LGBTQ Aging Well 4: Team-Building Learning Session (Pittsfield, MA)

Session 4: 10/29: Learn to build an intergenerational aging well team/chosen family that will help you learn how to age well collaboratively.
TENTATIVE Presenters:

• Isaac Share, Elder Services of Berksire County, Inc’s Home & Community-based Services Supervisor;
• Rob Normyle, M.Ed. LMHC, Licensed Psychotherapist, who has decades of experience empowering clients to build support networks to confront addiction, chronic illness, mental health challenges, & aging transitions
• Bart Church, J.D., Q-MoB Interim Executive Director & long-time inter-generational community organizer

5 Sessions: Every Other Tuesday, 6:30-8pm beginning 9/17
Pittsfield Public Library, Athenaeum Room (2nd Floor)
1 Wendel AvePittsfield, MA 01201 plus:

• (Pittsfield, MA)
  2nd & 4th Tuesdays, 8/13, (8/27), 6:30-8pm
• (Hudson, NY)
  1st & 3rd Wednesdays, begins 9/18, 6:00-7:30pm
  Co-hosted by Q-MoB & Hudson Valley LGBTQ Community Center

ABOUT THE AGING WELL COLLABORATIVE LEARNING SERIES

In this collaborative learning series for LGBTQ+ people 40 & up, trusted local experts and your peers will help you create a plan, team, and habits for managing inevitable changes & challenges that come in your:

1. Health: how to build healthy habits in eating, exercising/moving, sleeping, & mindfulness
2. Relationships: how to build an intergenerational aging well team with your family, chosen family, & friends that you can care for & be cared for as you age
3. Home: create a vision of a home that will be safe, sustainable, and comfortable as you age & a team to help you make that vision real
4. Finances, Financial Risks, & Insurance: get help creating an aging well financial plan & in managing your financial & health insurance risks and options, & in creating a team to advise & support you
5. Disability & End of Life Planning

SCHEDULE (click on title links to learn more about each session & register)

SESSION 1: 9/17

SESSION 2: 10/1

SESSION 3: 10/15

SESSION 4: 10/29

SESSION 5: , including how to crack the health insurance quagmire.

PRESENTERS

Session 1: 9/17

PRESENTER:

• Rev Wakil David Matthews is an interfaith minister ordained through the Sufi Ruhaniat International order, a very universalist and ecumenical Sufi organization, who has co-created a well-respected End of Life Podcast. He has worked in hospice as a volunteer and chaplain’s assistant, so feels called to work specifically with those who do end of life work, e.g. social workers, nurses, aides, chaplains, volunteers, etc. He is also very engaged in social and earth justice work and so offers companionship to those who are engaged in activism. He has a Masters in Social Change from seminary, (the Starr King School for Ministry) and a certificate in Spiritual Direction from the Interfaith Chaplaincy Institute (CHI). He works well with folks from any spiritual or religious background or who identify as spiritual but not religious. His church is the forest.
  Session 2: 10/1 : Creating Healthy Habits for Eating, Exercising, Sleeping, & Mindfulness. Presenters: Registered Nutritionist & Yoga/Ayurveda Instructor,
  TENTATIVE Presenters:

• Maureen Daniels, Berkshire Health Systems Director of Wellness & Population Health, & Certified Health & Wellness Coach
• Sheri Iodice, Elder Services of Berkshire County Nutritionist & Nutrition Educator
• Sophie Carnes Jannen, RN, Public Health Nurse EducatorBerkshire Public Health Alliance & Berkshire Regional Planning Commission
• Bart Church, Long-time Men’s Wellness Educator/Coach & Certified Yoga Teacher & Ayurvedic Instructor;
  Session 3: 10/15: Learn about intergenerational home-sharing, making your home safe, affordable, & sustainable for aging & building a housing vision team.
  TENTATIVE Presenters:

• Isaac Share, Elder Services of Berkshire County, Inc’s Home & Community-based Services Supervisor;
• Bart Church, J.D., Q-MoB Interim Executive Director & convener of the Berkshire Queer Creative Housing Solutions Forums & Work Groups
• Matthew Bryan, Berkshire Regional Planning Commission Senior Planner & coordinator of inter-agency study group for Home Share Berkshire Program
• Brett Roberts, Berkshire Regional Planning Commission Senior Housing Planner
  Session 4: 10/29: Learn to build an intergenerational aging well team/chosen family that will help you learn how to age well collaboratively.
  TENTATIVE Presenters:

• Isaac Share, Elder Services of Berksire County, Inc’s Home & Community-based Services Supervisor;
• Rob Normyle, M.Ed. LMHC, Licensed Psychotherapist, who has decades of experience empowering clients to build support networks to confront addiction, chronic illness, mental health challenges, & aging transitions
• Bart Church, J.D., Q-MoB Interim Executive Director & long-time inter-generational community organizer
  Session 5: 11/12 : Learn to manage financial risks & resources on a fixed income, including navigating health insurance & building your financial wellness team.
  TENTATIVE Presenters:

