“Sometimes, I don’t know how to speak to my elder clients, even when I know the facts of their situation and what to say. There are times when I cannot comfort them in their losses, or their pain, or their intense sorrow.”
This scenario may be all too common for us at any stage of our career. Individuals and their families who are forced to confront seriously diminished “Quality of life” and even their own mortality, again and again, in a real and painful manner, can pull us “off balance”. Clients and families struck with such immensity of emotions can facilitate these “off balance” phenomena. We know that repetitive experiences of being pulled “off balance” have serious negative influences on how we care for them and for ourselves. However, givers of care at all levels, who consciously utilize a reflective learning perspective in these highly charged, painful, and deeply emotional encounters may be able to reduce the “off balance” occurrences.
A heightened awareness of our professional self (our inner world), and of our clients and families (our outer world), is necessary in the profound decision to deeply appreciate the troubled journey of many elders and even ourselves through important and difficult conversations, and making choices of how we will practice our practice. The model of choice begins with an experience of interaction and care, moves to reflection-on-action, and then to integration, and finally, to personal ownership of the intended outcome: enhanced professional self-awareness.
This is a call for a commitment to reflective training that we can participate in to create a more balanced, more effective, and mindful practice. Come join us for this session on reflective learning: theory, self-awareness, skill building, practicing the practice, and creating mentors and guides for others to follow.
Learning Objectives:
1. Share the theory, philosophy, and technology of reflective learning.
2. Identify “off balance” phenomena and negative effects of such repetitive experiences on professional growth and development and best care of others.
3. Present various scenarios of “off balance” experiences with audience participation.
4. Assess the difficulties in emotionally difficult and challenging conversations with people of age.
5. Discuss the important skills to creating an experiential bridge between elder clients and younger givers of care that demonstrate compassion, empathy, and understanding between them.
6. Illuminate various components of “mindfulness” in care of our elders and all clients.
7. Clarify the on-going life processes for elders of their experiences, their loses, their grieving, and finally to their personal transformation.
Alan S. Wolkenstein, MSW, LCSW
Clinical Professor of Family Medicine (Ret.)
University of Wiasconsin School of Medicine and Public Health
Senior Educator and Consultant: Wolkenstein and Associates, LLC
Reference: Wolkenstein, Alan S. and Wolkenstein, M. Evan. “Using Reflective Learning in Medical Education and Practice.” Medical Encounter. Fall 2009:23(3) 97-102.
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