THE POISE PROJECT: alexander technique for the 21st century

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THE POISE PROJECT

2019 TIMELINE OF ACTIVITIES

WE ARE PROUD OF OUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN 2019 - Our fourth year of activity!

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January 2019

  • The Poise Project AT for Parkinson's Team Building & Training Day
    Chapel Hill NC

    • Led new team training of 6 AT teachers in The Poise Project strategic model

    • Delivered educational training in Parkinson's disease and in care partner challenges with video and PowerPoint presentations

    • Some initial basic training in best practices for working with AT for Parkinson's

    • Led a public workshop for local members of the PD community

    • Monica Norcia and Monika Gross trained 6 AT teachers in the first level of the "Poised for Parkinson's" course funded by our 2018-2019 Parkinson's Foundation NC Triangle Moving Day Grant



  • "Poised for Parkinson's" courses
    Chapel Hill, Charlotte & Asheville NC

    • 4 AT-based 8-week courses meeting once a week for 90 minutes are delivered between January-May 2019

    • 38 people living with Parkinson's and care partners were served

    • 31 people also participated in our research pilot study for the course through the University of Idaho, with an additional 8 recruited for a control group.



March 2019

  • Awarded a $5,000 Alzheimer's Foundation of America Grant

    • For expansion of the AT-based "Partnering with Poise" course to include care partners of people living with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias

    • 2 new AT teachers are trained in the care partner course protocol

    • 2 courses are delivered at 2 new sites in North Carolina: Chapel HIll NC & Mount Holly NC between March-September 2019 (see below)



April 2019

  • "Partnering with Poise" course contracted by IONA Senior Services
    Washington DC

    • Iona Senior Services contracts The Poise Project to deliver the care partner course with funding from the DC Department of Aging and Community Living

    • 7 family care partners caring for people living with chronic conditions were served



  • "Partnering with Poise" course teacher training
    Mount Holly NC

    • 2 new teachers are trained to deliver the "Partnering with Poise" course for care partners



  • "Partnering with Poise" courses delivered
    Chapel Hill & Mount Holly NC

    • Our AT-based "Partnering with Poise" course delivered at 2 sites

    • 13 care partners of people living with Alzheimer's disease and other dementias were served, funded by our grant from the Alzheimer's Foundation of America.



  • American Congress for Rehabilitation Medicine Training Institute
    Chicago IL

    • Delivered Introductory Course in AT in Rehabilitation in Chicago with Poise Project team teacher Rachelle Tsachor



  • Awarded $17,000 Parkinson's Foundation Southeast Regional Community Grant

    • "Poised for Parkinson's" course for people living with Parkinson's and their care partners scheduled to be delivered between September 2019 -June 2020 at 3 sites in North Carolina: Chapel Hill, Raleigh & Greensboro

    • Additional AT teachers will be trained in the protocols

    • Video documentation will be collected, including post-course interviews, as well as pre- and post-course surveys and evaluations



May 2019

  • The Poise Project AT for Parkinson's Team Building & Training
    Tokyo & Kyoto, Japan

    • Led two team trainings of 19 AT teachers & 12 AT trainees in The Poise Project strategic model

    • Delivered education in Parkinson's disease and in care partner challenges with video and PowerPoint presentations designed by our Medical Consultant, UCSF movement disorder specialist, Dr. Maya Katz

    • Gave initial basic training in best practices for working with AT for people living with Parkinson's

    • Led public workshops attended by a movement disorder specialist and local members of the Tokyo, Kyoto, & Osaka PD community



  • "Partnering with Poise" course teacher training
    Tokyo, Japan

    • 8 new teachers are trained to deliver the "Partnering with Poise" course for care partners. 6 are in Japan and 2 are in Hong Kong



June 2019 

  • 5th World Parkinson Congress
    Kyoto, Japan

    • Staffed 2 exhibit booths, for the general public and for health and other professionals

    • Team members offered information and AT "Poise Tune Ups" to delegates

    • Presented 2 research posters on our two AT based courses: "Partnering with Poise" and "Poised for Parkinson's"

