficial growth in both the caregiver and the supported. The way that I am looking at this situation is by imagining that Naropa University was establishing a home care agency. I hope to examine what challenges exist in the industry as a whole and what practices would be most beneficial. Before I can critique the home care field I feel it would be helpful to explain how most home care organizations function as I believe that is where to root problems stem from. The home care field is primarily funded by money provided by the state to disabled citizens through social programs such as medicare. In almost all cases the government funds are channeled into the agency that the disabled individual has chosen to purchase home care from. Due to this system most home care agencies have three levels of employee: the direct care providers, administrative positions, and executive positions such as CEO. Due to this facilitated payment model, where all the funds are transferred to the agency for support, competition between agencies is extremely rare. This issue is further exasperated by the regional nature of the industry, the lack of self directed support of the disabled customers, and the complicated nature of understanding exactly what support you are buying. For simplicities sake I will classify the problems I believe can be better navigated as direct care problems, administrative problems, and executive problems depending on their sources and effects. The main direct care problems that I will be writing about are an almost complete lack of all non-state mandated training, a lack of resources to combat burnout, and the view of home care as an unskilled trade. The primary administrative problems we will be talking about are how funds are allocated and spent. The primary executive problems I will be examining are absentee CEOs and the dubious nature of non-profit home care. When I was first hired as a home care professional 7 years ago I went to my first day of work without any type of formal training and without knowing my clients diagnosis. Luckily, I had mentioned in a meeting that I had worked well within a job-shadowing model when learning to cook in kitchens and training a a sous chef so my first shift was shadowing another worker to learn their routine. On my second shift those supports were removed and I was on my own with no real training. Compounding this lack of training I had been given the agencies most difficult client. As a notoriously difficult client the turnover rate of his caregivers was high and this was a part of the reason I had been hired in the first place. I spent my first 6 months following him around town like a detective making sure that he didn't see me she wouldn't attack my car with the bucket and stick he was using to pick up litter. The situation was completely ridiculous. I, as an untrained caregiver, had been tasked by the agency being paid to support this individual was assigned to follow him and stay out of sight. What care was I providing and seriously this is how you “support” this person? I was honestly disgusted from week one but enjoyed the time I spent with my clients, even the most difficult ones, so much I decided to stick it out. After a year of no real change I decid