Working with the elderly with dementia?

Living Room
#1

Good day everyone,

I"m a recent PTI grad starting to deliver mindfulness in my local community (West Hartford, CT area). A colleague connected me with the activities director for a senior independent living center, and I’m planning to do an intro session for the residents. Wondering if any of you have experience with what works and doesn’t with this population that you would be willing to share?

Kind regards,

Kurt

#2

Ηi Kurt!

I have worked with people with dementia and their caregiver. You have to modify this program for them. One idea is to show them mindful breathing or different breathing exercises, some movements (simple ones) from yoga, (or yoga chair), love and kindness meditation, guided imagery. Whatever you do, use short times (for example 5 minutes breathing).
A good book that might be useful is “Minfulness-based Elder Care” by Lucia McBee

All the best
Olga

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#3

Excellent! Appreciate the guidance and I’ll get the book.

Thank you, Olga - hope all is well :-)

Warm regards,

Kurt

#4

Thank you so much Olga for the book. I’m Patrick from Paris - France, fresh qualified MBSR Instructor. I did the last PTI in San Francisco. I’ve the project to offer the MBSR program to the caregivers her in Paris and I’m very interested in any bibliography on this topic. I’ve checked on Amazon for this book, but it’s really expensive (about 100€). Is there any possibility to find it cheaper in the US ? Thanks for your help. Warm regards. Patrick

#5

Hi Patrick,

Just looked at Amazon - $60 US new and $37 US used (from $22.38 US from 3rd party sellers not including shipping).

Kurt

#6

Patrick hi!
I am so glad to hear that there are other people all over the world that
are interested in elder people and their caregivers. Unfortunately I live
in Greece not in US. So I had to order the book from Amazon as well.!!! I
don’t know if it is cheaper in US. Have you tried the Amazon UK? you might
find it a little bit cheaper.
Wish you success to your project! Warm regards. Olga

*Olga Papatriantafillou *Μ.Α., Coach

*Certified Coach from the International Coach Federation *
Accredited Wellness Coach
M.B.S.R (Mindfulness Stress Reduction) teacher- University of
Massachusetts
Accredited in Stress Management from British Stress Consultancy
OP Performance & Well-being

w: http://www.human-touch.gr/ www.oppw.gr http://www.oppw.gr/
e-mail: info@oppw.gr info@oppw.gr

  •        olga@oppw.gr <olga@oppw.gr>**m: 6944 441820*
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#7

HI Kurt
I specialize in advanced dementia care and although don’t teach mindfulness to patients, I have been teaching a Mindfulness Based Dementia Caregiving course for 2 years to families and professionals.
I may be able to share some tips.

My classes were based on the www.presencecareproject.com format.
There’s a great book written by the classes creator Marguerite Manteau-Rao. It’s called
**Caring for a Loved One with Dementia: A Mindfulness-Based Guide for Reducing Stress and Making the Best of Your Journey Together **

If you’d like, I’d be happy to discuss with you further. Perhaps we could Skype or Zoom?
Just let me know.
My email is drmaribeth@hov.org

With kindness,
Maribeth Gallagher
Hospice of the Valley
Phoenix, AZ

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#8

I want to thank Maribeth and one of her colleagues for their guidance an share what I learned form them and from my session with te rest of the community in case others have questions on working with this population: 1) due to its multi-sensory nature the raisin exercise is a big hit, especially if you offer seconds! 2) keep the awareness practices short as attention may be hard to sustain for them (I kept the AOB and body scan to 5-7 min) 3) realize that lack of interaction / talking is not a reflection on enagement - due to a number of conditions people may be taking a lot in and may not show it, and 4) acknowledge that people may not be feeling great about themselves and their bodies, and that kind of feeling is ok (s is not feeling sensations in the body scan or having aching or missing body parts) - did this before all the exercises and especially the lovingkindness practice and got a number of knowing nods, as well as people not being able to hear the raisin when holding by their ears and rubbing it. Also if you can use a microphone that helps; one wasn’t available for me so I had to speak loudly, being careful not to shout.

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