Feeling Valued, Loved and Connected
What is EngAGE EnCOURAGE™?
Oakwood Creative Care™ & ALLE Learning™ have partnered for the past five years to research and develop a new and innovative engagement program, EngAGE EnCOURAGE™.
This program is redefining the industry standard of simplistic and often child-like activities to a standard that is engaging and encouraging. Programs that offer cognitive stimulation and creative & expressive sessions every day see a change in their participants. Families see the difference, and their interaction with their loved one shifts to celebrating a life well-lived.
Using the proven theory that most people enjoy the interaction with others, we have blended creative and expressive sessions with lifelong learning and developed a program that enables everyone, participants, staff, and family members, to feel loved, valued, and connected.
The Need for a Social Revolution in Senior Care
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0890406515300347
Lisa Genova, TED Talk, “What you can do to prevent Alzheimer’s”
https://www.ted.com/talks/lisa_genova_what_you_can_do_to_prevent_alzheimer_s?language=en
What’s In, What’s Out?
Positive Experiences, Meaningful Engagement, Every hour, Every Day
It’s all about the experience. Do participants leave feeling valued, loved & connected? Research has shown that there are enormous benefits associated with experience-based programming. Blending the strategies of lifelong learning + creativity provides new and fresh experiences that support tapping into the unknown and celebrating accomplishments.
At the turn of the last century, we will still riding in horse-drawn carriages and lighting candles to see our way in the dark. In the past 100 years, the automobile and electricity have become ubiquitous – they are everywhere. At the turn of the last century, 2000, we began experimenting with autonomous vehicles, building a permanent space station, and examining a problem by “thinking outside the box.”
To solve a problem today, we need to put ourselves in the shoes of 21st Century learners who are no longer satisfied with the way things have always been. EngAGE EnCOURAGE™ is an opportunity for all of us to try new things, new ways of engaging and interacting and connecting aging adults with the world.
Blending the strategies of lifelong learning + creativity provides different types of experiences that support tapping into the unknown and celebrating accomplishments.
Lifelong Learning:
- Uses adult language and terminology enabling participants to feel respected
- Provides opportunities for participants to make their own choices
- Offers inspiration for recall, reflection & validation
- A new excitement associated with learning & experiencing familiar and new things
- Engagement & interaction with other adults
Creativity:
- Meaningful opportunities to tap into the unknown
- Use different parts of the brain
- Generate new ideas & expand our world
- Celebrate accomplishments
- Engagement and interaction with other adults
- Promote critical and creative thinking
Wonderful Experiences Everyday
Everyone prefers to spend their time in a purposeful and meaningful way. That need doesn’t diminish with age or dementia. The need for purpose is one of the defining characteristics of human beings. Without a sense of purpose, we are more vulnerable to boredom, anxiety, and depression. Having a sense of purpose can have a powerful positive effect, including feelings of belonging and of being accepted.
Using adult terminology and creating a daily schedule based on meaningful ways to spend our time leaves less time for negative experiences. Participants in the EngAGE EnCOURAGE™ program are immersed in an environment of learning and creating receiving positive reinforcement every step of the way.
The outcomes are visible and contagious to those around these special people:
- An increase in self-esteem and confidence
- Feelings of accomplishment of being successful and achieving goals
- Hope for what is to come
Each day participants are exposed to a holistic learning experience that ends choppy activities and provides multiple ways to make the experience come alive: see, hear, touch, say, think, and express.
Familiarity with the EngAGE EnCOURAGE™ process blends comfort with excitement. Each activity is designed to inspire curiosity and allow for recall and validation of a life well-lived.
If you are a senior day club, a community program, or a senior living community, your organization has a brand new up-to-date marketing message. Members, residents & their families are attracted to communities and senior day centers that are using 21st Century experience-based learning to enhance overall quality-of-life for everyone!
Become a Member
It’s time to learn, laugh & create!