Musings of a Dance/Movement Therapist

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Dancing with ~ and without ~ dementia

Now that I think of it, dementia doesn't affect one's ability to dance, unless or until there are physical limitations. And even if one is affected physically, one can still express oneself, one's ideas, and rhythm through dance. I imagine that learning new dance combinations would become harder, but I wouldn't know, as I've never been good at that. My preferred form of dance is improvisation where there is nothing to remember and all movements are welcome.

Next Monday, Nov. 9, 2PM EST I will be leading a dance group for people living with dementia and their care partners virtually and for free for DAA (Dementia Action Alliance USA). You can register for my program and learn about other programs here. Sessions are 45 minutes and are interactive. The group I ran last time was great fun, and I got lots of suggestions for music that I will be using in the next group. 

Today (November 5) is the last day to register at the reduced rate for the Nov. 12 - 16 class Bringing Dance to Older Adults and People with Dementia that I will be teaching for the 92nd Street Y. The class is online, so here is your chance to study with me on a topic I am passionate about. The class will be interactive. 

This graduate level introduces the theory and practice of dance and dance/movement therapy as it relates to people living with a dementia.

The course utilizes creative movement and DMT methods to teach participants to create a psychologically safe and supportive social emotional environment where people with dementia can actively engage, inspire and uplift one another. Issues will include aging, dementia and dementia care, the use of self, the role of mirroring, kinesthetic empathy, group dynamics, cultural aspects of care, and the essential elements for creating and adapting dance and expressive movement structures for this population using music and props. We will touch upon elements of practice via video conference and in-person with physical distancing. The methodology will include movement experiences in support of understanding attunement through mirroring and sensitive leadership, movement observation of video footage, as well as journaling and discussions. Break-out rooms will aid in our learning.

You do not have to be a graduate student, or even a college graduate to attend this course. You do need to bring a love of dance and a desire to make lives better for people living with a dementia.

We can dance and learn together online, as I've discovered from the improvisational dance classes that I take with Joan Green, Dancing Outside the Lines. "What my dance teachers didn't understand is that it was not the body that makes a dancer, it was the dancer's soul."

I hope you'll join me at the DAA USA dance group on Nov. 9 and/or at the 92nd St. Y virtual platform, 10-1 EST from Nov. 12-16.

 

Dancing with Dementia

An excerpt of a virtual dance group for JF&CS Boston, August 2020

I am excited to share that I am now co-chair of the Arts Work Group of the Dementia Action Alliance US. I am working on a group FB page that I hope will be out shortly. In the interim, I'd like to share the virtual groups DAA is hosting in a pilot program for people with dementia who are living at home and separate programs for people living in an A.L. or LTC. Programs are free, but one needs to register to get the zoom info.

Visit: https://daanow.org/online_engagements/ to sign up and view a calendar of interactive and fun programs on Zoom. There is no charge to participate, but registration is required! #dementiaonline, #daastrong #dementiaengagement .

 

My first group for DAA is tomorrow, Monday, Oct 26 2 pm EST for folks who are at home and who are able to use zoom, with or without assistance. Here's the description:

 

Come prepared to move, whether in your seat or on your feet, to irresistible toe-tapping music from the Big Bands, the 1950's, 60's, Broadway, the Caribbean, and disco. 

 

My groups are basically for people who have access to a computer/ tablet screen because of the interactive nature of my groups. I am not teaching dance; I am providing music and and a sense of fun, dancing with people and this zoom technology allows me to see people on screen I invite your participation so that together we can lift one another up.

BRINGING DANCE TO OLDER ADULTS AND PEOPLE WITH DEMENTIA via Zoom and 92Y

 

92Y HARKNESS DANCE CENTER   Presents

Dance Therapy Alternate Route Course ONLINE -15 hours

BRINGING DANCE TO OLDER ADULTS AND PEOPLE WITH DEMENTIA

5 days: Thursday Nov.12 thru Monday Nov. 16. 10am to 1pm daily

Taught by Donna Newman-Bluestein, MEd, BC-DMT, CMA, LMHC 

This graduate level course introduces the theory and practice of dance and dance/movement therapy as it relates to people living with dementia, and will utilize creative movement and DMT methods to teach participants to create a psychologically safe and supportive social and emotional environment where people with dementia can actively engage, inspire and uplift one another. Issues will include aging, dementia and dementia care, the use of self, the role of mirroring, kinesthetic empathy, group dynamics, cultural aspects of care, and the essential elements for creating and adapting dance and expressive movement structures for this population using music and props. 

