What is your role at Aging Wisdom? Creative Engagement Specialist
What made you want to work in the field of aging?
I appreciate the accumulated wisdom and insights of older people, and I have always gravitated toward older adults, even when I was a kid. Growing up, my dad used to always point out how people were often dismissive of old people or talked to them like they were children. He helped me see that this bias was everywhere, and I didn’t want to be like that. From a young age, I sought out elders I could learn from, who I could look up to. I was drawn to the Creative Engagement position at Aging Wisdom because I wanted to be part of a team devoted to decreasing isolation and loneliness in older adults, while also encouraging the unique power and perspective that elderhood can bring.
How has your job changed in the time you’ve worked at Aging Wisdom?
Our team has nearly doubled in size since I’ve worked at Aging Wisdom, and I feel so lucky to be part of such an amazing team, so dedicated, humble, curious, creative, and kind.
What do you love about your job?
The depth of connection I can feel with my clients. I love how my clients show me and remind me how to be present, how to pay close attention. I love learning all the things my clients love so that I can attune them to what they love again and again.
Tell us about a professional success story that you’re proud of:
I had a client who was paralyzed from a stroke, and he greatly missed sailing his sailboat. One day, I asked if he would imagine his bed was a sailboat and orient me, tell me where the prow was, where the stern. I asked him to describe exactly what the interior looked like, what the exterior looked like, the colors, the materials, etc., hoping he would paint a vivid picture for me.
I asked him if we could imagine that he was taking me on a sailing trip, right there in his room. He was a very sensitive and poetic person, quite imaginative and full of wonder, and so he very kindly began telling me more and more–the exact layout of the cabin, what books he kept on the shelf over the bed where he slept, his favorite sailing weather, what he would likely eat on the boat, and so much more. It turned into a deeply bonding experience for us and, after he looked up a desired route on Google maps, we “went sailing” that day. He told me what creatures we would likely see in the water, the kinds of birds flying overhead, and more.
It was a beautiful way to support his grief and connect him to the felt sense of sailing, even when he could no longer do it. It deeply strengthened our connection and was one of the most creative collaborations I have experienced with a person.
What motivates you? Beauty, wonder, presence, playfulness, gratitude.