• Lisa Jamros, Berkshire County Regional SHINE (Serving Health Insurance Needs of Everyone) Director & Certified Heath Insurance Application Counselor at Elder Services of Berkshire Count
• Cat Record, MS, Berkshire Medical Center’s Advocacy for Access Counselor
• Jeff Lowenstein, Financial Coach, Greylock Federal Credit Union

STARTLING DATA ON THE COMING LGBTQ+ AGING CRISIS/OPPORTUNITY: Here is some startling data from the largest study ever done on LGBTQ+ seniors that underscores the aging crisis many LGBTQ seniors are facing, and also shows how powerful the Boomers and Gen X have been in collaborating to fight AIDS and government inaction on AIDS and in building a powerful network of action and support that saved millions of lives. The coming health, social, & economic crisis LGBTQ seniors are facing is just the next in a long line of challenges the queer community has faced and overcome by coming together to learn and take action together:

• More than 3 million LGBTQ adults over age 50 live in the U.S. – and more than half of them feel isolated from others and 59 percent report feeling a lack of companionship. This population is set to grow to about 7 million by 2030 (6 years from now). The LGBTQ senior population in the Berkshires is growing even faster because of COVID migrations from the big cities.

• 7 out of 10 LGBT older adults live alone as compared to 3 out of 10 heterosexual older adults. The social isolation of living alone, compounded by the fears of allowing homecare, chore-service, and other lay and professional staff into one’s home create a significant barrier for care. LGBT older adults often feel they have no one to call in times of need.

• 9 out of 10 LGBT older adults have no children to help care for them as compared to 2 out of 10 heterosexual older adults. Furthermore, LGBT older adults have often been ostracized from an extended network of family members based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. LGBT older adults tend to form extended friend networks or “chosen families” that they rely on to help care for them at times of need. Unlike heterosexual family structures that are intergenerational, chosen families tend to be comprised of peers who are, as they age, facing the same care challenges.

• LGBT older adults are nearly 3 times as likely to live in poverty as heterosexual older adults, and to have lower lifetime incomes and retirement incomes.
  And according to :
  
• Half (50%) of LGBT+ people reported that they had an ongoing health condition that requires regular monitoring, medical care, or Medic*tion, a higher share than non-LGBT+ people (45%).
  
• Additionally, a larger share of LGBT+ people reported having a disability or chronic disease that keeps them from participating fully in work, school, housework, or other activities than non-LGBT+ people (25% v. 16%). There were also notable differences within the LGBT+ community:
  
• LGBT+ adults between the ages of 45-64 reported markedly higher rates of ongoing conditions requiring care or Medic*tion than younger LGBT+ adults ages 18-44 (70% v. 44%)
  .
• A larger share of LGBT+ people ages 18-44 reported having a disability or chronic disease (26%) than non-LGBT+ people in this age range (12%).

HELP BUILD DIVERSITY: Data shows that the more diverse our aging well team is the more resilient and and creative it will be. In other words if you study and learn about aging well with LGBTQ people of all ages, races, backgrounds, education levels, skills, and expertise, you are much more likely to find solutions and then have the team to implement them. Please invite as diverse a group of LGBTQ friends and acquaintances as you can to join us in these sessions and in studying and practicing aging well in a collaborative learning group. The trap many of us fall into is all our friends are the same age as we are and they all have the same challenges, the same resources, and we complain about the same things -- and therefore are not nearly as creative & resilient as more diverse LGBTQ groups. Our ability to thrive depends on building intergenerational teams that learn and practice aging well together.

CARPOOLING/RIDE-SHARE: If you need a ride or are open to carpooling, please indicate that when you are registering, & our ride coordinator will try to match you with people nearby who are interested in carpooling or offering rides. We encourage carpooling because it is a great way to make new friends, save money on gas, reduce your carbon footprint, and have a designated driver should you want to drink and not drive.

OR : Please donate $10-$20/event to help assure Q-MoB can continue to offer more than 20 activities & multiple resources & services to rural queer men all over the region. If you attend 2 or more Q-MoB events/month, please consider becoming a monthly sustaining donor member. By donating $25, $50, $75, or $100/month you can help to sustain the incredible variety of activities, services, and resources Q-MoB provides and assure all of these activities are accessible to men regardless of their age, income, or ability, and best of all you can avoid having to donate at each and every event you attend. Monthly Sustaining Members pay only once a month and then can attend all our activities with no further donation.

REACHING US THE DAY OF THE EVENT: If the day of the event you cannot join us, have trouble finding the group, or will be late, please text one of the Co-Hosts: Bart at 503-734-6508.

Host or Publisher Q-MoB (Queer Men of the Berkshires)