Friday, December 2, 1 p.m. - 5 p.m.
Chicago Marriott O’Hare
Choose a four-intensive or from our two-hour intensives and then register via the form at the bottom of the page.
Four-Hour Intensive
Dementia RAW Training with Catherine Braxton and Tami Neumann
Dementia RAW lays the foundation for communicating with persons with dementia by using the rules of improv. With this framework, you will be able to create simplicity out of chaos. This highly interactive program challenges participants to dig deep, excavating the RAW emotions surrounding empathy and developing a Conscious Awareness of the distorted reality of dementia. Once these skills are established, participants can apply them to the rules of improv, creating peak moments of success for those with dementia and their caregivers.
- As the Chief Education Officer of Silver Dawn, Catherine is passionate about providing education in a format that is engaging, fun and digs deep. Her educational background in psychology lays the foundation for each module and has crafted them in such a way that you will be immersed fully in it’s content. Catherine has spent the past 20 years in the aging industry managing memory care units, providing activities and as a case manager. In Catherine’s free time you will find her moving furniture, cooking healthy meals and hanging out with her husband and three children.
- As the Chief Operations Officer, Tami is passionate about creating a community that is connected and informed. Curating conferences and creating dynamic educational content that provide the community a welcoming place to learn and grow is not only important to Tami, she feels this is paramount to creating a culture shift in the aging space. Tami is a Certified Dementia Practitioner, and has spent over 20 years in the Aging Industry. Over the past three years she has hosted the Wego Award Nominated podcast, Conversations In Care. In her free time you will find her advocating for people with Type 1 Diabetes and developing her skills in improv.
- Cost: $50, 4 CEUs
Two-Hour Intensives
1 p.m. - 2:50 p.m.
1. An Introduction to Care Maps for Family Caregivers with Rajiv Mehta
Discover how “care maps” can help you understand and improve your daily caregiving experience. A care map is a visual representation of the people (family, friends and professionals) in your care network. In this workshop you will learn how care maps are being used to address the challenges of caregiving, and get the chance to create your own.
- Rajiv leads the nonprofit Atlas of Caregiving, which uses ethnography, technology and data to explore and inform family caregiving, making it easier and more effective now and for generations to come. He has led pioneering research on family caregiving and consumer health; convened expert meetings; consulted to government agencies, healthcare organizations and technology startups; and developed consumer health technologies. Prior to his focus on health, he led innovation efforts at Apple, Motorola, and other technology companies, and research at NASA. He is on the board of the Family Caregiver Alliance, and co-organizer of Quantified Self. He studied engineering at Princeton and Stanford, and business at Columbia.
- Cost: $20, 2 CEUs
- (Class is limited to 20 students.)
2. How Hospitals Can Better Support the Caregiving Years with Heather Slutzky
During this training, Heather will orient health care professionals to the concept of The Caregiving Years, which follows family caregivers along a continuum of stages, from when they expect to provide, to when they provide care and then to after the experience ends. Heather will help professional providers understand the common stumbles that family caregivers make during each of the six stages. She'll suggest easy, effective ways that professional providers can smooth the caregiving experience by focusing on countermeasures to those common stumbles. At the end of the workshop, healthcare providers will understand that the distinctions between different parts of the caregiving experience will help shape the way they behave at the bedside.
- Heather had the honor of walking next to her first husband, John, as Marfan Syndrome prompted heart surgeries, clinical trials of new fangled devices, organ transplant lists, and eventually his death in 2002. She most recently was a long-distance caregiver to her father. Her engagement with the healthcare system eventually became her career. She has worked in healthcare settings since 2003 and writes at www.HealthCareHeather.com, a website dedicated to talking about the U.S. health care system. Heather is a Certified Caregiving Consultant and Certified Caregiving Educator.
- Cost: $35, 2 CEUs
3. Graceful Transitions for Unwelcome Changes with Bruce McIntyre
Change. For family caregivers, this usually means unwelcome changes. But, it's not the changes that get you, it's the transitions. In this talk or intensive session, Bruce uses three primary models to help participants process seven likely changes including: 1. Health, 2. Driving, 3. Home, 4. Finances, 5. Mental, 6. Protection and 7. Legacy and Death. Easily integrating conversation from the participants, the goal of this sessions is to equip family caregivers with new tools to become a catalyst for graceful transitions through unwelcome changes.
- Bruce, Executive Director of the Parkinson Foundation of Oklahoma, is the author of Parkinson Positive, Graceful Transitions, and Resilient Life. Bruce shares his expert guidance and warm humor with thousands of people each year. As a caregiver for his wife for the past 12 years, Bruce understands the world of chronic illness and caregiving. He has led the Caregiver Fundamentals Project in Oklahoma City and served caregivers as a business, church, and non-profit leader. You can learn more about him at BruceMcIntyre.com.
