Carmela’s New Training DVD!
For a preview of this DVD, click here.
Laughter Yoga with Older Adults:
an instructional tool for leading joyful chair fitness
Carmela’s Eldercare Services with Individuals and Groups
Individual Visits and Therapy Sessions
Marin and Sonoma Counties
My highly personalized private therapy visits are offered to creatively enrich the lives of elders living in their own homes, in skilled nursing facilities, in assisted living and dementia care communities. I am a trained psychotherapist, but my style is to visit elders without the formality of sitting down “therapy style.” We might chat while we go feed the ducks, or take a walk around the building, take a ride to Peet’s or sit and have tea.
I offer creative activities for enhanced self-esteem are customized for all levels of dementia and diverse abilities and can accomodate the ever-changing shifts required. I visit my clients when they land in the hospital and I visit them in their homes. Sometimes I can just be a “special friend” or a “stand-in for daughter” and take clients out for a ride to look at orchids or to enjoy an ice cream cone. Maybe we go to the barber and chat with a cup of coffee afterwards, but always, I am functioning as a pro-active listener, counselor and advocate with elders and a professional coach and support for their families.
My clients’ family members will gladly offer references and share the many benefits of having me as part of their team. I have been seeing one of my clients who is living with Alzheimer’s Disease twice a week for over three years. It eases her daughter’s mind and diminishes her stress to know that I can be relied upon to visit her mother and offer professional therapy in the form of joyful play and laughter, creative arts, healthful exercise and walks, story-telling, singing, dancing, outings and sharing.
With years of experience as a Hospice Volunteer Program Director, I understand how to make meaningful visits with elders and meet them where they are. And sometimes that is meeting them in their grief. I was also a Hospice Bereavement Counselor and made home visits for many years with grieving widows and widowers. It can be very helpful to offer elders someone to speak with who is not a family member. I invite them to tell their story and listen with my heart, always alert to the dangers of the effects that grief for mind, body and spirit. I am no stranger to elders’ depression and have made visits to my client, a suicidal widower, when he was receiving psychiatric care at Marin General Hospital. When he returned home, I continue to be his weekly visitor as part of the team of professionals serving him.
Individual Sessions with Elders
Families report that not only do their loved ones sleep better and exhibit less anxiety after my visits, but it also helps their own peace of mind knowing I am there. Having a professional to consult and to keep an eye out and alert them regarding their parents’ care is also very reassuring to the family members I serve.
My affordable fees includes email updates and telephone check-ins with families. Geriatric Care Managers recommend my services to their clients and their references are also available upon request. Please contact me to discuss schedules and rates.
Services for Individuals Include:
- Visits in Elders’ Homes
- Private Visits Elder Communties and Dementia Care Communities
- Bereavement Counseling
- Coaching and Support for Family Members
- Playful, Creative, Authentic Companionship
- Short rides to outings of choice
- Arm Chair, Wheel Chair Yoga and Walker Yoga
- Fun Walks and/or Coaching for Using a Walker
- Exercise in Partnership with Physical Therapy Treatment Plans
- Expressive Arts Activities suitable for diverse abilities
- All services adapted for elders with dementia
Laughter Yoga Groups for Eldercare Communities
Marin and Sonoma Counties
Laughter Yoga creates community connection.
I offer Arm Chair Group Laughter Yoga sessions adapted for all levels of care. Aegis Villa Capri and Aegis Varenna of Santa Rosa, Villa Marin of Terra Linda, Country Villa SNF, Mirabel Lodge in Forestville, Merrill Gardens of Rohnert Park and Long Life Living, Lucas Valley, are among my many clients. Sessions include warm-ups, clapping, fun laughter exercises and a cool down with conversation and beverages. I learn everyone’s name and include them in making up exercises for community play together! You might be amazed to see how deeply this activity touches folks — no matter what their health challenges are. Family members and friends are invited to attend and they are invariably delighted to see their loved one glowing with smiles and communicating so positively with others. $95 one hour session including hydration with joyful toasts. Discount for weekly sessions.
