Dementia Caregiving: Expanding the Family Caregiver's Toolbox
We all know that providing care for a family member with dementia can be challenging, and a caregivers needs often fall to the bottom of the priority list. Join us to learn resources and skills to reduce caregiver stress and promote well-being!
Habilitation Therapy, Keynote Presentation
Paul Raia, the keynote speaker, will present his Habilitation Therapy approach to help you focus on your loved ones' remaining capacities rather than on what has been lost. The aim of “habilitation therapy” is not to restore people with a dementia to what they once were (i.e., rehabilitation), but to maximize their functional independence and morale. Paul will discuss the deceptively simple goal of habilitation therapy — to bring about a positive emotion and to maintain that emotional state over the course of the day — and how it can be achieved!
Music & Memory
Additional workshop sessions include the benefits of music and how it can be a key tool for coping for both the family caregiver and the care recipient. Learn more about putting together a playlist to help calm anxiety or engage a loved one that has become withdrawn.
The workshop is free and open to the public; registration is required. Registration will begin at 9:30 am. Due to limited space, please let us know if you have RSVPed, but are no longer able to attend. Lunch will be provided!
This workshop is presented by George Mason University, Virginia Center on Aging, Insight Memory Care Center, AARP Virginia, and the Fairfax County Area Agency on Aging.
Resources
"I like the people, the programs, the support, the knowledge I gained as caregiver. That my wife flourished (and was improving, I thought) while she participated."
