Older Caregivers Cafés’ Hot Topics and Cool Recaps
Hundreds of caregivers with a latte on their minds joined Caregiving Matters and the courteous staff of the Toronto Public Library for Older Caregivers Cafés, a three-day series of workshops. Thank you to Woodside Square Branch which hosted us on September 14; Leaside Branch, where we gathered on September 15; and the Toronto Reference Library which accommodated us for a full day on September 29, 2016.
Gaining an arsenal of caregiver survival tips and learning from the experiences of their peers, the audience members were active participants in the days’ programs, and had only good feedback to share about the Café presenters… but don’t run out of steam if you missed out on our Café series: we’ve saved some of the perks for you!
Coming soon, we will publish video highlights of these six crowd-pleasing workshops.
Eleanor Silverberg, BA Psych, MSW, RSW, hosted two presentations. In Caregiver Connection: Sharing – Listening – Learning From One Another, she spoke about the importance of connecting to others and making time for oneself. Much of her presentation looked at the issues of loneliness and isolation. Her video emphasizes the importance of staying socially engaged as a caregiver. In her second session, Care for the Caregivers: Relieving Tension – Finding Balance – Staying Socially Engaged, Eleanor discusses the importance of relieving tension as caregivers. This video will demonstrate calming strategies that can provide caregivers with more balance, relief, pleasure and social engagement.
Marlene George is a health and wellness expert. In her presentation, Taking Care of Self While Caring for Others: An Interactive Workshop to Benefit Caregivers, she drew from her nine principles for living a joyous life. The recap video includes valuable information, strategies and tools to help caregivers maintain their health while tending to the needs of others.
In his presentation, Frauds and Scams, Constable Jason Peddle, Vulnerable Persons Coordinator, Toronto Police Service, spoke about some of the current frauds and scams against older, often isolated people. He shared real life examples and statistics to help people be more prepared and able to deal with predators of their assets.
In her presentation, Music Support for Caregivers, musician Jill Kulchar s helped the audience understand that music can help caregivers restore, rejuvenate and relax themselves. She also demonstrated how music can also be used to help support care for others by aiding in speech, emotion, fine motor skills and communication. She played her cello and got everyone signing along and having a wonderful time. As Jill said: “Music is life and life is music.”
Mary Bart, Chair of Caregiving Matters, shared some of her tips and tricks of being a family caregiver in here presentation, Caregiver Survival Tips and Tricks. She covered topics such as embracing change and dealing with guilt. Mary also shared several of her caregiving stories, keeping the audience engaged and appreciative for her real life experiences as a family caregiver.
Don’t miss out on this great workshop series, free for all visitors to our site December 2016.
Hundreds of caregivers with a latte on their minds joined Caregiving Matters and the courteous staff of the Toronto Public Library for Older Caregivers Cafés, a three-day series of workshops. Thank you to Woodside Square Branch which hosted us on September 14; Leaside Branch, where we gathered on September 15; and the Toronto Reference Library which accommodated us for a full day on September 29, 2016.
