MADISON — On August 5, staff and volunteers of Catholic Charities of Madison gathered for an exceptional “staff in-service” retreat.
Titled the Aging Services Mental Health Retreat, the day was designed for the staff and volunteers of the Adult Day Center, Companion Care, and Care Team Ministries in order to help them better serve their clients.
It began with coffee, as all good things do, and proceeded through multiple excellent talks and explanations of resources.
Talks and testimonies
The first talk was given by Cheryl Wittke, director of Safe Communities — a nonprofit coalition of more than 350 organizations working to save lives and prevent serious injuries in Dane County — and focused on a general mental health overview.
Safe Communities focuses on bringing together different organizations and individuals working to save lives.
It aims to unite different resources so as to maximize their effect. In this context, her talk focused on resources available to address depression in the aging (such as QPR training: Question, Persuade, Refer) and to ensure a safe environment for them from both a mental and physical perspective, as well as addressing some general mental health concerns of our society as a whole.
Even during just this first talk, the familiarity and community of the staff was obvious.
Questions and comments flowed easily from the crowd and the talk had a cooperative, back-and-forth style that was very engaging.
The first talk was followed by two personal testimonies: Cally, a wife who is a caregiver to her husband, and Judy Thompson, who focused on how positive mental health strategies are applied across various situations and experiences.
One of the important points of the day came from Cally. Commenting that music was one way she helped lift her husband’s spirits, she added, “Music and medicine and hope is what people need when they have complex situations. And prayer.”
Although the day was primarily focused on mental health in the aging, many common points and important lessons were applicable to anyone.
The staff was being equipped to better serve those who walk through their doors, whatever their mental health struggles might be.
Msgr. Larry Bakke, director of the Apostolate for Persons with Disabilities which sponsored the retreat, gave the prayer before lunch.
Keynote speakers
The keynote speakers were Dr. Sarah Moore and Alex Doll, a duo whose talk focused on authentic relating.
Dr. Moore was trained as a physician in psychiatry, but her practice has grown to be more holistic, and Doll is a former engineer who left that industry in order to promote the practice of authentic relating.
Their talk focused on how to combat the disconnection of our current society.
The pivotal skill of relating authentically and building real community is more important now than ever, especially for the aging.
There was time allotted for participants to practice the skills they talked about, primarily focusing on listening to each other and being able to check for understanding.
This gave participants the opportunity to connect with each other and add strategies for how to relate with the people in their given programs.