    • Led Care Partner workshop in the WPC Care Partner Wellness Room

    • Networked with international Parkinson's disease community members, medical and allied health professionals, researchers, and non profit foundations, and other funders




  • Public Symposium: "AT for Parkinson's" Community Outreach
    Osaka, Japan

    • Using the model created in February 2018 in London, we ran a full-day public symposium introducing the role of AT and the role of the AT specialist for Parkinson's for the Japanese Parkinson's community. The model for this kind of public AT for Parkinson's symposium is now a replicable, working template for any community-based, bottom up, promotion of AT to the public.

    • Attendees included PWP, care partners, allied health professionals, neurologists, and community leaders.

    • Monika Gross led a team of 9 AT teachers and 9 AT trainees

    • 6 different breakout sessions were offered to attendees




  • American Society for the Alexander Technique Annual Conference
    New York NY

    • Presented 2 workshops: "AT Principles are a Human Right, not a Privilege"

    • Presented 2 research posters on the "Partnering with Poise" course & the "Poised for Parkinson's" course.




  • The Poise Project "Partnering with Poise" course training
    New York NY

    • Co-writers of the course protocols, Belinda Mello and Monika Gross, trained one new teacher from Salt Lake City in the course protocols




July 2019

  • The Poise Project AT for Parkinson's Team Building & Training
    New York NY

    • Led new two-day team training of 5 AT teachers & 2 AT trainee in The Poise Project strategic model

    • Delivered education in Parkinson's disease and in care partner challenges with video and PowerPoint presentations designed by our Medical Consultant, UCSF movement disorder specialist, Dr. Maya Katz

    • Gave initial basic training in best practices for working with AT for people living with Parkinson's

    • Led two-hour public workshop for local members of the New York City PD community



  • The Poise Project "Poised for Parkinson's" course training
    Mount Holly NC

    • 5 AT teachers are trained in the 8-week course for PWP and their care partners


September 2019

  • The Poise Project AT for Parkinson's Team Building & Training
    Budapest, Hungary

    • Led two-day team training of 9 AT teachers & 3 AT trainees in The Poise Project strategic model

    • Delivered education in Parkinson's disease and in care partner challenges with video from our interviews with PD and care partner participants, and PowerPoint presentations designed by our Medical Consultant, UCSF movement disorder specialist, Dr. Maya Katz

    • Gave initial basic training in best practices for adapting AT for people living with Parkinson's


  • Led public workshop for local members of the PD community
    Budpest, Hungary

    • Part of two-day AT4PD teacher training and team building. Training teachers observed Monika lead a group intro to AT for PD, and then worked individually and in small groups with participants who decided what they wanted help with from the teachers.


  • Public Active Learning "AT for Parkinson's" Community Workshop
    Budapest, Hungary

    • Using the model created in February 2018 in London and again in June 2019 in Osaka, we ran a full-day public symposium introducing the role of AT and the role of the AT specialist for Parkinson's for the Hungarian Parkinson's community.

    • Attendees included PLwPD, care partners, allied health professionals, neurologists, and a Hungarian Parkinson's Association representative.

    • Monika Gross led a team of 8 AT teachers and 5 AT trainees in conducting 7 different breakout sessions, as well as an opening group presentation and a final guided group discussion and closing sharing session.



  • "Partnering with Poise" course teacher training
    Budapest, Hungary

    • 4 new teachers are trained to deliver the "Partnering with Poise" course for care partners, expanding our teacher team for this project in replicable AT-based programming to Hungary.


  • The Poise Project SBAT-FORUM 2019
    Basel, Switzerland

    • Swiss Society of Alexander Technique Teachers organized a weekend training by three Poise Project international team members: Monika Gross (USA), Belinda Mello (USA), and Dr. Aniko Ball (Australia)

    • Monika Gross led a half-day training for 30 teachers and trainees in The Poise Project strategic model, and then also delivered a half-day educational course on adapting AT for people living with Parkinson's disease, and challenges in working with care partners

    • Belinda Mello delivered a half-day course on working with group teaching and skills with managing group dynamics skills.

