Pathways
to improving health
Integrating Mental, Emotional and Spiritual Health — Completed
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
8:30 AM to 4:40 PM
The program will address a variety of emotional and spiritual issues that older adults face including self worth, reconciliation and forgiveness, hope, and coming to terms with suffering and despair and how professionals must deal with these issues in their work with older adults. From a holistic perspective on healthcare mind, body, and spirit are interconnected and interact in a dynamic way in the "whole person". Spirituality, beliefs and religious practices of clients/patients have a profound effect on their experiences with illness, grieving, life transition, their preferred modes of treatment and coming to terms with dying. Presenters will discuss the link between spirituality and healing, the importance of talking with clients about their sources of meaning, awe, purpose and the vital relationships in their lives; and the many dimensions of spirituality as related to the physical, emotional and mental health of the older adult.
Participants will be able to:
- Explain the dynamic interconnectedness of the mind, body and spirit.
- Discuss emotional and spiritual issues that older adults face.
- Recognize the role of the spirit in health and the recovery from illness.
Morning Plenary Session 8:30 AM to Noon
Moderator
Patrick Arbore, EdD, Director, Center for Elderly Suicide Prevention and Grief-Related Services, Institute on Aging
Panelists
Bruce L. Miller, Jr. (B.J.), MD, Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine, Division of Hospital Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco
Putting It All Together: Trying to Stay Whole in a Fractured System
The presentation will address the state of super-specialization in contemporary medicine; share a basic update on geriatrics and palliative care and spirituality from the literature; and provide an admonishment for healthcare providers and patients alike to be sure to return the notion of wellness to the whole. That is, as the healthcare system will fragment any individual's care, and all the goodness that may come from deep, focused, specialized approach will only manifest if we bother to take the final step and re-synthesize the information into a united whole. Any prescription should be part of an effort to help a person feel well and protect his/her integrity. A discussion of spirituality as a (re)connecting and unifying force, to this very end.
Rabbi Elliot Kukla, Rabbi, Bay Area
Jewish Healing Center
Spirituality of Aging
Aging naturally stimulates spirituality and tending to the spirituality of elders is an important part of a holistic approach to aging. Think of someone who is going to die soon or is beginning to experience cognitive loss. They might have good medical care and the best psychological and social support, and yet there still will likely be a voice within them that says "why me?", "what does this mean in a larger picture?", "thank you" or "forgive me." Engaging this voice can promote healing. Healing is not the same thing as cure, but it is a journey towards wholeness and living more fully. In this presentation we will discuss the spirituality of aging, specific spiritual issues that come up for those living with dementia and how to tend to our own aging process as providers as we care for others.
Beth MacLeod, LCSW, Director of Clinical Supervision, Senior Division, Family Service Agency of San Francisco, and Private Practice - Psychotherapy and Consultation
Caregivers: Are You Ready to Receive?
What does it mean to clients, family members, and, health and social service professionals, not only to offer care, but to receive care? Beth MacLeod proposes a new paradigm and speaks to the mental, emotional and developmental tasks involved in preparing to receive care.
Nader Shabahangi, PhD, President & CEO, AgeSong Senior Communities
The Intersection Between Spirituality and Mental Health: The Latest Scientific Research
It has not been much more than a decade that mental health practitioners and researchers have become open to understanding the intersection between mental health and spirituality. During this time, however, increasingly research shows that this link goes beyond intuition and is based on scientific research. What are the implications of such evidence for actual clinical practice and how we conceptualize distress and suffering? These are the questions being explored with an outline of the wide-ranging consequences such a shift in thinking will have on the theory and practice of mental health.
Afternoon Workshops 12:45 to 2:15 PM
1A. Cultural Humility, Compassion, and Healing
Marita Grudzen, MHS, Deputy Director, Stanford Geriatric Education Center
Silvia Austerlic, MA, Grief Support Specialist and Cultural Liaison, Hospice of Santa Cruz
How can aging providers provide high quality end-of-life education and care amidst their increasing diverse patient population? The facilitators of this workshop will present a multicultural framework grounded in mindfulness and cultural humility that will provide answers to these questions. Diverse approaches to healing that increase provider and patient/family connection and satisfaction will be presented. Case studies and group participation will be included.
Participants will be able to:
- Understand the practice of cultural humility in working with diverse patients.
- Increase their knowledge of culturally diverse approaches to healing.
- Identify and practice compassionate interventions that foster a healing environment for diverse patients and families.
