Mini Lessons & Learning... From a Distance
We are in the midst of rapid change to our society, our structures, our norms, our daily routines and our expectations for the future. Gerontology teaches us that aging, or living, is a holistic experience that includes our physical, psychological, social and spiritual health. All of these aspects of health are intertwined and what affects one will affect all other areas of our life.
We have so much to learn about holistic living from the field of Gerontology. And the VCU Gerontology family wants to share this knowledge with you. We are creating blogs, vlogs and micro learning lessons on topics like everyday ethics, trauma-informed care, person-centeredness, connectivity, ageism and much more to share with you here.
Watch, read, learn and share with us. Feel free to email us at [email protected] with topics of interest!
Let’s take the opportunity to learn and grow together through these challenging times.
VCU Gerontology YouTube Channel
Visit our YouTube Channel by clicking the link above for all of our mini lesson videos and vlogs or select a specifc topic hyperlinked below.
A Message from Dr. Gendron: Everyone has Value
Ethical Responses to the Covid-19 Outbreak with Dr. Jenny Inker
Boomer Remover': Blaming Millennials and Why Generational Stereotypes are Nonsense with Dr. Gendron
Disrupting Ageism and Promoting Autonomy with Older Adults with Alexa Van Aartrijk
Topics for Long Term Care Communities
Maintaining Social Connections in Long Term Care with Jen Pryor
Bringing Comfort to those in Crisis with Jen Pryor
Activities for Small Communities with Jen Pryor
Activities for Large Communities with Jen Pryor
Infographics
Click the link above to see some useful infographics
Disrupt Ageism
The VCU Department of Gerontology is committed to educating students, staff, faculty, and the public about the pervasive, invisible nature of ageism within our society and within ourselves. In fact, Disrupting Ageism is now a foundational aspect of everything that we do in the VCU Department of Gerontology, including the bedrock of our research, teaching and community engagement efforts.
Disrupting Ageism in Research
Disrupting ageism means raising awareness of inequity and discrimination and recognizing and understanding how language and actions impact the larger cultural narrative. Our departmental research agenda is focused on learning more about the communication and transmission of ageism in order to develop evidence-based mechanisms to disrupt the cycle and achieve optimal health and wellness outcomes.
Read our work here:
Should we talk about Aging Anxiety in relation to Body Image?
Challenging Ageism and Stereotypes of Older Adults
Disrupting Ageism in Teaching
Disrupting Ageism and Developing Elderhood are foundational aspects of our core curriculum. We teach extensively about ageism and elderhood using the biopsychosocial spiritual model of aging within our educational framework. Being immersed in the concepts of Disrupting Ageism and Developing Elderhood are unique features of training in the field of gerontological study.
Disrupting Ageism in Community Engagement
Disrupting ageism is the beginning of changing the script. The next step in the journey is to reframe aging as a time of continued growth, development and evolution – to promote Elderhood as a way to value aging and older age. One goal of our Disrupt Ageism movement is to provide education for the larger community to break down the barriers to Elderhood that have been built upon negative biases and narrow cultural messages of ageism and a single story of aging as decline.
Courtesy reposting from VCU. Being trained at the VCU Department of Gerontology means that you have the knowledge to challenge the single story of aging as decline and to promote a culture of aging as development.