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 Thursday, September 02, 2010  11:39:13 AM PST |
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MindAlert Speakers Bureau About the Speakers Bureau MetLife Foundation MindAlert Speakers Bureau purpose is to train professionals around the country to implement cognitive stimulating programs in local settings. Faculty for the Speakers Bureau have received the MetLife Foundation MindAlert Award and are recognized as an innovative community-based program translating research related to enhancing cognitive function in later life into practical mental/cognitive health promotion activities. Submission Requirements, Host Site Scope of Work and Deadlines For more information on submission requirements, scope of work, deadlines and to apply online, click here
Building Community through Storytelling and the Performing Arts Stuart Kandell, Ph.D., is the founder/executive director of Stagebridge, the nation’s oldest senior theatre company, celebrating its 31st season. Stagebridge runs a Performing Arts Training Institute for older adults; a Storybridge Program that brings elders into elementary schools to share stories; an outreach program that sends older performers to perform and teach workshops throughout the senior community; and a Healthy Aging Program that trains healthcare workers to be more sensitive to older adults and the TimeSlips Program that uses creative storytelling with people with dementia. Kandell is widely known for his work. He is a popular workshop leader/speaker at many national conferences. He is a founding board member of the National Center for Creative Aging.
“I’ve never sung before in my life and now I’m singing.” –E.N., age 90 “Those who didn’t know they could, collaborate with energy they didn't know they had.” Marcia Perlstein M.S.W. L.M.F.T. As a result of this session participants will gain insights into their own creativity and the health benefits that result when words are put to music. Current research, best practices, and reciprocity in the caregiver-older adult relationship will be addressed. Trainees will experience an evidence-based approach and explore applications to their caregiver's role(s) and facility's programs. No prior music background is needed. Trainings are customized for attending professionals and elders. Focus can include: Serving older adults in community; Serving elders in care settings; Using Psalms as a basis for songwriting with elders. http://songwritingworks.org/programs/training.htm
Assessing the Creative Expression Abilities of People with Dementia This workshop will focus on The Creative-expressive Abilities Assessment (CEAA) tool that was recently developed by a team from Canada and Australia to assess the creative expression abilities of people with mild to severe dementia. The tool can benefit caregivers in selecting appropriate programs that fit their clients' needs. In the morning session we discuss the practical and theoretical considerations that led to the development of the tool, while the afternoon session covers hands-on training. The tool is used while seniors participate in creative expression activities, where they use their remaining abilities to tap into their past life histories and express their feelings creatively through drawing, writing poems, storytelling, music, dance and reminiscing. The workshop addresses the urgent need to assess people with dementia as their medical condition progresses, in an effort to understand them better. The workshop is ideal for creative expression facilitators, researchers, administrators of care facilities, caregivers and family members. For details, see www.dementia-activities.com Dalia Gottlieb-Tanaka is an adjunct professor at the Centre for Population Health Research at the University of British Columbia, with a PhD from the Interdisciplinary Studies Program at UBC in the Institute of Health Promotion Research. She has extensive arts and architecture training from the Bezalel Academy of Arts & Design in Jerusalem, and UBC, where she earned a Master's degree in Architecture. Dalia focuses on creativity, dementia and the therapeutic environment in assessing creative expression abilities, designing and implementing activity programs and environments that meet the cognitive and physical needs of seniors with dementia. As the founder and Chair of The Society for the Arts in Dementia Care, she is the moving force behind the establishment of affiliates in Australia and in Israel. The Society sponsors annual conferences and workshops on creative expression, communication and dementia (CECD). For more information log on to www.cecd-society.org
Memory Action Program (MAP)
A general overview of memory training research (what works with seniors and why) will be followed by a 1-hour demonstration of a MAP (memory training) class. The afternoon session will focus on techniques and strategies that are effective in memory training programs. In addition, we will discuss how to implement a Memory Action Program in your community, based on the highly successful Everyday Memory Clinic, which was designed to boost everyday memory performance as well as to enhance memory self-confidence. That program has been shown to provide lasting improvements in confidence and memory performance. Participants will learn about the key elements of any successful memory training program and how to implement training in their own communities. Susan Perlstein, MSW, Executive Director, Elders Share the Arts, Brooklyn, New York, Creative Engagement for the Heart and Mind Creative strategies can improve quality of life at any age and any level of physical, emotional or cognitive functioning. This full day of hands-on workshops will explore ways in which art forms can be used to reframe and integrate elders' experiences and enhance cognitive functioning. As a result, participants will experience a sense of identity and belonging--and a deeper appreciation for both the individual and collective experience. The program will include experiential exercises that tie phases of the creative process to actual practice including sense memory learning, visualization, interviewing, story sharing, writing and visual arts. Specific skills will be taught and adapted for well and frail elders, and for intergenerational groups.
