Full Circle: Spiritual Therapy for the Elderly

When you read Full Circle: Spiritual Therapy for the Elderly, you'll discover a brand new therapeutic approach--spiritual therapy--to treating elderly patients with cognitive disorders. This handy guide will assist you in starting your own renowned spiritually therapeutic program for dementia patients. Full Circle is a how-to book that will prove you can trigger emotional responses in an individual or group therapy session using the right spiritual cues. In the first ten pages of Full Circle, you'll learn about the Spiritual Therapy Program and find the answers to general questions about how and where to establish the program. The remainder of Full Circle contains 80 thematic lesson plans for use in both group and individual sessions. The lessons are flexible and organized into lists to help you formulate the right agenda for individual dementia patients. Full Circle divides 70 themes into these easily accessible categories: Feelings: depression, anger, and shame Life Review: aging, children, and change Sensory: hearing, smell, and touch Special Occasions: Easter, Thanksgiving, and memories of Christmas Spiritual: forgiveness, heaven, and peace In addition, Full Circle has expanded units for higher-achieving seniors. You may also want to use the special notes, poetry, and quotations that are pinpointed within the appropriate specific theme for even more startling results. Full Circle's sophisticated approach to therapy will help you cater to the needs of the cognitively impaired elderly to trigger emotional responses and enhance overall quality of life.

Kevin Kirkland is a music therapist for the elderly at University of British Columbia Hospital and Yaletown House in Vancouver. He received his music therapy diploma from Capilano College and is working toward an MA from California State University at Dominguez Hills. He is past President of both the Music Therapy Association of British Columbia and the Canadian Association for Music Therapy. Howard McIlveen, a CAPPE certified chaplain specializing in hospital ministry, is the Pastoral Care Coordinator of Vancouver's Richmond Hospital. Mr. McIlveen has been involved with the cognitively impaired elderly since 1991, working in an inner-city mission and as a congregational minister.