The methodology will include movement experiences in support of understanding attunement through mirroring and sensitive leadership, movement observation of video footage, as well as journaling and discussions. Break-out rooms will aid in our learning. We will discuss elements of practice that involve both video conference and in-person with social distancing.

FEE:   $250 until Nov. 5^th ,  $300 after

To REGISTER:  https://www.92y.org/class/bringing-dance-to-older-adults

Students will receive the ZOOM invitation when registered.

For further information contact: tedance@live.com

Please register early as there is a limit on the number of students.

Upon completion of course you will receive 15 hours of Alternate Route credit towards the R-DMT. In addition, 15 hours of CE’s from ADTA   available.

Let's Keep Moving, Despite Isolation

After an extended bout of pneumonia which resulted in atrophy and debilitating back pain, I know how important it is that we move, whether in isolation or not. I am going to post links to my favorite videos to get me moving, and I invite you to share yours here as well. Here's my first one, thanks to Lynn Modell last year. 7 minutes of Qi Gong

Also - what we need is physical distancing, not social distancing. We actually NEED each other, so make sure to stay connected to your peeps via social media, since we have it.

The Sixth Sense: The Kinesthetic Sense

I originally wrote this article in 1994. Some of it is outdated, but it is still very relevant.

The kinesthetic sense may well be called the forgotten sense. Ask most anyone how many senses we have, they'll tell you five. What are they? Sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. These five senses tell us about the world outside ourselves, the external world. We have many more senses than these: a sense of rhythm, a sense of timing, the kinesthetic sense. However, these are senses that inform us of our internal worlds. In our society, we have placed more value on information received from the external world than from the internal one. 

What is the kinesthetic sense? The kinesthetic sense is our internal muscle sense (also called the proprioceptive sense). Close your eyes and lift your right arm. Hold it there with your eyes still closed. How do you know if your arm is lifted? It is your kinesthetic sense which tells you.

When we pay attention to our bodies' messages (these I now know to be the interoceptive sense), we will know when we are hungry, when we have to eliminate, when we're tired, when we're in pain. Often we ignore these messages, because we would rather play, or we have more important things to do, like go to meetings. Our bodies also inform us of our emotions. We may cry when we are sad, or we may clench our jaws, hold our breath, and push the sadness down.

Each person, as part of their perspective, is more grounded in one or another of the senses. Some of us are more tuned into sounds or our visual environments, some are more sensitive to smells. And some are more rooted in the kinesthetic sense. We all have our preferences as to senses, but to be truly balanced, and to have more options available, we all need some exposure to all of the senses.

In our society, the kinesthetic sense has been sadly ignored. Our bodies have long been a source of shame. We are taught at a very young age to stop moving, sit still, listen to others, and to learn. For those of us  more strongly anchored in the kinesthetic sense, we are handicapped by not using our natural strengths. Additionally, we all learn from this that truth is an external reality. We learn not to value what we learn from our own senses, but rather what others tell us. And gradually our self-esteem is eroded.

I propose that the kinesthetic sense is vital to our learning. At this point in history, when it is crucial that we learn how to keep peace with one another and that we learn to take better care of our planet, that we begin by taking better care of our first homes, our bodies. I propose that we begin teaching young children health from the inside, by using our own bodies and experiences as laboratories. I propose that we make self-esteem our core curriculum.

In the past 130 years since the industrial revolution, we have all become specialists. Our lives are segmentalized. Schools are places for the nurturing of minds, and maybe our bodies a little bit. For young children, feelings may be nurtured as well. Our spirits have been excluded from public education, due to separation of church and state. Can we have spirit without church?

I feel the way to heal our world is to make wholeness a national priority. That means valuing all of our parts. Valuing that about us which is the same, and that which is different: colors, languages, religions, sexual preferences, morality. I know of no other way more beneficial to the process of exploring and containing differences than through the arts. From the arts we can learn the many relationships which opposites can have. Differences needn't be polarized. They can be in harmony or in discord. They can be in synchrony or not. Without the negative space in art, there is chaos. Without stillness, there is no music. In art, our sense of aesthetics can be satisfied by our exploration of polarities. And we can take that learning into our understanding of the world. 

I propose that the arts are core curriculum, that there is nothing we are teaching that is more important than respect for self and others, same and different. I was taught that history was important, so that we could learn from past mistakes. So far, we have not learned from studying past wars how to live in harmony. Perhaps, we could study the music, the dance, the art, the poetry, the drama of all the peoples of the world to learn to live with each other, instead of against each other.

