Caregivers Count! 14th Annual Conference
4-Part Series on Saturdays
September 14, 21, 28 and October 5, 2024 - 10am to 12pm
Session Descriptions and Speaker Bios
Click Here for 2024 Conference Packet
Click Here for 2024 Session Recordings
SESSION 1 - September 14, 2024 - Safe & Sound: Creating A Safe Home for Your Loved One (virtual)
Session 1 Description:
Learn about the importance of balance for seniors, the variables that contribute to seniors falling including home safety, the systems in our body that control balance, and the tools that can be used to prevent falls.
Born and raised in Greenwood, Indiana, Daniel earned his clinical doctorate in occupational therapy from Indiana University in 2021. Since then, he has devoted his professional journey to exploring and implementing modern, evidence-based occupational therapy services to enrich the lives of individuals grappling with neurological challenges. Daniel’s passion lies in working with those affected by acquired neurological conditions, and he has history of delivering rehabilitative services within diverse settings across the spectrum of recovery and disease progression. This hands-on experience, along with an academic and research focused background, grants him a unique insight into the lived experiences of his clients and allows him to plan and implement the highest level of rehabilitative care. Daniel maintains a commitment to delivering literature-supported, modern intervention strategies while striving to integrate empathy, innovation, and collaboration into his work in facilitating independence.
Daniel Sego
SESSION 2 - September 21, 2024 - End-of-Life Support for Family Caregivers (virtual)
Session 2 Description:
This session will address the End-of-Life process including the symptoms of decline and the dying process; how to provide care for someone who is dying; caregiving tips & tools; grief support; and the role of End-of-Life Doulas.
Gabby Jimenez
The Hospice Heart
Mission Hospice & Home Care
Gabrielle Jimenez “Gabby” is a hospice nurse, end-of-life doula, death and dying educator, and author. She started The Hospice Heart Facebook page in 2019 hoping to create a safe place to invite others to talk about death, dying, and grief. She offers end-of-life education, tips, and tools to support someone who is terminal, those who love and care for them, and anyone who works in the end-of-life field. This community has grown to over 145,000 compassionate people who safely share their fears, vulnerability, compassion, heart, and kindness towards others. Gabby has two goals; her first is to help improve the way human beings are cared for when they are dying and grieving, and the second is that the conversation becomes easier to have about death and dying, that fear is reduced, and curiosity is welcome. Her website offers blogs, poems, classes, podcasts, and interviews she has done, and links to all of her books.
SESSION 3 - September 28, 2024 - Navigating Trauma in Caregiving (virtual)
Session 3 - Description:
Caregiving can be a challenging experience, especially if trauma is involved. You may be caregiving for someone who has experienced trauma, you may have trauma from your life, or your caregiving journey may be traumatic. Learn about a model that helps to reduce the stress response caused by trauma, and join the conversation between a family caregiver and a trauma expert about how to cope with caregiving and trauma.
Jennifer Burton Flier
Marriage & Family Therapist, LMFT, CDWF, CEAT
Jennifer Burton Flier, LMFT, CEAT, CDWF is a therapist in private practice (Los Angeles/San Francisco) and a senior faculty member with Trauma Resource Institute (TRI). She teaches both the Trauma and Community Resiliency Models with TRI and has traveled extensively in the US and to Northern Ireland to share wellness skills with various groups and cultures. CRM focuses on stabilizing the nervous system, or chasing our inherent resiliency, when we are under stress or triggered by traumatic events. By learning some simple skills and concepts about the body/brain, we can learn to reduce our stress responses, creating more balance and ease in our daily lives.
Jennifer was licensed in San Francisco and worked with families and children at TALK Like Family Support Center before relocating to her hometown of Los Angeles in 2001. While she now focuses primarily on her work with TRI and private clients in both Los Angeles and the Bay Area, Jennifer previously worked for nine years at Sherman Oaks Hospital PHP/IOP serving adults suffering from chronic mental illness. Currently, her practice centers around a specialization in healing trauma and attachment patterns with teens, adults, couples, and families. Amongst her many trainings post licensure, Jennifer is certified in EMDR, Expressive Arts Therapy and Brené Brown’s Daring Way™ and Rising Strong™ Models. She integrates TRI’s models of TRM® and CRM® into all these modalities. Jennifer has been a featured guest on several podcasts including The Laverne Cox Show, Sluts & Scholars, and Resiliency Within.
More about Jennifer at www.jenniferburtonmft.com
More about TRI at www.traumaresourceinstitute.com
Christina Keys
Keys for Caregiving
Christina Keys chased the American dream. She had a successful career, traveled, was financially stable, healthy and happy then on March 16,2013 at 3:42 everything changed. Her mother had a life changing stroke and was given 1% chance to live. She instantly went from career woman to caregiver.
Within 3 years of caregiving for her mother she was financially, emotionally, mentally and physically bankrupt. The doctors told Christina She would be lucky to live 6 months if that. Her body was literally shutting down from the stress of caregiving and trying to do it alone. She had a choice to make, figure out how to change her life and live while caring for her mother or give up and start making arrangements on how her mother would be cared for after her death.
She chooses to live and not only change her life but now helps to change the lives of caregivers who struggle while caring for loved ones. Turning a mess into a message and making it her mission to make sure caregivers everywhere are seen, heard valued and appreciated and are Never Alone, She founded and ran a award winning local non profit that supported Family Caregivers, was the Director of Community Growth for a National company where she created and lead a team of almost 200 Caregiving Champions in cities all across the US. She is now a National Speaker and Advocate as well as the Founder and CEO of Keys For Caregiving where she is Connecting businesses, organizations, and Family Caregivers to collectively transform the Care Space community and amplify our voices for change.
