Services

Lectures, workshops, keynotes

The following topics can be customized as keynote addresses, lectures, workshops, and forums for diverse groups and settings:

• Emerging Issues, Trends, and Promising Practices in the Field of Elder Abuse Prevention. An overview of the trends that have shaped and defined our field, current and emerging issues, and such leading edge innovations as forensics centers, "hybrid" multidisciplinary teams, elder courts, elder shelters, restorative justice programs, and laws that define capacity for specific legal purposes. 
• Elder Abuse 101: An Overview of Research and Practice for Beginners and Non-Beginners weaves new research and practice wisdom in with the "basics" for audiences that range from novices to seasoned veterans.
• Domestic Violence and the Elderly. As elder abuse prevention programs adopt domestic violence interventions, services, and policy; it is critical that elder advocates understand their benefits and drawbacks. This session describes the fundamentals of domestic violence theory, how the field is changing, what's known about elderly survivors and their needs; and how shelters, support groups, safety planning, offenders' services, and legal interventions are being adopted for the elderly.
• The "psychology of victimization." Among the most significant breakthroughs in our field in recent years is heightened understanding of why victims do what they do, and perhaps more importantly, why they don't do what we think they ought to. This session describes current understanding of the barriers victims face in help-seeking, "chronic" victims, and the role of undue influence and diminished capacity in elder abuse and its prevention.
• Financial Abuse. Staying Ahead of Perps and Predators. From shortchanging elders to stealing their identities, perpetrators are finding new ways to steal and defraud. This session describes techniques that family members, caregivers, con artists, and predators are using to commit financial abuse. It further describes promising strategies to lower risk, recover lost assets, and hold perpetrators accountable. Topics covered include asset investigators, restitution advocacy, and daily money management.   
• Understanding the Links Between Caregiving and Abuse. Caregivers may be family members, personnel from home care agencies, and "independent providers" hired directly by elders or their families. Recent developments, including the growing elderly population, the heightened demands on caregivers that have resulted from increasingly frail elders remaining at home, a severe shortage of paid caregivers, and obstacles to screening and monitoring workers have all contributed to a critical situation. This session will provide an overview of the risk factors and dynamics of abuse in caregiving families, screening workers, and the "state of the art" in criminal background checks. 
• Strategic Communication in Preventing Abuse. Local communities, states, tribes, and national and international organizations are alerting the public about abuse and neglect. This session describes methods for targeting those at greatest risk through social marketing and reaching underserved and isolated seniors through culturally specific campaigns and gatekeeper programs. It will help the audience understand how the outreach "message" can go beyond generating reports, to change societal attitudes about the elderly and abuse, educate policy makers, and mobilize communities to get involved. It further addresses what is known about the impact of various approaches. 

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