Join Pacific Institute's Dr. Nader Shabahangi and Dr. Doris Bersing for Aging in America, March 26-30, 2008, when presenting their innovative approaches in services, education, and research.

Nader Shabahangi Ph.D.
President & Founder, Pacific Institute

Presentations

Thursday, March 27    2:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias: Understanding Forgetfulness: Deeper Into the Soul of Dementia This session will highlight a basic attitudinal shift: Dementia is our teacher, not a disease to be belittled. Forgetfulness has purpose and meaning; rather than people simply in need of care; people with forgetfulness can teach us about life and living; rather than being a burden, people who forget offer us an opportunity to deepen our souls and ourselves. Benefits and Learning Objectives To highlight a fundamental attitudinal shift: Dementia (the diagnostic label we want to replace with the everyday word and concept of Forgetfulness) is our teacher, not a disease to be belittled. To offer a different approach and guide practitioners in elder care through the creation of an innovative training course spanning ten 30-minute sessions. The topics include: Changing Attitudes, Understanding Forgetfulness, Learning Skills and Communicating with a Person with Forgetfulness Symptoms, among others.

Doris Bersing Ph.D.
Executive Director, Pacific Institute

Presentations

Saturday, March 29    2:45 p.m. - 3:45 p.m. Aging Women: From Crone to Mentor This session will present collected data among thousands of baby boomer women and will highlight a basic attitudinal shift: Older women can reinvent themselves. In a society that worships youth, older women end up ignored, mourning their lost youth. Through awareness, they can find a new role as mentor. Benefits and Learning Objectives The goal of this workshop is to: Share a general overview of the data collected among hundreds of women interviewed for this study. Understand the shift of the feminist paradigm from liberation to mentoring. Understand what are the identity issues for women baby-boomers. Learn about meaningful opportunities for these women into their later years. Learn opportunities for these women into later years. Saturday, March 29    4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. Diversity: Embracing LGBT: An Existential Training Model This session will highlight a basic attitudinal shift: Embracing LGBT versus accepting LGBT. Dr. Bersing will propose a model that enhances sensitivity trainings by stating the need of going beyond tolerance and doing what it takes to. It is doing what it takes to create more welcoming environments for an increasing segment of our society. Benefits and Learning Objectives To highlight a fundamental attitudinal shift: embracing versus accepting LGBT. To identify personal and cultural blinders and commit to the removal of them for the greatest good.

About the presenters

Doris Bersing Ph.D., Executive Director, Pacific Institute

Dr. Bersing received her doctorate from L'Universite de Toulouse-Mirail in France. She is a clinical psychologist who teaches and serves clients using an existential-humanistic approach. Dr. Bersing has taught and led therapeutic groups and academic circles in Europe, South America, Central America, the Caribbean, and now in the United States.

As women's advocate and mental health provider for community based programs and clinics in different countries - especially for clients presenting gender, cross-cultural and mental health issues - Dr. Bersing teaches courses in various Bay Area graduate schools. Her main interests are: Feminist Psychology, Cross-cultural psychology, Gero-psychology, and Professional Ethics.

At Pacific Institute she has implemented the Gero-Psychology internship and leads the Institute efforts to create new perspectives on aging and re-kindle the role of eldership in society. As Pacific Institute Executive Director, her most recent project involves building a living retirement community for the LGBT population called Rainbow Villages

She is the author of "Self-Esteem for Women: Utopia or Truth in the New Age" (1995) and "Living: A Fragile Equilibrium. A Theoretical Approach in Gestalt Therapy and Personalization (1996)" with her 30 years of counseling and teaching experience she continues her work of empowering people by helping them unfold their own potential. Actually, she is working in an exciting project addressing the new role for feminist-boomers and their role for new generations: from Crone to Mentor.

Nader Robert Shabahangi, PhD, Pacific Institute Founder

Nader R. Shabahangi, PhD, received his doctorate from Stanford University and is a licensed psychotherapist. His multicultural background has made him an advocate for different marginalized groups of society throughout his adult life. In the 1980's he worked with abused children and teenagers and led anticipatory bereavement groups for Coming Home Hospice. In 1992 he founded the non-profit organization Pacific Institute with the purpose of training psychotherapists in a multicultural, humanistic approach to counseling and to provide affordable therapy services to the many diverse groups living in San Francisco. In 1994, noticing the often inhumane treatment of the elderly living in institutions, he started to develop an innovative Gerontological Wellness Program in order to provide emotional support and mental health care services for the elderly. In 1997, together with his two brothers, Nader opened a residential care home for the elderly in San Francisco called Hayes Valley Care, where he could along with the Pacific institute Internship team implement the Gerontological Wellness Program.

Nader continues to create programs with the purpose of caring more comprehensively for the elderly. In 2002 he helped found Pacific Institute Europe in Warsaw, Poland, in order to bring gerontological and comprehensive care services to the European continent. He was also inspired to explore new ideas for community living and began design of a 'village' concept for older adults he calls 'Elders Academy'. In 2003 he co-founded Elders Academy Press, a publishing program of Pacific Institute and Pacific Institute Europe, specifically dedicated to promoting writings of and for elders.

At the same time Nader also began a program of conflict resolution between Russians, Germans and Poles. Last year - combining his passion for the elderly with his love for photography and philosophy - Nader wrote Faces of Aging as a tribute and celebration of being an elder. He continues this exploration through teaching 'eldership' workshops in Europe. These meetings explore the difference between getting 'old' and growing into the role of an elder and have the purpose of preparing us for old age and eldership. He continues his work by training interns and supervisors in a humanistic-existential approach to psychotherapy and living.

For more information about the conference click here.