MENTal Health america of the midsouth's annual

BEHAVIORAL HEALTH
& AGING CONFERENCE 2022

Finding your Path to the Best Interventions & Care

FREE RECORDED LIVE WEBINAR
Live Webinar Recorded on May 24, 2022

6 FREE CONTINUING EDUCATION CREDITS*

*Professional Continuing Education Credits Include: Social Workers, Licensed Counselors, Psychologists (Level II), Nurses, Certified Peers, ALF Administrators. Digital download awarded upon course completion and Post Test score of 80% or above. 

For Accommodation Requests and Grievances Please Contact [email protected]

This annual aging conference fortifies knowledge and tools to long-term care, professional caregivers to appropriately navigate caring for someone with mental illness while also upholding their own mental health. This course will provide valuable resources to home and community based care and the respective financial options. There is a special emphasis on depression and isolation in the aging population. This course will address substance use and unhealthy coping mechanisms while providing information and resources for healthy lifestyle changes and healthy coping mechanisms for the caregiver and the individual being cared for. 

Morning Session

PRESENTERS

LYNN WOOD
MENTAL HEALTH AMERICA
CAREGIVER SUPPORT PROGRAM DIRECTOR

Normal vs. Not Normal Aging & Dementia

Lynn Wood has spent the last 20 years working with older adults and their families experiencing life after an Alzheimer’s and dementia diagnosis. While managing a Nursing Home/Rehab center’s business office, she found herself working with families trying to make long-term decisions based on emotionally charged, urgent needs. These were decisions that they were not always prepared to make. She went on to work with two Assisted Living communities that offered Memory Care services. This is when she began to focus on those living with Alzheimer’s and dementia. The effects that being a caregiver have on the whole family unit is a passion for Lynn. In October 2018, she joined the Mental Health America of the MidSouth team as its Caregiver Support Coordinator. She is a certified Dementia Specialist and member of the National Council of Certified Dementia Practitioners. Lynn’s work takes her to 13 counties in the Greater Nashville area where she shares her knowledge through conference and community presentations. Meeting one-on-one with families and Caring for the Caregiver, however, her number one focus.
SARAH FOWLER
GNRC
DIRECTOR OF AGING & DISABILITY SERVICES

Navigating Home & Community Based Services

Sara Fowler serves as the Director of Aging and Disability Services for the Greater Nashville Regional Council (GNRC). She oversees the agency's largest department focused on helping older adults and those with disabilities. Before being named director in 2021, Sara managed GNRC's Home and Community Based Services program. In this role, she led a team of counselors and was responsible for implementing service coordination for clients and compliance with federal and state grant requirements. During her time with GNRC, Sara has played a key role in systems improvements across the department. In addition to redesigning how the agency managed client loads and its waitlists, she spearheaded efforts to restructure the training program for new counselors, leading to increased consistency in the delivery of services and improved customer service for program clients.
BILL ZAGORSKI
CENTENNIAL ADULTCARE CENTER
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Older Adult Isolation: The Importance of Socialization

Bill Zagorski is the C.E.O. of American Senior Care Center, Inc. overseeing Centennial Adultcare Centers’ Adult Day Health Care centers, home care, and transportation services, serving adults throughout middle Tennessee. Bill is a Nashville native, He completed his undergraduate degree at Xavier University, and his graduate degrees in Cancer and Cell Biology, and Molecular Genetics, Biochemistry, and Microbiology at the University of Cincinnati, College of Medicine in Cincinnati Ohio where he split his career in academic research primarily in cancer biology followed by molecular genetics, immunology, and virology.  He and his family returned to Nashville in 2011 and expanded American Senior Care Centers, Inc. founded by his parents in 1991 adding second and third locations in Middle Tennessee in 2015 and 2017, respectively. In addition to his role with American Senior Care Centers, Bill is the Board Chair and the Research Committee Chair for the National Adult Day Services Association, the President of the Tennessee Association of Adult Day Services, and the immediate past Chair of the Tennessee Coalition for Better Aging, and a member of the Board of the Tennessee Federation for the Aging.
AFTERNOON SESSION

