General
June 12 Marin Death Cafe
Marin Death Cafe June 12
June 2014 Marin Death Cafe – Date to be announced soon
Dear Marin Death Cafe followers,
Another Marin Death Cafe is being planned for the first or second week in June.
It will be held at Book Passages in Corte Madera at 51 Tamal Vista Blvd in the lovely Writers Room Gallery. Book Passages has a great little cafe so you can arrive early in time to get your cake and tea 🙂 and then walk over to the next building to the Death Cafe!
The time will again be from 6-8PM.
We’ll post the exact date here as soon as we have confirmed it.
Looking forward to seeing you!
– Nancy Rhine
P.S. Some of the participants from the April Death Cafe reported that most enjoyable aspects of the evening for them were:
- “Meeting interesting people with open minds and intelligent things to offer”
- “Talking with others about their experiences”
- “Meeting a variety of new people and sharing in such a heartfelt and genuine way”
- “Just being with others who were brave enough to share their feelings about death”
- “The opportunity to talk with complete strangers and discover ideas in common as well as differences.
- “Nice to be in two groups, not just one”
- “Coming out of denial about “Death” – since we’re going to die… why not really honestly communicate with others and encourage others and ourselves!!”
- “The authenticity of the event, away from trivialities”
April Marin Death Cafe – a successful event!
For more information on future Death Cafe’s in Marin, you are welcome to email nancyrhine@aol.com or call 415-378-6577.
Marin Death Cafe
A big thank you to the 23 participants at last night’s Marin Death Cafe, held at the Interfaith Counseling Center in San Anselmo! This group of mostly strangers from all around Marin, Sonoma and San Francisco came together for two hours of authentic truth-telling – stories, thoughts, experiences, feelings, and yes, even jokes, about death and dying.
From surveys participants filled out, the overwhelming consensus is that meeting interesting people and talking together in a safe and friendly environment about the real truths and questions of life, living, death and dying is a profound and joyful privilege. Folks want to do it again!
So… stay tuned for notice about another Marin Death Cafe. Date and location TBD.
Mental Health Access Improvement Act – update!
There is another new sponsor for this important movement towards increasing mental health coverage for all citizens by allowing LMFT’s, for instance, to accept Medicare payments! Follow progress here:
The Future of Aging
This is the first time in human history that humans have lived this long. We have made huge medical, sanitation and nutritional advances in prolonging life. We are struggling to catch up in terms of caregiving for this rapidly expanding world’s elderly population and in terms of understanding and supporting mental health and developmental tasks of this new, old age.
Ken Dychtwald
The presentation linked to below presents intriguing and informative perspectives from four of leading visionaries and futurists in the field of aging: Ken Dychtwald, President and CEO of AgeWave, Professor Ferando Torres-Gils from UCLA’s Center for Policy Research on Aging, Jo Ann Jenkins, Executive VP of AARP, and Joe Coughlin, Director of MIT’s AgeLab. Watch it if you want to know where we’re headed, what we’ll be up against and where there is hope.
The Future of Aging panel at the recent ASA Conference in San Diego.
Whistlestop – 60 Years and Getting Even Better!
Whistlestop is Marin County’s largest and oldest senior service agency. 2014 marks Whistlestop’s 60th anniversary. In 1954, a grass roots community group decided to band together to make sure their elders were not forgotten. This was before the time of senior centers, considerations for people with disabilities, or specialized transportation. They 
started the Marin Senior Coordinating Council (aka Whistlestop), a non-profit agency dedicated to providing creative programming, helpful advice and administrative services to other organizations serving seniors. Over time, Whistlestop has grown to become the primary local provider of:
- paratransit and subsidized transportation services for older and/or disabled citizens in Marin (60 vehicles, 500 trips a day plus subsidized taxi vouchers)
- Meals on Wheels (to over 250 homebound adults each week)
- a rapidly expanding range of classes, support groups and events in the Active Aging Center
- the hoppin’ Jackson Cafe – a collaboration with Homeward Bound of Marin’s Fresh Starts Culinary Academy. Delicious meals are prepared by culinary students and served by our awesome Whistlestop volunteers.
Whistlestop is where I served one of my Counseling Psychology internships while in graduate school. I was blessed to be able to help facilitate the long-running and popular Seniors Circle Wednesday drop-in support group which brought me to Whistlestop every week. Once that began, I saw firsthand what a tremendous resource Whistlestop is for Marin seniors and also what potential it has to do more. 
Now Whistlestop is about to undertake an expansion campaign called Whistlestop 2.0 to provide even more rides, meals and services, plus some affordable apartments in a state of the art, beautiful living center. With Whistlestop’s prime location near shops, cafes, theaters and even the soon to be completed Smart Train, and with Marin being the fastest aging county in California, the timing of this project couldn’t be better!
I am proud to serve as an Executive on Whistlestop’s Board of Directors. See announcement in the newsletter below. Whistlestop Express March 2014. To kick-off our fundraising campaign and to celebrate our 60th Anniversary we are holding a huge party at Rancho Nicasio on September 28th, 2014. Join us! 
Hogewey “Dementia Village” in Holland
With more and more individuals (and their loved ones) suffering from dementia in our rapidly aging population, it behooves us to come up with some creative and compassionate living alternatives that embrace them with respect, value, safety and opportunities to have fun.
The Dutch have created one such alternative pharmacom. What will we come up with here in the United States? And what will be affordable for the hordes of aging baby boomers who not only are getting old but also developing dementia? Time will tell! Meanwhile we can learn from other countries and cultures.
A new PEW report on countries’ attitudes about rapidly aging populations
Interesting to see how many countries are very concerned about their growing number of elderly people and how they will, as societies, care for them. And how far down the list, in comparison, the US is.
For the full article, click here: PEW report “Attitudes About Aging, A Global Perspective” .
Depression & Anxiety Are Not Signs of Weakness
“How Therapy Can Help in the Golden Years” – wonderful NYT article
Psychotherapy with Older Adults – Recognition in the Mainstream Press – Finally!
This article appeared today on the front page of the New York Times. I am so heartened to read the stories, watch the video and listen to the audio clips with seniors who are benefiting from trying out talk therapy with compassionate and competent psychotherapists.
I think it’s important to emphasize the value shop anabolics online of finding someone you feel comfortable with, someone you can trust. Life is too short, especially in older years, to spend in therapy with anyone you don’t feel is kind, understanding and, at the same time, professional.
Read the whole article by clicking on the link below.