Energized by the Light in the Eyes of Each Person with Dementia

Energized by the light in the eyes of each person with dementia. That is how I feel when I lead dance, expressive movement groups for frail elders and people with dementia.

DMT group at Avita of Newburyport

That's what those of us who love dancing with people with dementia get from it. We are energized, enlivened. We and the people we work with experience joy and connection, as do the people, staff and family who see us. 

This is the story I'd like to tell for World Alzheimer's Month this September, World Alzheimer's Day 2019 and National Dance Day 2019, both of which were yesterday. This is the message I hope that people will hear.

The primary stories in the media have been "the lights are on, but nobody's home" and are often about "the long slow death". Words matter. Stories matter. People's lives matter. Indeed, there is suffering that happens as people lose their cognitive abilities, their memory. But that's not the whole story. There is also the possibility, and even likelihood, of joy and connection. Just bring in someone with expertise to dance and connect through the body. 

How can we, as people who like to dance and be in our bodies, matter in the lives of people living with a dementia?

This question guides the framework for the training I will lead on Saturday and Sunday, November 1 and 2, 2019. The workshop is experiential and interactive, modeling the environment we bring to the residents of Bridges by Epoch in in Westwood, MA twice during the weekend.

Download Bring Dance flyer Nov. 2019

 

With curiosity, a nonjudgemental attitude, a deep respect for our individual differences, for our rich and varied life experiences, and with appreciation for the importance that we feel a sense of belonging, we will create a community together. It is the connection to community and a larger whole that we want to bring to bring to people with dementia. Moving from fragmentation into wholeness.

What we do is important. However, it is not more important than how we do what we do.

That's where the dance comes in. Dance is about how. It's about how we move our bodies to express ourselves, about how close or far, how strong or light.

2017 training in China

2019 Training @ 92Y

Dance happens in the moment. It's ephemeral. It can be spontaneous, no memory needed. Or the memory may be deeply embedded deep in muscle memory and simply emerge. The moment the dance is over, it's over. 

Dance adds embodiment, playfulness, and unlimited choices in how we can move. It turns out that choices are fundamental to our health and well-being. And you'd be surprised, that includes people who you think barely move. When we notice and appreciate the small movements, magic happens. 

The upcoming training provides theory, real life examples, practicalities, a protocol for an easily adaptable dance group, the rationale, language, resources, and time for integration. Some lecture and powerpoint included. A taste, as it were, of the complexity that goes into creating a joyous dance group for people with dementia.

If you enjoy dancing and are working, or would like to work, with frail older adults and people with significant dementia, are a dance teacher, dance/ movement/ music/ expressive therapist, family or staff caregiver, activity therapist, psychotherapist, or may want to volunteer to assist and want to bolster your skills, this training is for you. No degree, formal dance training, or previous experience is necessary; only the willingness to dance, play, learn, and grow. Some floor work is likely, although everything we do, of necessity, is adaptable to who we are, and who the folks we will dance with are.

At the risk of sounding like a phony Oriental rug going-out-of-business sale:

Please Note: This is likely to be the last training that I offer in the Boston area. To prioritize my skill set, I am unlikely to organize this training in the future. So if you think you'd like to take this training with me, NOW IS THE TIME.

Training: Bringing Dance to People with Dementia

Saturday, November 2, 2019, 9:00 AM - 5:30 PM

Sunday, November 3, 2019, 9:00 AM - 5:30 PM

Taught by a dance/movement therapist with over 40 years of experience.

Learn the skills to engage, inspire, and uplift frail older adults and people with dementia through dance and expressive movement.

Workshop topics include: aspects of dementia relevant to bringing dance, elements of dance, group leadership, theory, rationale, and practice, observing and participating in 2 groups with people with dementia.

Approved for 15 Category 1 CEUs Massachusetts for LMHCs. This course qualifies for ADTA Alternate Route approval., one credit or 15 CEUs.

9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. each day • 15 contact hours

Location: Bridges by EPOCH, 140 University Ave, Westwood, MA

Cost:

Register by October 2: $195

Register after October 2: $225

Light complimentary lunch and snacks provided.

Register here.

