Clinical Social Worker and Licensed Therapist
Improv Comedy Helps People with Parkinson’s Disease
WGCU Public Radio
November, 2017
After several months of studying improvisational theatre and mindfulness, these wonderful folks with Parkinson’s disease and care partners were featured in a story on public radio’s WGCU.
Click to listen: http://news.wgcu.org/post/improv-comedy-helps-people-parkinsons
You don’t have to want to be a performer on stage to learn improv games! We can play them just for the fun of it. There is growing research on the therapeutic benefits of Improvisational Theatre Games for people with PD. The Neurology Department of Northwestern University has partnered with Second City since 2015 researching the benefits of teaching improv to people with PD and their caregivers. Their research showed that improvisational theatre games help to cultivate focus, improve communication, and promote well- being. Continue reading “Play Isn’t Just for Kids-Improv for people with Parkinson’s Disease”
To paraphrase a question a friend recently asked me “How does one meet their own needs and find balance while caring for a loved one with a chronic illness?”
My own experience with caregiving helps me answer that question. In 1996 my father was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. This coincided with the birth of the Parkinson’s Association of Southwest Florida. My father and I both volunteered with this great group. By 2000 Dad’s PD had progressed and my husband and I became the full-time care partners. Because I had consulted in skilled nursing facilities in the past, I was determined to keep dad in his own home and if possible, die at home. Although I had worked with care partners in the past, until I became a care partner for my father, I really didn’t understand the challenges they go through. Continue reading “SELF-CARE FOR CARE PARTNERS”
Caregiver Support through Therapy Margot Escott was profiled in the Naples Daily News in Florida about the importance of offering a support system for people who take care of loved ones. The newspaper reported that Escott and her husband took care of her father when he was suffering from the effects of Parkinson’s disease and dementia. According to professional literature, psychotherapy that emphasizes working with, rather than against, the experience of anxiety – for instance, CBT, ACT, and various forms of exposure therapy – has proven very effective.*
I love Improvisational Comedy because it connects me to the playful, spontaneous child that’s still a part of me, and all of us! Find a friend and create a story together today. Or have a deep conversation with your dog. Better yet, call someone and tell them, “I love you.” Improv Comedy Classes and Performance Groups have been mushrooming internationally over the past decade. Inspired by the TV show “Whose Line Is It Anyway” and comedians such as Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, and Steven Colbert who all studied Improv, there are hundreds of classes and thousands of Improv Players today. These fun and skill building techniques are being taught in schools, universities, health care, mental health (insert Article Below Improv anxiety) and now Toastmasters are learning to have fun and gain greater expertise with Improv Comedy. *see below what is Improv Recovery from addictions and maintaining sobriety isn’t an easy process, but the 12-step programs offer practical Tools for Recovery to help us get sober and stay sober. These tools work! There are four tools we will look at today, in the acronym, HALT, Hungry, Angry, Lonely and Tired. These four tools help the newcomer as well as the “old timers”. Continue reading “What’s in your Toolbox?”
As an MSW and an improviser, I am proud of the relationship between my two vocations and the women who pioneered social work and improv comedy, the “Mother of Social Work” and the “Mother of Improv”. How their lives intersected is inspirational to me.
Caregiver Support through Therapy
Naples Daily News
Improv for Anxiety
Anxiety disorders are one of the top reported psychiatric disorders in the US today. Most of the clients seeking help in my practice are coming due to anxiety issues. There are many types of anxiety disorders, from nervousness to full blown panic attacks.Why I Love Improv
George Carlin, when asked, “How old are you?” “I’m four and a half! You’re never thirty-six and a half. You’re four and a half, going on five! That’s the key.”Improv Improves Toastmasters Skills
How does the popular art form of Improvisational Comedy help members of Toastmasters? Let me count the ways.
Continue reading “Improv Improves Toastmasters Skills”What’s in your Toolbox?
Living in Day-Tight Compartments
A piece of advice often heard in 12-step programs is to learn to live “one day at a time.” Striving to live one day at a time has been said millions of times in Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12-step rooms for over 75 years. Practicing this suggestion can be difficult, especially for people who want to stop drinking. But this principle is essential in recovering from alcoholism and addiction. Continue reading “Living in Day-Tight Compartments”