Free for (or after) dinner this evening? Join some Berkeley Cohousers for a little gathering tonight to learn about "Aging In Community" with info on Senior Cohousing opportunities in Northern California and info on upcoming workshops related to the field. Come at 6 for the potluck, or 6:30 for the general program -- or whenever you can arrive to be a part of it.

Tonight's schedule:

• 6 PM: Arrive, set out your potluck dish or drink, dine with others interested in Aging In Community.
  
• 6:30 PM: Arrive if you're not interested in the potluck, and learn about Integral Aging from Sally Gelardin. She will discuss her July workshop (discounted for EBCOHO members), a certificate program for practitioners, to help elders explore ways to sustain themselves socially, economically, physically, and spiritually.
  
• 7:00 PM: Elder Mediator/trainer Katharina W. Dress will engage Raines in a skit and lead a workshop preview of How Can You Hear Me if You Aren’t Listening? Conflict Resolution Skills for Aging and Community, A One And A Half Day Workshop in early June.
  
• 9:00 PM: Wrap up
  

RSVP via the East Bay Cohousing website. Suggested donation: $20 ($10 for EBCOHO Supporting Members) - but all are welcome. Note: access to the Common House involves climbing a few steps; no animals onsite. Please don't disturb our cohousing neighbors -- this event is not a tour. Please park onstreet, bike, or BART.

Below please find a little more about each workshop.

Challenges
The aging field is expanding as the baby boomers move into their 60s. Aging individuals face many issues and challenges that can lead to opportunities for service professionals. Following are some of the issues:

• More and more older workers are choosing, or forced to become self-employed or consulting due to downsizing and still needing to make an income.
  
• Many older workers have caregiving responsibilities, requiring schedule flexibility. Caregiving often takes a toll on working caregivers' mental and physical health.
  
• Whether aging individuals need to earn an income or not, housing often becomes and issue, which is why we often choose new kinds of housing, such as your co-housing community, downsizing, bringing in roomers, small group housing, work/live and live/work housing, aging-in-place, and many other kinds of living situations.
  
• As we face later-life issues, many aging individuals become more interested in living each day well rather than grinding away at an unsatisfactory job and life.
  
• We are searching for meaning and are interested in leaving a legacy that will benefit our children and future generations
  
• End-of-life issues become important to those who have experienced life-threatening illnesses and deaths.

Opportunities for Service Professionals

Following are examples of work opportunities for counselors, health providers, mediators, and other service professionals in private or group practice or in non-profit organizations related to the needs of aging individuals, such as those mentioned above:

• Later-life career and retirement counseling and coaching
  
• Short-term transition advising for family caregivers
  
• Building working relationships with lawyers, financial planners, move managers, realtors, and other
• professionals who specialize in elder issues and may appreciate the soft skills of counselors to help with client relations
  
• Legacy and end-of-life planning support
  
• Identification of strengths and adapting skills, values, etc., to new roles (i.e., caregiving)
  
• Supporting clients and modeling integration of body/mind/spirit through techniques such as guided visualization, meditation, breathwork, and yoga
  
• Offering workshops on integral aging themes through employee assistance programs, workforce development programs, libraries, faith-based organizations, local agencies, etc.
  
• Designing and marketing career-related products for aging consumers, such as assessment tools for later-life planning

There are many opportunities for service professionals to support the aging boomers. Some opportunities may require continuing education and training. Service professionals who are dealing with their own aging process may choose to explore other careers and both paid and volunteer activities that balance what they are currently doing (such as volunteering as a museum docent, teaching digital storytelling, dog-walking, community gardening, creating digital funerals, writing obituaries for animals - the list goes on and on). Others might find that they need to devote more attention to self-care, care for their physical environment or care for their global community (i.e., choose to join the Peace Corp in their sixties).

Integral Aging Model and Process

In the training, participants work with an Integral Aging Model and Process that allows them to explore ways to sustain themselves socially, economically, physically, and spiritually. In the training, each participant applies the Integral Aging Model and Process to his or her own situation and maps out the process. The Integral Aging Certificate not only qualifies someone to "do"; it also allows someone to "be" in the present, without thinking about future fears or past regrets. It is held in a retreat environment so participants can reflect upon their roles as both "human doers" and as "human beings" and explore ways to to both "do" and "be". Below is information on the Integral Aging Certificate Program. All questions and comments welcome!

Integral Aging: A Certificate Program for Practitioners
Revitalize, Expand and Refocus Your Practice

Earn CEUs and a Certificate in Integral Aging for Counselors (CIAC) or a Certificate in Integral Aging for Practitioners (CIAP).

Join us for a restorative, one-day 7-hour retreat and continue the learning process through 7 one-hour weekly teleconferences and 7 one-hour tele-interviews with industry experts. Experience tools to expand your knowledge and focus your energies on living and working holistically, developing mind, body, and spirit. On a practical level, the training will include learning and applying virtual and real-time techniques to enhance lifework and later-life planning, breathwork, physical and mental exercise, meditation, and brain-based modalities. As a result of the training, you will learn how to build an economically and environmentally sustainable practice to benefit you, your clients, society, and future generations. Facilitators: Sally Gelardin, Ed.D. and Gail Liebhaber, M.Ed.

Dates & Location: one-day in-class retreat 9 am to 4 pm, Saturday, July 3, 2010, Marin County OR Sunday, September 12, 2010 Lexington, MA, plus 7 one-hour telephone conferences Tuesday evenings at 5 pm Pacific: July 13, 20, 27; August 3, 10, 17, 24, 2010
Discounts for EBCOHO members registering before April 30.

Are you helping older family members or friends navigate the challenges of aging and find it difficult to communicate about their plans for the future? Or would you like to talk to your spouse, adult children or grandchildren about your own aging-related concerns, but don’t feel heard and understood? Or maybe you live or work with older adults and their families and would like to better support them during difficult discussions and decisions? Whether you are facing your own aging process or are a family member, friend, neighbor, caregiver, or service provider for older adults, this workshop series is for you!

During the introductory evening, we will explore the impact of aging on the individual, family, community and society at large. Participants will examine cultural biases around aging and learn to recognize their own assumptions regarding older adults. Based on this understanding, we will discuss why most of us find it challenging to communicate effectively about aging-related concerns and decisions. Finally, we will offer helpful tools to facilitate communications during controversial and highly emotional discussions with elders and to support collaborative decisions that address the needs of everyone involved.

Participants in the hands-on training will have extensive opportunities to practice these tools in role plays and learn how to apply empathic listening and conflict resolution skills during interactions with elders in their daily lives.

Learn more about it and register at:
http://www.AgingInCom...