A few testimonials from past trainees, volunteers, and staff who have witnessed groups:

• What a beautiful thought provoking - heart sustaining - soulful workshop… Such a pleasure meeting you and all of our participants. Sandra Martire, trainee
• With newly added knowledge and components to the groups, I have observed some remarkable improvements, including increased engagement, larger range of movement, increased participation and staff cooperation. Crystal Peña, trainee
• One of the things that was remarkable to me was seeing people transform before my eyes when we started moving--very beautiful. Joan Ruffels, trainee
• Thank you for yesterday. It was amazing and the residents were in good spirits for the rest of the day. Kelly MacKay, staff
• Thank you so much for the wonderful program at the Newton Senior Center. We all loved it. Excellent Job. Yael Beniamini, participant observer

An article in Alzheimer's Today put out by the Alzheimer's Foundation of America just out highlights the importance of opening up communication through dance for people with dementia. Photos and comments by dance/movement therapist Jackie Gatto who works for the AFA as well as some quotations from yours truly.

It was in my capacity as a dance/movement therapist working with people with dementia 17 years ago that I first created the Octaband®. My image was that every person present would feel not only a sense of belonging, but also the esteem that comes from being part of community, fostering empowerment, and each person's contributions. The Octaband® has done that and more to change the experience and narrative about people with dementia.

Photo credit:

Priscilla Harmel

Need additional reasons for coming to study with me? Watch my ADTA talk about why dance and embodied caregiving are important for people with significant dementia. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYF9_zKDrc8&t=216s

With colleague dance/movement therapist Meg Chang, I developed a manual, The Dance of Interaction: An embodied approach to Nonverbal Communication Training for Caregivers of People with Dementia.

I'd love to see you at the upcoming training to join the wonderful cohort that is evolving.

An Octopus Dance with the Octaband to Celebrate the End of National Cephalopod Week

One more octopus dance for young children with the Octaband® to offer to celebrate octopuses on this National Cephalopod Week.

Francesca Nicassio​ of psicomusic.it in Italy has the children draw their favorite music/movement activity for the day.

This child's favorite was "“Dance with Mimma the jellyfish”. (that's what they call the Octaband®.)

Dr. Theresa Purcell Cone, Associate Professor at Rowan University, NJ was gracious enough to provide me with the following plan:

 

Sleep  - Octopus is still in a low shape.

 

Wake Up - Octopus begins to slowly move.  This can be slow shaking or stretching. Then the Octopus slowly rises up from the ocean floor.

 

Swim - Octopus swims as it travels around the space.  You can designate one student to be a leader and determine the direction.  The Octopus can be moving up and down as it travels to show the movement of the tentacles.

 

Eat - the Octopus stops and finds something to eat. I used a stuffed crab toy, or any other item to represent something the Octopus would eat. The Octopus can move up and down over the food item to demonstrate eating. 

 

Sleep - The Octopus travels back to the starting place in the space and slowly lowers to the floor to return to sleep.

 

Dr. Cone also added signs and pictures to support the sequence and brought in a stuffed octopus toy and any other items to make the concept more concrete for young children.

 

You can also purchase Ollie the Octopus as support for your Octaband®/octopus dance.

 

 

 

Ollie the Octopus Offers a Way to Celebrate National Cephalopod Week

Did you know that it is National Cephalopod week? Apparently, it is June 21 to 29th, or thereabouts. 

Octopuses are my favorite cephalopod. Ollie the Octopus is a story I wrote, illustrated by Bethany Beers-Mullen. Ollie can be used as a simple story in its own right, or can be used with the Octaband® to create a group dance for children.

I created the Octaband® as a way to get people with advanced dementia who were no longer relating to other people to hopefully interact. I'm so glad to say that it worked, and continues to work, with people with dementia all over the world. I called the stretchy, colorful prop an Octaband® from the beginning, because its role in the group reminded me of an octopus. I imagined that each of the octopus's arms were reaching in different directions to get food and then fed the mouth at the center. (I didn't know at the time that the mouth isn't actually in the center, but on the lower side of its head.) Similarly, the Octaband® reaches out to each of the participants and feeds the group synergy. 

The Octaband® promotes group unity and cooperation, not only with people with dementia, but all people.

Here are some of the ways the Octaband® has been used as an octopus with children:

Lauren Schutte is a dance teacher for Social Shindig Service. She specializes in working with people with intellectual and/or physical disabilities on the NSW Central Coast of Australia. They do a warm-up to the Beatles' Octopus' Garden.

Dance/movement therapist Sara Rubinstein found that some children in a children's hospital wanted to wear the Octaband® as though they were an octopus.

