There are challenges
and struggles so many of our gentle elderly face in adapting to a world that
appears to them harsh, unpredictable, and unforgiving. With over 65% of them
having to cope with three or more chronic illnesses, the task of understanding,
planning for, and providing multiple levels of care for them and their families
is a formidable task. But it is a challenge that must be met for our society is
measured by the ways we provide that care.
Suggested Topics for
Consideration
The Last Stage of the Family Life Cycle: Yes, There are Yet
Skills to Practice and Important Tasks to Complete.
Quality of Life Amongst the Elderly: New Ways of Helping
Elders Self-Assess Their Quality of Life.
Review of “The Quality of Life Index” by A.S. Wolkenstein
and M.E.Wolkenstein: Discussing Whether Enhancing Clients ADL’s Affects their
Quality of Life.
The “Sandwich Generation”: Supporting Important
Conversations between Increasingly Independent Adult-Children and their
Increasingly Dependent-Parent(s).
Professional Objectivity in Care of Clients and Patients:
Distortions in the Understanding of Objectivity Can Lead to Increased Stimulus
Overload (Burnout) and Professional Impairment.
The Journey of Elders: Understanding the Experiences/Losses/Grieving-Lamentations/Transformation
of our Elderly.
Seeking a Life of Meaning, Purpose and Intention until One’s
Last Breath: Helping Elderly and Chronically Ill Clients and Patients Choose
their “Pathway of Life” is based on the Teachings of Viktor Frankl.
Exploring Jungian Concepts to Facilitate Our Work with
Geriatric Populations.
Assessing Our Own Professional “C Zone” in Clinical and
Direct Service to Elder Clients and Patients.
Reducing “Blind Spots” in Our Work.
The Use of “Vision” to Prepare for Working with Clients Right
Now!
A Short Course in Clinical Ethics to provide Meaningful
Guidelines to Our Care of Others.
Is There Still a Place for the Bio-Psychosocial Model of
Care in Our Health Care Systems? Is It Just Too Late for it, or has it Outlived
its Usefulness?
How to Keep Your Work Family-Oriented and Ego-Centonic to
Your Personal and Professional Value System.
What do Elders Fear Most?
How Will We Be Comfortable With This Shared Information?
How to be “In the Moment” with Our Elder Clients and
Patients.
Consider for Just a Moment: What are You Thinking, Feeling,
and Experiencing Just before Seeing Your Client?
Spirituality in the Health Care of Our Elderly and Seriously
Ill: Working Successfully with the Spirituality of Your Geriatric Clients and
Patients and Honoring Your Own is Possible.
Exploring the Concept of “Empathy” in Health Care. Just What is it? Where Does it Come From? How
Do We Incorporate it in Our Holistic Care of Others? Can We Really Sustain it
over a Long Career?
The “World of the Elderly” is Gone. The “World” in which
their Values, Attitudes, and Beliefs were formulated is No Longer Accessible to
Them or Us. How do We Create the Necessary Experiential Bridges to their Best
Care by Younger and Less Experienced Professionals in Geriatrics Training,
Practice, and Research?
Teaching How to Deal with Our Clinical and Direct Service
“Off Balance” Responses to Geriatric Patients.
Exploring How to Reduce the Stress and Anxiety of Working in
Highly Emotional and Tense Situations with Elders.
When to be Silent: When to Simply Be and Be There…
A focus on reflection and reflective learning, enhanced self-awareness,
and professional insight have important contributions to make in how we can
best care for those entrusted to us. While not always appreciated in our
society these days, they are most relevant in teaching and supporting quality
technical skills, empathic caring, mindfulness, and compassion to others.
Alan S. Wolkenstein, MSW ,LCSW
Clinical Professor of Family Medicine (Ret.)
University of Wisconsin School of Medicine
and Public Health
Senior Educator: Wolkenstein and Associates,
LLC
Mequon, Wisconsin
262 243 5489
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