One goal of the Genetics Education Office is to increase the public and professional understanding of human genetics and its sociocultural and psychological implications. How families deal with decisions about diagnostic genetic testing before effective therapies are available or how they cope with living with relative risk of developing a hereditary forms of cancer are issues which need family counseling professionals will be facing more and more frequently. The information covered included: psychosocial issues, concepts of inheritance, communicating risk, ethics and genetic consumer issues. The workshop concluded with a """"""""responder"""""""" panel consisting of leaders in each of the counseling fields represented and a consumer activist, who addressed the impact of genetics on their field. Participants were offered Continuing Educational Units for their participation. All participants were urged to plan and implement ways to disseminate what they had learned at tile conference.