Expressive therapist and licensed mental health counselor extraordinaire, Adam Riccio in Weymouth, MA. Adam put an octopus puppet on the center when he was working with a group of kids with behavioral problems. He found that just having them watch was very challenging. I can imagine it would be. He would suggest, "Let’s watch the octopus sleep in his octopus’s garden.“ He'd have the kids move to the Beatles song, "I’d like to be, under the sea, in an octopus’s garden in the shade”. And Adam said, "of course, the octopus has to do his exercises. So, let’s help the octopus do his exercises. On the count of 3, we’re going to lift the octopus up and try to catch him in the center. It’s not as easy as it sounds, but they love it.... And I like to torture them by counting really slowly ..... one ..... two ..... and then of course I’m the one who takes a deep breath in and out, once, twice, ....three. They lift it up, making the octopus in the middle rise up and try to catch it or not catch it and then 'Oh, we caught him' or “'We almost caught him.' 

Princess Sharon uses the Octaband® at birthday parties. She does a game she calsl "feed the octopus!" "We all stand up with it in a circle and slowly go in and in and in and when we get to the middle we all pretend to feed the center part and then we move back slowly together and make it grow, grow, grow!!"

In her work with children with cerebral palsy, dance/movement therapist Rachel Federman Morales said she sometimes uses the Octaband® with the image of an octopus and its many arms and "we are in the ocean and I improvise from there.... Exploring the levels -high, middle and low."

Dance/movement therapist Suzy Matheson used the Octaband® when she was working as an artist in residence at a summer camp for homeless children. She used the book The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister to enhance literacy skills through creative movement. "In this book the Rainbow Fish seeks guidance from the wise Octopus on how to make friends by sharing his most prized possessions. The children particularly loved dancing with the Octaband® while listening to “Octopus’ Garden” by The Beatles. Some movements included saying hello to the Octopus going into the circle, making different shapes in space (blue bands- up, pink bands- down, yellow bands to the side and then reversing the order), walking around in a circle with the Octopus, as well as going back into the circle to say goodbye when the song was over."

So you can see, many people relate to the Octaband® as though it were an octopus and many like to move with it to the Beatles' Octopus's Garden.

You can get your very own octopus (Octaband®) here. Or, for a limited time, while these limited edition (only 6) Octaband®s handmade in U.S. last, here on Etsy.

The Apple Doesn't Fall Far from the Tree

I'm sorting through old papers, memories that I keep, but never feel like looking at. Taking a firm stand with myself, I went through one of many boxes. What a treasure trove it turned out to be!

Here is a Letter to the Editor that my dad wrote which was published in the Newton Graphic 9/14/95.

Thanks for the concerts

Summer is winding down. The concerts in the park are finished for the year. I shall miss them. It was an ideal setting for family gathering. The performances were memorable, precious, and in some cases, unique. I saw an unscheduled one that was priceless.

A cute little lass of 2 walked up to one of the rocks that were scattered through the area, circled the chosen rock. She looked around, whether for help, or to inspect her audience, I do not know. She tentatively lifted a leg to determine whether she could step up onto the rock. No, it was too high. So she took a more familiar approach. She dropped down to all fours, crawled closer, then lifted herself up to mount the rock. She stood erect, then walked hesitatingly to the edge and looked down. Jumping off, then climbing back on seemed like a lot of fun. She made her decision, set herself, closed her eyes, braced herself. Then she looked around again, she had to make sure people were watching.

Now ready, on your mark, she was set to go. Eyes tightly closed, she made her move. She jumped up into the air, not too high, just about two inches straight up. When she came down, she opened her eyes. She appeared surprised, she was back in the same spot that she had jumped from. Apparently she had thought she was jumping off the rock, but here she was standing right were she had started from. Time after time she posed atop the rock, and never did succeed in jumping off the rock. She stopped; and looked around for someone to explain and help; help her out of her dilemma. What she really needed was a hug. I sadly was not the one to administer it. And her own grandpa sadly was not around when needed.

I am looking forward to next year to see if the 3-year-old has mastered the art of jumping off a rock. The thought of seeing her, again, makes it all worthwhile...

So thanks, Mr. Mayor and the Newton Pride Committee, I appreciate it. - Irving Newman

I have long thought that the influences on my becoming a dance/movement therapist were my grandmother - who, although she spoke English, was a very quiet woman who communicated a great deal nonverbally - and my mother, who loved to dance. But here is my dad, describing in writing what he saw in movement with some objectivity and some interpretation. He was very sensitive regarding tone of voice, but I hadn't realized how clear he was in his observations. Plus, he was a writer! 

