ODL 260: Managing Resistance when Working with Seniors and Their Loved Ones

Created on 09/28/2023

Target Audience:

This course is targeted for social workers, case managers, nurses, and counselors.

Overview

Working with seniors and their loved ones can be challenging yet rewarding work. Presented by Rebecca Abenante, MA, MSW, LSW ASW-G, Healthy Aging Coordinator and Geriatrics Fellowship Program Coordinator at Atlantic Health System, this course engages in a discussion around managing resistance when working with seniors and their care partners. Participants will leave with new insights, tools, and resources for your work with older adults and their loved ones. 

Course Objectives:

By the end of the session – the participant will be able to:

• Identify some of the challenges faced by caregivers and solutions that can be implemented
• Name some ethical principles/dilemmas that can arise around caregiving, care partner mental health and advanced care planning and how the helping professional can assist in resolving these  
• State two best practices and resources around Advance Care Planning with seniors and their care partners

Presenter:

Rebecca Abenante, MA, MSW, LSW, ASW-G

Rebecca Abenante coordinates the Healthy Aging Program at Atlantic Health System and has been involved with a wide variety of geriatric services at Morristown Medical Center since 2009.  With the addition of a second fellow position in 2021, Rebecca also became the Geriatrics Fellowship Program Coordinator at Morristown Medical Center. Rebecca has been working with seniors and their families for more than 20 years in a variety of settings, including senior affordable housing, assisted living, skilled nursing and acute care.  Through the Healthy Aging Program’s hotline, community presentations and outpatient social work consultation at the David and Joan Powell Center for Healthy Aging’s Geriatric Assessment Center, she has experience educating and guiding older adults and their caregivers towards appropriate services and supports.

In addition to her work with Atlantic Health System, Rebecca has been an adjunct professor at William Paterson University in the Department of Public Health since 2014 and teaches undergraduate students about social gerontology.  She has a Bachelor’s of Sociology and Certificate in Gerontology from Kean University, a Masters of Arts degree in Counseling from Fairleigh Dickinson University, a Masters of Social Work degree and Certificate in Aging from Rutgers University and is a Licensed Social Worker in the State of New Jersey. Rebecca is also certified by the National Association of Social Workers as an Advanced Social Worker in Gerontology.

1 CREDIT HOUR APPROVED FOR:

Social Workers
ASWB ACE – 1 Ethics CE Credit**
New York State Education Department’s State Board for Social Work – 1 Contact Hour
Case Managers
CCMC – 1 Ethics Hour
Nurses
California Board of Registered Nursing – 1 Contact Hour
Counselors: 1 Ethics Hour or 1 Contact Hour*
NBCC ACEP – 1 Contact Hour
New York State Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners – 1 Contact Hour

* Some states do not require/accept ethics hours for counselors, for those cases contact hours will be awarded.
** ACE individual course approval meets the NJ Board of Social Work Examiners requirements for individual course approval pursuant to NJ Code 13:44G-6.4.16

Please make sure to check with your own state board to ensure the transferability of CE credit for an asynchronous course. Some state boards may place restrictions regarding the modality of training required for ethics credits to be awarded. If this training indicates ethics credits are available, please verify that your state allows them to be earned through an on-demand course format.