    • Dr. Anikó Ball delivered a half-day educational lecture in how to interact with dental and other medical professionals when introducing the AT principles


  • The Poise Project AT4PD Teacher Team Training
    Rheinfelden, Switzerland

    • A full-day follow-up to the weekend workshop, with additional basic training in best practices for adapting AT for people living with Parkinson's and their care partners



  • Public workshop for local members of the Parkinson's community
    Rheinfelden, Switzerland

    • Part of one-day AT4PD teacher training and team building. Training teachers observed Monika lead an intro to AT for PD for 3 PWP, and then teachers worked with them individually.



  • Poised for Parkinson's" course teacher training
    Rheinfelden, Switzerland

    • 5 new teachers are trained to deliver the "Poised for Parkinson's" course for people living with Parkinson's and their care partners, expanding our teacher team for this project in replicable AT-based programming to Switzerland, Italy, and France.



  • International Congress of Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders
    Nice, France

    • 3 member AT teacher team with an exhibit table in the nonprofit exhibitor area

    • Made valuable contacts with neurologists and research scientists from around the world.·

    • Presented 2 research posters on our AT based courses: "Partnering with Poise" & "Poised for Parkinson's".

  • The Poise Project AT4PD Teacher Team Training
    Nice, France

    • Trained 2 French AT teachers with a two-day basic training in best practices for adapting AT for people living with Parkinson's and their care partners.

October 2019 

  • Poised for Parkinson's" course
    Chapel Hill NC

    • AT-based 8-week course meeting once a week for 90 minutes delivered between October-November 2019

    • 5 people living with Parkinson's and 3 care partners were served

November 2019 

  • Parkinson's Foundation Moving Day® event
    Raleigh NC

    • The Poise Project teacher teams informed the local Parkinson's communities about AT at Moving Day® events around the country

    • Table with handout materials and Alexander mini-lesson "Poise Tune Ups"

    • "Poise Tune Up Station" along the walk course with "I got a tune up with Alexander technique" stickers

    • Took photos for The Poise Project Tip Card "Takeaways" project




  • 96th American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine conference
    Chicago IL

    • Monika Gross was part of a 3-person symposium along with Iracema Leroi of the Global Brain Health Institute, Trinity College, Dublin, and Fofi Constantinidou, a clinical neuropsychologist from the University of Cyprus, on "Caregivers in Neurodegenerative Disorders: Interventions with the "Invisible Patient"

    • Rachelle Tsachor, Andrew McCann and Monika Gross and delivered a half-day introductory course, "How Alexander Technique Can Complement Rehabilitation Research and Practice"

    • The Poise Project presented 2 research posters, on the care partner course and on the Parkinson's course

    • Made valuable contacts with national and international rehabilitation medicine medical and allied health professionals, research scientists, and health service providers and went to special interest group and task force meetings with clinicians and researchers




  • 4th National Caregiving Conference
    Chicago IL

    • The Poise Project Executive Director, Monika Gross, was awarded a 2019 Caregiver Visionary Award. Nominated by two care partners in NC and DC who participated in the "Partnering with Poise course for her work in developing and implementing this replicable, scalable AT-based course

    • Named one of 5 award winners presented at the 2019 National Caregiving Conference in November in Chicago

    • Presented a workshop to family care partners and care providers and sat on a " Visioning Caregiving Solutions" panel

    • Here are audio and video interviews Monika did with Caregiving.com Executive Director, Denise Brown:



  • Coordinating European Teacher Team

    • A team of interested teachers in Europe who had attended The Poise Project trainings in Switzerland in September, began coordinating to work together to try to implement The Poise Project strategic model in Europe. Working on:

      • Translating The Poise Project materials and videos into German and French

      • Preparing to expand 'Poised for Parkinson's', and 'Partnering with Poise' courses in Europe.