- Cost: $35, 2 CEUs
4. Seven Habits of Successful Family Caregivers with Liz O'Donnell
Why is it some family caregivers make it all look easy, or at least not impossible, and others struggle every step of the way? Effective caregivers share several good habits. In this two-hour workshop, Liz will guide you through exercises to help you overcome the limiting beliefs that hold family caregivers back from pursuing their own life goals, as well as share the seven habits of successful family caregivers.
- Liz is the founder of Working Daughter, a website for women balancing career and caregiving, something she tries to do everyday. Liz runs the East Coast operations of a PR firm and cares for her 90-year-old father. She is also a working mother — she has a middle schooler and a high schooler at home — and is the author of the book Mogul, Mom & Maid: The Balancing Act of the Modern Woman.
- Cost: $35, 2 CEUs
5. Take Time to Make Memories with Vivian Geary
Re-ignite your passion and give new life to your dreams. In this intensive, you will explore the things that fuel your soul and learn how to incorporate them into your day while being a family caregiver. We will also explore how to do the same for your caree.
- Vivian is a Certified Caregiver Consultant and Certified Caregiving Educator who coaches family caregivers to turn their chaos into calm. Tips for organization and a fresh perspective on communication and family dynamics is what Vivian brings to the table. In addition, Vivian conducts workshops and seminars to help family caregivers gain knowledge and be the best they can be for their loved ones. Vivian is a working family caregiver for her mom who suffered a stroke in 2005. She was a long-distance caregiver for the first two years and has been under the same roof with her mom in Orlando, Fla., since 2007. You can learn more about her work on her website, Caring for Family Caregivers.
- Cost: $35, 2 CEUs
3:05 p.m. - 5 p.m.
1. An Introduction Care Maps for Care Professionals with Rajiv Mehta
Discover how “care maps” can help you understand and better serve the families you support. A care map is a visual representation of the people (family, friends and professionals) in a particular family’s care network. In this workshop you will learn how care maps are being used to improve the effectiveness of all members of the care team while helping families address the challenges of caregiving, and get the chance to create a care map of your own.
- Rajiv leads the nonprofit Atlas of Caregiving, which uses ethnography, technology and data to explore and inform family caregiving, making it easier and more effective now and for generations to come. He has led pioneering research on family caregiving and consumer health; convened expert meetings; consulted to government agencies, healthcare organizations and technology startups; and developed consumer health technologies. Prior to his focus on health, he led innovation efforts at Apple, Motorola, and other technology companies, and research at NASA. He is on the board of the Family Caregiver Alliance, and co-organizer of Quantified Self. He studied engineering at Princeton and Stanford, and business at Columbia.
- Cost: $35, 2 CEUs
- (Class is limited to 20 students.)
2. Caregivers Create
Take down time to create during this come-as-you and stay-as-long-as-you-want workshop. We'll supply you with what you need to draw, paint, Zentangle, journal, doodle and color. Feel free to bring your knitting, crocheting or other handiwork. As you create, share and connect with your fellow artisans. We'll display what you create on Saturday in the conference Exhibit Hall.
- Cost: $15, 2 CEUs
3. The LGBT Cultural Competency Caregiving Training with Chris MacLellan
The LGBT Cultural Competency Caregiving Training is designed to focus on helping professionals understand the specific needs and fears that LGBT family caregivers face when accessing medical and professional services. While current trends in society show a shifting to accept the LGBT Community, accessing medical and professional services who do not understand the specific needs of the LGBT family caregiver is problematic for both the provider and the LGBT family caregiver. This training will detail how Elizabeth Noelle-Neumann (1974) Spiral of Silence communication theory plays a critical role in why LGBT family caregivers have operated out of fear. The Spiral of Silence theory suggests that, when people feel like they are in the minority, they withhold information or isolate themselves in fear of retribution. This study will demonstrate how and why LGBT family caregivers may isolate themselves and not seek professional assistance for fear of discrimination. This fits the pattern of the Noelle-Neumann's Spiral of Silence theory. This training is designed for professionals who work with LGBT family caregivers in order to understand their specific needs of service and care in order to communicate effectively to gain the trust of their LGBT family caregiver clients.
- Chris is affectionately known as “The Bow Tie Guy” in many caregiving circles. Faced with his partner’s diagnosis of esophageal cancer in 2011, Chris started a caregiving blog entitled, “The Purple Jacket,” and is an ardent advocate for family caregivers and their carees through his blog and radio show, “Healing Ties™”. Chris’ Masters Degree thesis entitled, “Spiral of Silence: Caregiving, Stress and its Impact in the Workplace” was accepted by the faculty at Gonzaga University, where Chris earned a Masters degree in Leadership and Communication in 2016. Chris is the founder of the Whole Care Network and the South Florida Caregiving Coalition. The author of “What’s The Deal With Caregiving?,” Chris is a Certified Senior Advisor (CSA) and a Certified Caregiving Consultant (CCC). Chris presents regularly on topics that impact family caregivers and LGBT seniors.
