This interactive workshop conducted by three long-time practitioners in the aging services arena, will emphasize the spirituality of relational connections in the aging process and provide practical ways of strengthening connections in the settings where caregiving for the aging occurs. Together we will explore:

1.  Recognizing and expanding of resources present in a home to meet the spiritual needs of both caregivers and care receivers.

2. Managing transitions as lives and needs change in ways that foster and sustain meaningful connections.

3. Meeting the diverse needs of staff through innovative programming and acknowledging their individual gifts.

4. Discovering how the arts foster inner connections and bring vitality to culturally diverse communities

5. Exploring a vision for how supporting spirituality in caring for the aging transforms lives and communities of care.

Our three presenters, Julie Barton (MA, Counseling Psychology), Ron Zielske (MDiv) and Marita Grudzen (MHS) are the joint authors of Vital Connections in Long-Term Care:  Spiritual Resources for Staff and Residents (Health Professions Press, 2003).  They have collaborated for over twenty-five years in teaching at Santa Clara University, the Graduate Theological Union (Berkeley), and at professional conferences.  Julie is a founder of a respite care program and teacher of poetry to the aging; Ron is an ordained Lutheran pastor and served as CEO of Sunny View Retirement Community; Marita is Deputy Director of the Stanford Geriatric Education Center.