- Blood, brain & all organs are oxygenated.
- Boosted endorphin level reduce aches, pains, anxiety & depression.
- Time-released serotonin elevates mood and helps with sleep
- Blood pressure and pulse rate drop & circulation improves.
- Immune, digestive, & cardiac systems are stimulated.
- Cortisol and stress reduced.
- Relaxes and strengthens muscles.
- Heart rate increased for a safe cardiac workout.
- Laughing together provides healthy community connection.
More info on my Laughter Yoga page.
Professional Presenter for Conferences and Staff Training Retreats
Make your event a memorable and hire me to do a professional presentation on the medical, social, physical and psychological benefits of laughter followed by a rousing group session that will rock the room. The National Conference for Aging in Place is featuring “Laughter Yoga with Carmela” for the third year in a row! It is quite a sight to see hundreds of elders all laughing togethe and very good news to folks that they can enhance their health so much by integrating Laughter Therapy into their lives. And let’s face it, wouldn’t it be a nice change of pace to add some healthy joy to your eldercare conference, convention or reatreat?
RCFE Staff need loving laughs too! Offer your caregiver and managment teams some stress-relief and fun team-building with Laughter Yoga. They will also be reminded of how laughing with their colleagues and the residents in their care can benefit everyone — including themselves.
Presenter for:
- Kaiser Physicians’ Retreat at The Fairmont
- Kaiser Nurses SNF Team
- Osher Center for Integrative Medicine
- SEIU Nurses’ Alliance Conferences in San Francisco and Sacaramento
- Sonoma County’s Alzheimer’s Task Force Annual Spring Symposium
- Kaiser Nurses’ Home Health Continued Care Team
- National Council for Aging in Place Conferences
- Sonoma County Section on Aging
- Marin County Section on Aging
- Council on Aging
- Sutter Solano Cancer Wellness Center
- California Dental Association
- Aegis Villa Capri Staff Training
- Villa Marin’s National Nurses’ Week Celebration
Certified Laughter Yoga Leader Training for Eldercare Staff
Eldercare Staff is also invited to attend Certified Laughter Yoga Leader Training. 12 CEs for RNs is available if nurses take the training at UCSF’s Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at Mount Zion Hospital where I train staff to include Laughter Yoga with their patients. If your RCFE hosts a Laughter Yoga Leader Training at your community, discounts apply. Read more on my Certified Laughter Yoga Leader Training page.
Why just stand around eating cake when you could host a memorable party where folks laugh and play? Laughter exercises are customized for your group and everyone is invited to lead a laugh. $150 for an hour session that will make your event lively and engaging for all ages.
Carmela’s Professional Credentials and Experience Working with Elders, Their Families and RCFE Staff
- M.A. Clinical Psychology with focus in Adult Life Transitions
- Certified Yoga Therapist
- Registered Yoga Teacher
- Certified Laughter Yoga Teacher and Trainer
- Former Graduate Psychology Instructor on Aging
- Former Hospice Bereavement Counselor
- Former Hospice Volunteer Coordinator
- Former Assisted Living Activities Director
- Eldercare Specialist with Expertise in Dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease
- Certified RCFE Administrator #5569380740
- Support Group Facilitator at Assisted Living Residences
- Training Specialist for Eldercare Staff
- Certified Coach for Organizational Effectiveness
- Speaker for Elder Care Professional Conferences
Testimonial for Carmela’s expertise in working with elders and eldercare professionals:
As I said before I left, “You were PERFECT.” And I seldom (if ever) say that or think that.
You made the talk personal, yet geared to eldercare professionals.
You helped us see how to add joy into our own lives and into the lives of those we serve. How perfect is that?
OHMYGOSH and a HO HO HAHAHA to you!
Mimi Schreiber
Co-Chair of the Marin County Section on Aging