2A. Receiving Care: A New Paradigm, A Developmental Task
Beth MacLeod, LCSW, Director of Clinical Supervision, Senior Division, Family Service Agency of San Francisco, and Private Practice - Psychotherapy and Consultation
The past two decades have brought about a wave of expertise in the area of care-giving; a body of literature, research, and support services now addresses this issue. However, as a clinical social worker specializing in work with older adults and their caregivers in many settings, Beth MacLeod witnessed repeatedly that caregivers' best intentions were met with a lack of preparedness to accept care. In this interactive workshop, MacLeod proposes a new paradigm and developmental model for aging in an era of longevity.
Participants will consider:
- How your life narrative prepares you or leaves you ill-prepared to receive care.
- How "culture" at many levels presents opportunities and obstacles to receiving care.
- A new developmental model for aging with preparedness to receive care.
3A. The Ambiguity of Suffering
Nader Shabahangi, PhD, President & CEO, AgeSong Senior Communities
If we take the incorporation of a spiritual stance towards mental health seriously, then we need to look at illness, symptoms and the very nature of suffering quite differently from the way we have been taught in academia and in much of our professional circles and literature. For suffering understood from a more comprehensive body, mind, spirit perspective is not some random or accidental occurrence but rather based on a meaningful push towards a person's becoming and individuation. This attitude presents a radical break from the bio-medical approach towards cure and healing and opens the doors to a much richer and complete understanding of human beings and the world in which they live.
Participants will be able to:
- Learn about the different ways to differentiate a person's suffering.
- Develop skills in communicating and working with clients that help unfold the meaning of their suffering.
- Discover ways to unfold the potential meaning a particular symptom might have for the client.
Afternoon Workshops 2:30 to 4:00 PM
1B. The Spirituality of Mental and Emotional Health
Rabbi Elliot Kukla, Rabbi, Bay Area Jewish
Healing Center
Mental health challenges as we age raise specifically spiritual issues. Studies show that more than half of people suffering from a mental health crisis turn to their faith tradition for help first. In this session we will explore how to engage the spirituality of our clients in order to empower them to be allies in their own mental health; spiritual and religious resources for thinking about mental health including ancient and modern sacred texts and prayers; our own spirituality as providers who are also aging alongside our clients.
Participants will be able to:
- Learn how to identify spiritual needs associated with mental health challenges in aging.
- Draw on spiritual and religious resources from their clients own traditions to support their mental health.
- Understand how their own spirituality and mental health are interconnected to their clients'.
2B. Compassion and Suffering: Taking Care of Our Clients and Ourselves
Patrick Arbore, EdD, Director, Center for Elderly Suicide Prevention and Grief-Related Services, Institute on Aging
The suffering older person often becomes alienated from friends and family as their responsibility for caring is usurped by medical managers. They feel guilty for the problems they think they create for family caregivers and professional caregivers. Many professional caregivers are taught to maintain "professional distance" resulting in feelings of isolation in the suffering person. This session will help professional caregivers find alternative ways in which to manage their countertansference other than retaining neutrality and objectivity. Discovering skillful and compassionate ways to maintain closeness with those who suffer will be explored.
Participants will be able to:
- Recognize the difference between pain and suffering.
- Learn skills to assess when suffering has become intolerable and results in suicidal ideation.
- Describe their countertransference.
- Discover compassionate ways in which to communicate more effectively with the suffering older person.
3B. Lifestories: Do We Care to Listen?
Margriet DeLange, MA, CPG,
Founder, StoriesUnfolding
The power of the spiritual discipline of listening pulls us into a drama that is bigger than ourselves as it opens up avenues to healing. This session has at its core a lived experience where the presenter observed the transformative power of listening to life stories while caring for a friend. We all have life stories--in fact, we all are stories-and we yearn for our stories to be known. Listening promotes the discovery and disclosure of life stories and as such creates a deep sense of connectedness. This connectedness can stimulate compassion for others and oneself. Telling your story and listening to the stories of others are actions that lead to healing for both teller and listener. This then is the deep meaning of care. Please come and join us, if you care.
Participants will be able to:
- Understand what it means to care and reflect on its personal application.
- Understand the promising practice of listening and identify ways to personalize this spiritual discipline.
- Describe the importance and healing power of sharing life stories.
4:10 to 4:40 PM Closing Session
Facilitator
Patrick Arbore, EdD, Director, Center
for Elderly Suicide Prevention and Grief-Related Services, Institute on
Aging
Mind, Body, Spirit: Pathways to Improving Health
