One Day at a Time: A Personal Story of Stroke Recovery
Carol S. Heape, MSW, CMC I never truly understood what a brain injury meant—until I had a stroke. It came as a complete shock: unexpected, untimely, and incredibly disruptive. I had no idea just how deeply it would affect my […] Read More
A Window into the Past: Honoring the Person
As I think back to my childhood, I remember my grandmother, Louise who was born in 1876 in Copenhagen, Denmark. We all lived together in our old Victorian home, with my grandmother on the first floor, and my parents, siblings, […] Read More
Managing Challenges with a Cognitive Impairment
Gerald and his wife Maggie recently relocated from Southern California to be near their children and grandchildren. Since the move, Gerald has noticed that Maggie has become more forgetful. She was previously diagnosed with cognitive impairment; however, had been functioning […] Read More
The Fight Against Ageism: Our Families Story
About four months ago, our family’s life changed forever. Our fiercely strong, active, and independent mother suffered two, nearly back-to-back strokes.  As a family, we were blindsided. Our mother was healthy, actively working, and traveling. Throughout this journey there were […] Read More
What’s Under Your Umbrella
In the field of psychology, anger is often referred to as the secondary emotion, meaning there is another primary emotion underneath it that is resulting in or fueling anger. Like the warning light that pops up on the dashboard of […] Read More
What Happens When There Is a Suicide?
It happened years ago but I’ll never forget. The telephone call came in on a weekend just before Christmas from my immediate supervisor at work. I never got calls from work on a weekend so I could not imagine the […] Read More
Boundaries: Respecting Our Own and Others
We hear a lot about boundaries these days, but do we understand the scope of them and know how to respect them in ourselves as well as others? There is much to be said about boundaries and whole books are […] Read More
Who Knows? Who to Ask When Help is Needed?
My mother is quickly spending her savings and will not be able to afford her Assisted Living facility. What do we do? My husband requires so much care due to his health that I am exhausted. I want to be […] Read More
More than a Dixie Cup
In the Fall of 2017, I was a graduate student taking an elective on Gerontology, specifically on Successful Aging. The title brought curiosity, knowing everyone around me is, myself included. I found it to be proactive to integrate this knowledge […] Read More
Successful Aging and Life Satisfaction
Successful aging and life satisfaction can be a subjective concept. For the purposes of this article, I would like to propose the definition of successful aging and life satisfaction as: The continued ability to learn and develop as a person. […] Read More