Category Archives: Care Partner Connect

Join Dr. Adriana Shnall, PhD, as she continues the conversation of Cultural Perspectives in Caregiving with featured panelists, University of Toronto graduate students from Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work: Marina Thalassinos, Kerion Joinville and Jamie-Leigh LeTourneau. Part II of this series will explore ways in which we can honour our cultural backgrounds and the relationships we have in care, whilst balancing the modern expectations of work/life demands. This webinar aims to provide valuable insights and practical tools to enhance communication skills, navigate the modern expectations of work/life demands, and strengthen relationships in caregiving settings.

Join us to explore how Indigenous, African-Caribbean, and European perspectives uniquely shape the landscape of caregiving. Hear from Master of Social Work students from the University of Toronto’s Factor-Inwentash School of Social Work, as they provide insights into the traditions influencing care. Topics of discussion include traditional healing practices, familial dynamics, and community-based support systems, offering a glimpse into the cultural nuances that shape caregiving experiences. This webinar aims to deepen your understanding of the various ways communities provide care, cultivating a more compassionate and inclusive space for dialogue and exploration.

Speaker: Stephanie Muskat (MSW,RSW)

Stephanie understands (firsthand) the mental toll caregiving can take as a previous primary caregiver to her mother and grandmother and also as an inpatient acute care social worker and psychotherapist to caregivers in private practice.

Speaker: Mary Chiu

In this webinar, Mary will facilitate an informed discussion, to explore barriers and facilitators as aging adults engage in digital technology, and particularly, in Virtual Reality interactions. She will also share preliminary learning from a multi-year Research & Development initiative called “Dementia Caregivers Skills-Training through Virtual Reality Simulation (VR-SIM Carers)”. The VR-SIM Carers initiative aims to engage caregivers, aging adults and community partners in the design, development and testing of an innovative skills-building and training platform for dementia caregivers to safely immerse in a VR environment, to practice different skills that are instrumental in the caregiver role e.g. communication, navigating relational issues, managing expressive behaviours, asking right questions to care professionals.

Speaker: Mitchell Consky

Mitchell Consky is a journalist with works published in the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, the Walrus, and BNN Bloomberg. He specializes in long-form feature writing and essays about loss, travel, and adventure. When not working, his ideal escape is drifting on a canoe in Ontario’s Algonquin Park. He lives in Toronto.

Speaker: Ifah Arbel, MSc.OT, PhD

Join as we aim to enhance caregivers’ and healthcare professionals’ insight into the needs of older spousal caregivers, and broaden caregivers’ coping repertoire.

On Monday, June 12, 2023, our Baycrest@Home team, clients and families gathered with over 150+ of our closest friends for a very special concert presented in partnership with our friends at the TSO!!

Speaker: Marilyn White-Campbell

In light of the Canadian Center on Substance Use’s recent launch of Canadas New guidance on alcohol use we will discuss our relationship to alcohol including
• Low risk drinking guidelines
• No risk drinking guidelines
• Options for the sober curious
• Making informed and healthy choices on alcohol use in later life knowing the facts.
• How to support someone with problematic alcohol use who has dementia

Dr. Adriana Shnall will host a panel discussion, bringing various perspectives on adopting Possibilities by Baycrest™: a new care model for people living with dementia.

Participants will learn more about grandparents who are the sole caregivers of their grandchildren. The profile of grandparent caregivers will be presented as well as the outcomes for the grandchildren in their care.