Stimulate Minds and Enhance Memory with Creative Experiences in Mental Fitness Understanding ways to develop cognitive fitness is important for both professionals and older adults. The morning session of this workshop combines professionals with a demonstration group of older adults. Participation in interactive exercise stimulates both sides of the brain and six different forms of intelligences. This variety of learning experiences promotes creativity and memory while demonstrating that learning can be fun. The afternoon session for professionals ties research-based theory to practice. Techniques are described for developing successful learning experiences for individuals and groups to enhance cognitive fitness. The experiential design encourages creativity in developing applications for a wide variety of settings. Ruth Flexman, with a background in education and social services, is Program Coordinator for University of Delaware’s Academy of Lifelong Learning that offers 220 courses taught by volunteer instructors to 2100 older adults.
Dr. James Birren designed the Autobiographical Studies Program to meet the needs of middle aged and older persons. At the heart of the program is Guided Autobiography, a course designed to help individuals organize their life stories. Guided by a trained instructor, participants are led through life themes and priming questions that evoke memories of the past. By participating in Guided Autobiography and writing their stories, older adults review where they have been in life, where they are, and where they would like to be. This process develops interest in trying new activities and encourages the emergence of late-life bloomers. Participants, by becoming aware of the life they have lived, develop more confidence and optimism to face the years ahead and are better equipped to use the gift of a long life in productive ways. Cheryl Svensson, Ph.D. has trained and presented with Dr. Birren for the past several years. More information is available at the website: www.guidedautobiography.com. Developing Cognitive Fitness through Civic Engagement and Volunteerism
Expanding Counseling Techniques to Best Support the Physical and Cognitive Challenges of Older Adults The Senior Peer Counseling program at WISE & Healthy Aging (formerly Center for Healthy Aging) serves as a model for programs both nationally and internationally. In this highly successful and effective program, older adults are trained to provide individual counseling to their peers and also to lead groups dealing with a variety of stage-of-life changes and issues. As a volunteer-based program, peer counseling is very cost-effective and can be adapted to meet the needs of the older adults in any community and in any setting. In this workshop, we will present:
The workshop will include both didactic information and experiential exercises.
Darby Morhardt, MSW, LCSW, Northwestern University’s Alzheimer’s Disease Center, Chicago, Illinois The Buddy Program™: Teaming Students with Persons with Early Stage Alzheimer’s Disease to promote Cognitive Vitality The Buddy Program™ began in 1997 at Northwestern University's Alzheimer's Disease (AD) Center, one of twenty-nine National Institute on Aging funded centers in the U.S. devoted to scientific and clinical research and education in Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders. In 2004, the program was expanded to scientists in Alzheimer's disease research and it can easily be adapted for other healthcare providers in training such as social workers, nurses and others. The Buddy Program™ matches heath care provider students with individuals diagnosed with early Alzheimer's disease or related dementias. This unique program gives students and persons with dementia the opportunity to get to know each other on a personal rather than a clinical level. The program addresses two aspects of care: The gap between the provision of services and meeting the diagnosed individual's intellectual and social needs. The Buddy Program™ helps fill this gap by offering people in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease opportunities to maintain their usual or preferred level of activity in ways that are particularly suited to their own individual capacity. It allows the diagnosed individual a chance to mentor, teach and share their experience with a young student who will some day be a care provider. There is a tendency cited in the literature that healthcare professionals and physicians in particular, have a negative attitude toward older patients and a lack of awareness regarding early diagnosis of dementia. The Buddy Program™ provides participating students with increased knowledge about AD, positive experiences with older persons and sensitivity to the unique realities faced by persons with dementia and their caregiving families. This MindAlert session will provide an overview of the training curriculum developed for schools, universities, or community service agencies as a guide to putting The Buddy Program™ into practice. The curriculum includes step-by-step instructions on how to implement the program including recruitment and orientation procedures, the art of "buddy" matching, developing communication skills, pre-post testing of students, ongoing program monitoring and short and long-term program evaluation. Vicki Rosebrook, PhD, Executive Director, Macklin Intergenerational Institute A Holistic Approach to Long Term Care A holistic approach to care - SPECS (Social, Physical, Emotional, Cognitive, and Spiritual) enables institutionalized elders to interact in ongoing spontaneous activities with children. Within an age-enriched environment and through familial activities (i.e. cooking, folding clothes, and reading), elders become more physically active. This activity encourages emotional and spiritual enrichment because the elders once again feel needed, useful, and connected. As senior adults experience the vitality and energy of the youngsters, the elders are empowered to enhance their mental fitness. Within this dynamic, age-integrated social loop where seniors help socialize children, elders are reciprocally resocialized through human connection.
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Copyright © 2010 American Society on Aging; all rights reserved. 71 Stevenson St., Suite 1450, San Francisco, CA 94105-2938 |
Stuart Kandell, Executive Director, Stagebridge, Oakland, CA
Judith-Kate Friedman, Executive Director, Songwriting Works™, Port Townsend, WA
Dalia Gottlieb-Tanaka, PhD, Chair of the Society for the Arts in Dementia Care, Vancouver, British Columbia
Robin Lea West, Ph.D., Professor and Director, 
Ruth Flexman, PhD, Academy of Lifelong Learning, University of Delaware
Cheryl Svensson, Los Angeles, California
Sheila Segal, MFT, Peer Counseling Program Director, and 
