Session 2 focuses on breathing. Taking time to focus on your breathing can change your mood and help decrease anxiety and stress. This strategy can be done at work before or after a shift, between patients, during a particularly difficult encounter, and more.
Presenters:
Mary Catherine Lundquist has over 25 years of clinical and administrative experience in geriatrics specializing in dementia care, supporting family caregivers, training professionals, and providing community health education. She is currently the Program Coordinator of the COPSA (Comprehensive Services on Aging) Institute for Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders at Rutgers Health, University Behavioral Health Care. COPSA includes the Geriatric Assessment Center, The Memory Disorders Clinic, The Care2Caregivers Helpline, and COPSA Consultation and Education Services. Her expertise is in designing and implementing programs that enhance the quality of life for individuals with memory loss and their caregivers. She is the author of Circle of Harmony: A New Paradigm of Care for Managing Behavioral Disturbances, Bridges: A Toolkit for Family Caregivers and Foundations of Dementia Enabled Care.
Michelle Zechner, Ph.D., LSW, CPRP is an Assistant Professor at Rutgers-SHP, Department of Psychiatric Rehabilitation and Counseling Programs and has focused her career on helping people and their families recover from mental illness for over 25 years, with special expertise in health promotion initiatives. She has worked in a variety of community and inpatient settings, including nursing homes, outpatient mental health services, state psychiatric hospitals, and community services for older adults. In her current role, she has focused on the implementation of evidence-based psychosocial practices in psychiatric hospitals, developing and testing health and wellness promotion interventions in community settings, teaching students, training diverse mental health staff on best practice interventions for older persons with mental health conditions, and conducting research. Dr. Zechner’s research includes the development of programs focused on multi-domain wellness for people with mental health conditions, promotion of and adherence to physical activity in persons with mental illness, use of peer health coaching strategies, and identifying best practices for use with older adults with mental health conditions. She has co-authored peer-reviewed and technical publications on health promotion for persons with mental illness and has presented her work at local, national, and international conferences. She is passionate about supporting older people with mental health conditions to improve their mental and physical health.
