New York City

Teacher Training in

“Partnering with Poise” Self-Care Course for Care Partners

A replicable AT-based course for Family Caregivers

DATES: Friday, June 21 - Tuesday, June 26, 2019

LOCATION:  La Mama Studios
47 Great Jones Street, NY NY 10012

TIMES:  
Friday, June 21 - 5:30pm-8:30pm
Saturday, June 22 - 10am-5:30pm
Sunday, June 23 - 10am-5:30pm
Monday, June 24 - 9:30am-7:30pm (@ Balance Arts Center, 151 W 30th St, 3rd Floor, NY NY 10001)
Tuesday, June 25 - 10:00am-7:30pm

COST: $725 - AT Teachers with 5+ years of teaching experience only

OBJECTIVE

To train experienced AT teachers to deliver this AT-based course for family care partners. Be part of a pioneering international project. We are organizing a team of teachers around the world to deliver the first-ever replicable AT-based course to broad socio-economic groups.

Please join this pioneering project! We have developed a successful course that can now be delivered in a wide variety of settings to a wide variety of family caregiver populations.

“Partnering with Poise” was developed with funding from the Parkinson’s Foundation. It was part of an IRB approved research study through the University of Idaho led by Dr. Rajal Cohen, who is the Scientific Consultant for The Poise Project. The course curriculum and protocols were written by Belinda Mello and Monika Gross. We also received a 2018 AmSAT Research Grant.

“Partnering with Poise” is a ten-week group course meeting once a week for 90-minutes. It is designed for a maximum of 12 participants.

The course was delivered at ten sites in North Carolina and DC between September 2017-December 2018. Data was collected pre-course, post-course, and at 6 months and 12 months post course. This research has been presented at international conferences such as the the American Congress for Rehabilitation Medicine in Dallas in October 2018 and the World Parkinson Congress in Kyoto in June 2019, and will be presented at the International Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Society conference in Nice, France in September 2019.

OUR GOAL

To reproduce this course at multiple sites around the world so that we can demonstrate the potential for successful expansion of similar AT-based subsidized programs for many other target populations. In this way we are working to remove barriers to access to the AT principles across broad socioeconomic groups.

Since the original development in North Carolina and DC of the course for care partners of people living with Parkinson’s disease, we have received a new grant from the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America and are delivering the course in Chapel Hill and Mount Holly NC to care partners of people with dementia. We also were contracted by IONA Senior Services in DC to run the course there for a general population of family caregivers. This was through funding from the DC Office of Aging and Community Living.

There is great potential for successful expansion of this course. There is strong interest in funding new resources to relieve care partner burden. This is currently a trending, high priority focus at conferences and in the agendas of foundations and other institutional funders. Our AT-based course is in an excellent position to be a go-to service to meet this need. This can provide jobs for AT teachers, and it offers us all a practical way to connect the AT principles to the needs of the general public.

We now have teachers trained in America and in Japan. We will have a training for teachers in Europe in Budapest this Fall, and additional trainings in the US are planned.

WE WILL COVER:

• All parts of the detailed training course manual, including the ten class lesson plans; class structure; course goals; course terminology; and aspects of administering of course.

• Basic training in understanding caregiver burden and stress and how the classes address those issues.

• Video and other feedback from prior “Partnering with Poise” participants as well as information from the research we did in North Carolina.

• How to understand and manage group dynamics in care partner class groups.

• Basic training in The Poise Project strategic model and in the overall goals of the project and clarification of agreements with instructors.

• Next steps, including ongoing communications and responsibilities; continued team support; strategies for finding funding and community partnerships locally; and future developments.

The NYC training will be led by Monika Gross, Executive Director of The Poise Project, and co-designer of the course. Co-designer Belinda Mello will join the training on Monday, June 24.

Please contact Monika Gross for more details and with questions about the full scope of this project: 828-254-3102 or monika.gross@thepoiseproject.org

REGISTRATION LINK
Space is limited
https://www.thepoiseproject.org/partnering-with-poise-teacher-training

Payment plans can be arranged.

Some Participants from “Partnering with Poise” courses in North Carolina

BACKGROUND

The Poise Project administered our first grant from the Parkinson's Foundation in 2017-2018 to deliver an AT-based course for care partners of PlwPD, “Partnering with Poise”, at eight sites in North Carolina. We received a second grant in early 2018 to expand this program into Washington DC. We are currently administering a third grant we received from the Parkinson's Foundation in mid-2018 to design and deliver a new AT-based course for PlwPD, “Poised for Parkinson’s”, at three sites in North Carolina, and a fourth grant in 2019 to expand it to three more locations in North Carolina.

In relation to these programs, we did research projects to measure the efficacy and long term retention of AT training for PlwPD and care partners.

We are planning 2019 trainings in these courses in North Carolina in July; in California in August; in Budapest and in Basel in September; and in Chicago in October/November.

Cleo, Clarice, Paul, Tom and Debbie in the “Partnering with Poise” course taught by Ashley Hyers in Greensboro NC, April 2018.

Betty and Tom from Greensboro NC talk about the “Partnering with Poise” course

MONIKA GROSS is Executive Director of The Poise Project, a nonprofit with the mission of maintaining natural poise and continuous personal growth throughout all stages and challenges of life through the principles of Alexander technique (AT). The Poise Project is committed to removing barriers and making AT available across socio-economic groups and to those with chronic conditions. As of Fall 2018, it has received three Parkinson's Foundation Moving Day® Community Grants to deliver AT-based classes to people in the Parkinson's community in North Carolina and in Washington DC. She has conducted this AT or Parkinson's teacher training and established a patient referral program in the Bay Area in partnership with Dr. Maya Katz, a movement disorder specialist at UCSF.

Monika had her first AT lesson in 1976 and was certified in 1985 in Lydia Yohay's (ACAT) teacher training program in NYC. She is a teaching member of the American Society for the Alexander Technique (AmSAT) and Alexander Technique International (ATI), as well as a member of the local regional AT teacher consortium Alexander Teachers of the Mountain Region (ATMR). She is also a Registered Somatic Movement Educator with the International Somatic Movement Education and Therapy Association (ISMETA). Monika holds a BFA in Drama from the North Carolina School of the Arts.

Monika is co-owner of Form Fitness & Function, and has a private AT practice in Asheville NC. She also offers AT training via Skype or Zoom.

Email: monika.gross@thepoiseproject.org
Website: thepoiseproject.org
Phone: (USA) 1-828-254-3102 (EST)
Skype: thepoiseproject

THE POISE PROJECT® is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization launched in 2016 to bring Alexander technique principles to new populations, and to increase accessibility across broad socio-economic groups.

Our Mission is to help people maintain poise and personal growth throughout all stages and challenges of life using the principles of Alexander technique (AT).

Our Mission is realized through promotion of the profession, creation of programs adapted for specific populations and industries, and support of cutting edge research in the field.

We use a coordinated team approach uniting individuals who have benefited from AT, industry expert advocates, and AT professionals.

We have received four grants from the Parkinson's Foundation to deliver AT-based programs for people living with Parkinson's and their care partners in North Carolina and the Washington DC Greater Metro Area. We have also received a 2019 grant from the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America to deliver our care partner course to family caregivers of people with dementia.