PRESENTERS

DR. KIMBERLY BEITING, MD
VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF MEDICINE

Depression in the Aging Community: Addressing Substance Abuse & Unhealthy Coping Skills

Dr. Beiting received her BA in Comparative Human Development from the University of Chicago and her MD from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She completed her residency at McGaw Northwestern Family Medicine Residency Program at Humboldt Park and went on to complete her clinical Geriatric Medicine Fellowship at the University of Chicago with an additional research year in Geriatrics through the University of Chicago Postdoctoral Program in Clinical Research and Medical Informatics (TL1). Her primary clinical and research interests center around providing high-quality primary care for older adults, improved care models and transitions of care in skilled nursing facilities, and the care of older adults with opioid use disorders and the impact of the opioid epidemic on an aging population.  She also has a passion for medical education and the teaching of geriatric principles to all levels of learners. She is very excited to join the Vanderbilt faculty in the Division of Geriatric Medicine.
AMANDA BOULWARE
PERSON CENTERED MUSIC PROGRAM, TCAD
PROGRAM COORDINATOR 

Therapeutic Music Interventions: Person Centered Music Program

Amanda Boulware received her undergraduate degree in neuropsychology and music history from Dickinson College. Shortly after graduating, Amanda began a fellowship with Dr. Roni Granot at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where she began her work in the music and cognition research field. She then went on to work for Alzheimer’s specialist, Dr. Matthew Kodsi, to provide Alzheimer’s testing to patients and gaining more insight into the disease. The following year, Amanda would go on to take courses at Goldsmith’s, University of London in their music and cognition research program and has since created Musical Memoirs, an Alzheimer’s music program for hospice patients in Chattanooga, TN. While creating that program, she worked with music therapist, Robin Burk, to ensure that the music used would offer the same benefits. Finding herself wanting to learn more community and behavioral health, she enrolled in ETSU’s public health programming master’s program. In 2019, she learned of an opportunity to work on a therapeutic music intervention geared towards improving the quality of life and healthy outcomes to nursing home residents in Tennessee.  As a Program Coordinator for the Tennessee Person-Centered Music Program, she has been able to bring her knowledge of the benefits of individualized music to nursing home staff and residents across the state.
SIDNEY SCHUTTROW
STAY ACTIVE & INDEPENDENT FOR LIFE, TCAD
DIRECTOR OF VOLUNTEER ENGAGEMENT 

Stay Active & Independent for Life: Adult Mobility & Fall Prevention

Sidney Schuttrow has 12 years of volunteer engagement experience and service. As the Director of Volunteer Engagement, she is responsible for helping to recruit, train, retain and recognize volunteers for the eleven core programs the Tennessee Commission on Aging and Disability (TCAD) administers across the state. She is also an adjunct professor at Indiana State University teaching a course on Volunteer Engagement for the Nonprofit Leadership Minor. In her spare time, she does what any good volunteer engagement coordinator would do and volunteers! She serves as the Vice-President of the Board of Directors for the Tennessee Federation for the Aging, directs the Regional and State basketball tournaments, Bocce Ball for Summer Games, and the Skills Competition at Flag Football for Special Olympics Tennessee, and actively looks for more volunteer opportunities to give back to her community. Sidney has a degree in Recreation and Sport Management with a certificate in Nonprofit Management from Indiana State University and a Master’s in Public Administration with a Graduate Certificate in Nonprofit Management for Tennessee State University. She completed her Certified Volunteer Administrator (CVA) credential in April 2021 and is proud to be counted among some of the top volunteer leaders in the world.

Course Objectives

#1 

Explain the differences between normal and not normal aging in order to take the appropriate steps to seeking care. 

#2 

Compare and contrast options for home health and community based care options. Understand the positive impact of adult day services on older adult mental health from evidence based outcomes.

#3

Better equipped to implement skills on addressing signs and symptoms of depression in the aging community and factors that contribute to depression. 

#4

Better equipped to recognize and address unhealthy coping mechanisms and substance abuse related to mental illness in older adults and identify healthy coping mechanisms for lifestyles changes.