Dancing with People with Dementia an Antidote to Loneliness and Isolation

The picture the media paints of dementia is grim. Coping with dementia, as with any chronic condition, is challenging for sure. But is it the soul-robbing experience often portrayed? I think not.

True, the loss of memory and the ability to navigate one's environment and accomplish the tasks of daily living make life considerably more difficult. But it is the loss of attention, relationship, and esteem that have the greatest impact on the person living with dementia.

I speak from the perspective as a daughter of a father who had vascular dementia as well as being a dance/movement therapist with  30+ years experience with this population. In fact, how we approach the disease and the person with the disease can be an opportunity to practice Buddhist teachings. When I bring embodied presence, compassion, beginner’s mind, and non-attachment to outcome through the medium of dance to a person with dementia, I discover my own humanity as well as the humanity of the other. And frequently I find joy.

 

Coming up shortly are 2 opportunities to learn how to bring dance to people with dementia in 15-hour trainings, one in NYC, the other Westwood, Massachusetts.

Learn the skills to engage, inspire and uplift older adults and people with dementia through dance and expressive movement. We will look at the symptoms and the strengths of people with dementia and how we can best support them. Through theoretical and practical applications, considerations of essential elements and challenges, I will teach you how to customize your groups to motivate even heterogeneous groups of older adults to express themselves so that each feels seen, heard, and appreciated for who they are. We will learn how to "be with" and how to give language to what we are doing.

This 15 hour training has been approved for 15 Category 1 LMHC CEUs and for 1 R-DMT Alternate Route education credit or 15 ceus. Anyone who is using the course for the 1 Alternate Route credit must complete readings and assignments in addition to attendance in the program.

 

Bringing Dance to Older Adults and People with Dementia

Fri, Apr 12, 6:30 PM - 9:30

Sat & Sun, Apr 13 & 14, 2019, 12-6 pm

at the 92Y Harkness Dance Center, 92nd Street Y (between 91st & 92nd street), 1395 Lexington Avenue, NYC.

 

and 

Bringing Dance to Older Adults and People with Dementia

Sat., May 18, 9:00 AM - 5:30 PM

Sun, May 19, 9:00 AM - 5:30 PM

at Bridges by EPOCH at Westwood, 140 University Ave, Westwood, MA 02090

Why take this training? I am passionate about the importance of providing dance and dance/movement therapy to people with dementia. You can see me talk about it here. To be as vital as they can possibly be, they need dance and embodied caregiving regularly. It was my desire to engage people with significant dementia that motivated me to create the Octaband^® and recently Octaband Links^®.

 

In hopes of providing tools for researchers, I developed The Quality of Life Movement Assessment for Persons with Advanced Dementia intended to discover which interventions are effective for which person, correlating Laban-based movement observations with quality of life parameters. With the help of friend and colleague, Dr. Meg Chang, I wrote The Dance of Interaction, a train-the-trainer manual to aid people in using an embodied approach to train caregivers in nonverbal communication. I have been interviewed multiple times about dancing with people with dementia; here is one of my favorite recent articles. And I have written numerous articles published in peer-reviewed journals to further our successes in reaching and enlivening people with dementia. My ongoing commitment to strengthen the network of effective practitioners and resources is resolute.

What people have said about the trainings: 

"I came to my groups today fully inspired and tried a new structure and focused on community building and fun. I led all levels including 2 assisted living groups that both stayed in circle after it was over and didn’t want to leave (they stayed chatting...first time that happened). I got my first response and smile from a memory care client with severe dementia. I got great feedback from an OT who passed by and watched for a bit. A new client with early stage Alzheimer’s is moving to a new facility and wants to 'take me with her'. . . With newly added knowledge, I have observed some remarkable improvements including increased engagement, larger range of movement, increased participation and staff cooperation.” Crystal Pena, student in DMT Alternate Route training

"I bring what I learned from your training into almost every client home by watching and listening carefully for the cues that let me into their brains." Gail Leichtman, Ed.M., LSW, Certified Care Manager, Your Elder Experts

“I loved your training! . . . My style of teaching has evolved. I have integrated the techniques that you taught us at the training. I am getting some great results, and feel I can really connect with many of the 20 residents. I found the training profound and wonderful.”
- Susanne Liebich, Dancing Wellness ™, Healing Motion For Life

I hope you'll join me at one of these two trainings to strengthen the community