From 2013- 2022 Christina cared for her mother who was her abuser throughout her childhood from until she passed. Christina now speaks on Family Caregiving, Caring for someone who was a previous abuser, Caregiver Recovery as well as Advocating for positive changes for Family Caregivers.
SESSION 4 - October 5, 2024 - From Stress to Serenity: Self Care & Resiliency (in-person event)
Session 4 - Description:
Join us in-person for a roundtable discussion on self-care practices, participate in a breakout session (laughter, chair yoga, or drumming circle), and sign-up for local caregiver support groups. Light refreshments will be provided.
Roundtable Discussion
Led by Ann Peterson and Jenn Chan, attendees will learn about the importance of self-care and share about their practices and experiences.
Breakout Sessions:
1. Laughter - Presented by Vivian I. Silva
Learn about the benefits of humor for caregivers and their loved ones. The presenter's role as a caregiver, including tips from clients, will provide ways to bring humor and laughter into the caregiving experience. Even a smile counts to keep caregivers on a healthier path.
2. Chair Yoga - Presented by Mythri Jegathesan
This 30-40 minute session of chair yoga will focus on a set of movements (in short sets) that build an awareness of bodily rhythm, breath, and expansion. It will encourage you to cultivate an appreciation of the range of experience that your body can access and feel throughout any part of your life-course and can be done at any time or in small increments of time during your schedule. Our goal, in the frame of self care, is to experience how any kind of mindful movement as a practice can give us pause to our usual daily activities and serve as a form of rejuvenation and pause.
3. Drumming Circle - Presented by Janet Childs
Join us as we discover the rhythm of our heart, using drums, sound and percussion instruments. The sacred power of drumming together will give us energy and support as we journey through life as a caregiver. Become grounded and connected to each other as we enjoy blending our unique, and collective expressions of life’s rhythms. You do not have to have any experience with this. And it is fun!
In-Person Event Address:
Campbell Community Center
Roosevelt Room Q-80 & Mary Campbell Room Q-84
1 W. Campbell Ave, Campbell, CA 95008
Ann Peterson
Director of Development
Live Oak Adult Day Services
Ann Peterson is currently co-leading caregiver support groups and in the process of opening a fifth adult day center for Live Oak Adult Day Services. Earlier this year, she stepped down as Executive Director of Live Oak after five years of being responsible for day to day operations, staffing, fundraising, and compliance. She has many years experience working with older adults including as a staff Psychologist/Neuropsychologist at the Jewish Home and Hospital in the Bronx, NY and as an Assistant Clinical Professor at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in NYC. Before her doctoral training, she worked as an art therapist in San Jose at a subacute residential program for older adults.
Jenn Chan
Senior Shower Project
Jenn Chan, CSA®, CCC™, is the CEO & Founder of Senior Shower® Project, a gift shop with a mission to celebrate family caregivers of older adults with a party. Inspired by 10+ years of caregiving for her grandma, Jenn dedicates her career to elevate the family caregiver role with fun, love, and positivity. She believes caregiving is a lifestyle and becoming a senior caregiver is a life milestone worth celebrating. As a Certified Senior Advisor and Certified Caregiving Consultant, Jenn works with non-profit organizations that serve LGBTQ+ older adults, dementia caregivers, and young adult caregivers. She leads self-care workshops and facilitates social support groups.
Vivian I. Silva
Born and raised in Santa Clara, Vivian has 2 sons and 5 grandchildren.
In her mid-30’s she went back to SJSU to earn a degree in Social Science and later
volunteered with Portuguese older adults in San Jose. After becoming a board member at POSSO, she went back to SJSU to study gerontology and earned her certificate in 1988 followed by earning a Master’s in Social Work.
Vivian’s 30+ years of experience include working at 3 Bay Area Universities as an educator, Geriatric Care Manager, designing and facilitating groups and presentations at senior centers (speaking on various aging topics locally and nationally), writing articles on aging and filmed a documentary about a 5- generation family ages 8 to 103 years of age.
Mythri Jegathesan
Mythri Jegathesan was introduced to yoga as a young child and practiced regularly to complement her training in dance as an adolescent. Later, she used yoga as a source of healing through physical injuries from dance and as a source of restoration outside her full-time career as a professor in cultural anthropology. In 2014, she completed her 200-hour Yoga certification in the Bay Area and over the last ten years, she has taught vinyasa flow, HIIT fitness classes, and restorative forms of yoga, including yoga for children and adolescents in Sri Lanka and chair yoga for adult elderly communities in the South Bay.
Dr. Janet Childs
AAETS Diplomate
Founder, Bay Area CISM Team
Centre for Living with Dying,
A Bill Wilson Center Program
For the past 50 years, Janet Childs has been dedicated to offering crisis intervention counseling and education, with a focus on the dynamics of loss, illness, crisis, and grief. As one of the founding members of the Centre for Living with Dying, Janet has worked extensively with individuals, groups, and professionals on the front lines. In this journey, Janet has created sound healing and ceremonial processes to build individual and community resilience.
Combining her personal and professional experience with loss, she creates a safe and healing environment to gently examine these difficult life issues, using ceremony, healing and celebration of the human spirit.
Session 1 Recording
Stay Active and Independent for Life!
Session 2 Recording
Thank you to our Session Sponsor, Family Caregiver Alliance
End-of-Life Support for Family Caregivers
Session 3 Recording
Thank you to our Session Sponsor, Santa Clara Family Health Plan
