An opportunity for SI practitioners and practitioners in training to share ideas, approaches and resources when working with the older adult population in mental health settings. In this live, small group discussion we will look at the following:

Sharing assessment approaches
Constructing ideas of how to implement sensory principles as part of your clinical practice
Discussion on the practical concerns when working with an older population
Consideration of age related sensory loss vs the impact of sensory processing challenges on participation
Identifying and exploring the impact of working with clients experiencing cognitive impairment from a sensory processing perspective

Working with the older adult population presents challenges to SI Practitioners.
We aim to:

Explore practical strategies to implement in clinical practice to support working with this age group
Identify if there are training needs to inform future course planning
Provide an opportunity to network with therapists working in similar settings
Explore the role of carers and family members as part of working with an older population

Format of Discussion Group:

This event will be run by the Mental Health Special Interest Group. It will be facilitated by Leanne Duggan and Rebecca Matson - both Advanced SI Practitioners with expertise in using Sensory Integration across a range of mental health service settings.

This is an interactive discussion group. Participants will be asked to engage in group discussion, and will be assigned to breakout groups for more in-depth exploration of key questions. For this reason, we would ask participants to join with a camera-enabled device to encourage engagement with group discussions.

We would appreciate if participants brought any helpful resources they use within their own practice settings to encourage sharing of resources.

Further Information:

Sensory-based approaches are becoming a more widely-used intervention approach within older adult mental health services.

Key additions to ‘typical’ sensory approaches will be discussed, with the aim of generating and sharing practical ideas in terms of working with frailty, cognitive impairment and how to work with and through family members.

This discussion group aims to identify the work that has already been developed, initiatives and ideas which may be applicable across the wider group. It also aims to identify if further, more specific training is required to enhance practitioner confidence when using sensory approaches with older adults.

By sharing practice initiatives with the SIG group, we are paving the way forward with service initiates and the development of an evidence base which is rooted in clinical practice.

This webinar will not be recorded