- Cost: $35, 2 CEUs
4. Mindfulness Based Dementia Care with Andrew Koch
Andrew will discuss a mindfulness based philosophy of care. He will introduce us to the concept of mindfulness and lead guided meditation at the end of the webinar.
- Andrew is a Certified Caregiving Consultant and Certified Caregiving Educator. He also has been a CNA (Certified Nursing Aide) for five years. He has three years of research, development and course instruction for in-home care organization. During the past five years, he has volunteered for a number of organizations including Alzheimer’s Association, Alzheimer’s and Dementia Services of Northern Indiana, Harbor Light Hospice, and Unity Hospice. Andrew earned his Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Indiana University in 2014.
- Cost: $35, 2 CEUs
5. Make Prosperity a Habit: How to Turn Your Vision into Reality with Ellen Rogin
What if you could create more prosperity and success than you ever imagined? And, what if it were easier than you thought possible? This workshop is designed to help you create a clear vision of your own financial success and overcome the obstacles of negative thinking that may be keeping you from turning your vision into reality. Ellen Rogin, a financial advisor, TEDx speaker, and New York Times
bestselling author and will show you how to be great with money.
You will: 1. Create your own Prosperity Picture: a breakthrough approach to using the latest brain science to achieve your money goals; 2. Learn the top three problems people face that sandbag their financial success and how you can avoid them; 3. The five money rituals that will lay the groundwork for creating wealth in your life. Plus: You’ll receive a 24-page Picture Your Prosperity Workbook chockful of resources, worksheets, and more.
- Ellen, The New York Times bestselling author and Abundance Activist® is a nationally-known expert on living a life of success and prosperity. Ellen shows people how to be great with money. Through over 20 years as a successful entrepreneur in the financial services industry and as a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNERTM professional, Ellen understands that many people have an uneasy and complicated relationship with their money. People undergo great anxiety as well as great joy in their financial lives.
- Cost: $35, 2 CEUs
6. Turning Caregiving into Activism: Stepping Out of Your Comfort Zone with MaryAnne Sterling
Family caregivers acquire extensive knowledge of specific diseases, medications, the healthcare and social services systems, health insurance, care delivery, and beyond, during their caregiving journey. In this session, attendees will learn how to take their caregiving experience and use it to shape healthcare policy, participate in medical research, change care delivery, and influence new technology. We will look at national, state, and local examples and empower each attendee with actionable information to jump-start their new journeys as empowered advocates.
- MaryAnne has been a caregiver and healthcare advocate for her parents for 20 years. She is a renowned speaker and educator on family caregiver issues, a role that evolved from her experience having multiple parents struggling with dementia. She and her husband have 3-out-of-4 parents impacted by this disease. Their personal story has been featured in Kiplinger, New York Times, USA Today, and the Wall Street Journal. MaryAnne is Co-founder of Connected Health Resources, focused on person-centered healthcare transformation. She is also CEO of Sterling Health IT Consulting. MaryAnne serves as Patient Research Partner and Ambassador for the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), Advisory Council member for the National Alzheimer’s & Dementia Patient & Caregiver-Powered Research Network, and Consumer Ombudsman for the National Association for Trusted Exchange (NATE).
- Cost: $35, 2 CEUs
Become an Exhibitor or Sponsor
Support family caregivers and former family caregivers by sponsoring and exhibiting at the First Annual National Caregiving Conference.
CEUs
We’ve been approved to provide continuing education hours for our Friday pre-conference intensives (4 hours for our four-hour intensive; 2 hours for our two-hour intensives) and for our Saturday conference (6.5 hours). Continuing education hours are provided by the University of Illinois, College of Medicine, Department of Family Medicine in collaboration with the Continuing Education Institute of Illinois.
The professions provided for are:
- Acupuncturist
- Athletic Trainer
- Counselor-Professional/Clinical
- Dental Hygienist
- Dietitian/Nutritionist
- Marriage and Family Counselor
- Nurse (APN, RN, LPN)
- Nursing Home Administrator
- Occupational Therapist
- Psychologist
- Physical Therapist
- Respiratory Therapist
- Social Worker
Hotel Details
Our conference will take place on Friday, December 2, and Saturday, December 3, at the Chicago Marriott O’Hare, conveniently located minutes from O’Hare and a subway ride from downtown Chicago. The hotel offers free shuttle service to and from O'Hare. Daily hotel parking for our conference is $3.
To reserve a guest room for December 2 and/or December 3, please call the Marriott at 773-693-4444. Ask for the National Caregiving Conference special room rate of $119 per night.
Contact
Questions? Ideas? Need more information? Email Denise.
Fill out my online form.