Spectrum Generations Staff Members Awarded
Stanford University Living Well Master Trainer Certification
Having a chronic condition is like traveling a path. This path goes up and down. The Living Well with Chronic Conditions workshop empowers people to travel the path with dignity.
On October 18, 2008 Marianne Pinkham, Center Coordinator for Coastal Community Center in Damariscotta and Living Well Coordinator for the Agency, Darlene Graves, Personal Care Activity Aid for the Muskie Center in Waterville and Jane Torres, SCSEP Activity Aid for the Somerset Center in Skowhegan received their Certification as Master Trainers for the Stanford University, evidence based, Living Well: Chronic Disease Self-Management program. The four-day training seminar took place at the Maine Medical Center’s Learning Resource Center in Scarborough. As Master Trainers Marianne, Darlene and Jane are now authorized to train Leaders to teach the Self-Management Workshop.
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The Living Well with Chronic Conditions Workshop is a program given two and a half hours, once a week, for six weeks. People with different chronic health problems attend the program together. The workshop does not focus on a specific health problem, but rather, on tools to help you while living with a chronic health condition. The goal of self management is to make things better for yourself: to keep yourself as healthy as possible, minimizing your risk of further health problems and unwanted visits to the hospital. With good self management a person can live a normal, healthy life. Sessions are highly participative, where mutual support and success builds the participants’ confidence in their ability to manage their health and maintain active and fulfilling lives.
The Living Well Workshop is for individuals who have one or more chronic condition. A friend, caregiver, or relative is welcome to attend. They too will benefit from the problem-solving skills related to managing a chronic condition.
How Can You Become a Program Leader for the Living Well Workshop?
Spectrum Generations is looking for individuals to become workshop leaders at each of Spectrum Generations’s six Community Centers (Lincoln, Knox, Somerset, Muskie, Cohen and Waldo). The initial training to become a leader is 4 days.
During the training workshop you will learn how to facilitate the self-management program, which covers the following topics:
- Managing symptoms
- Communicating with health professionals
- Dealing with anger, fear, pain, frustration, depression
- Fighting fatigue
- Problem solving and goal setting
- Relaxation and stress management techniques
- and much more
In addition, the first workshop you facilitate is considered part of your training. No experience is necessary to become a leader. You must attend all four days of training. Each leader is provided with a very detailed script that makes the workshop easy to facilitate. It is not until after we observe you facilitate the workshop until a decision is made about your ability to become a leader.
It is most beneficial to have two lay leaders or a combination of a lay leader and a health professional facilitate this workshop. A lay leader is defined as someone who is not a health care professional and personally has a chronic condition. Lay Leaders become members of Spectrum Generations’s Volunteer Corps. The cost of the Leader training workshop is free. We just ask that you hold two Living Well workshops at a site designated by Spectrum Generations within one year of your initial training and participate in the evaluation of this program.
For more information please call Marianne Pinkham at (207) 563-1363 or E-mail her at pinkham@spectrumgenerations.org to find out more information about becoming a lay leader and registering for the May 2008 Leader Training Workshop.
Background Information
Maine’s Office of Elder Services (OES) was awarded a three year competitive grant from the Administration on Aging (AoA) in October 2006 to build upon current efforts to advance evidence-based prevention and wellness programs in Maine. In collaboration with MaineHealth’s Partnership for Healthy Aging, the area agencies on aging, and other community partners, the OES is implementing and disseminating evidence-based programs (Living Well, Matter of Balance, Enhanced Fitness and Enhanced Wellness) statewide. Each program empowers older people to take more control of their own health through life style and behavioral changes. Spectrum Generations is a host site for the Healthy Choices for ME Living Well and Matter of Balance programs.