Speakers and Workshops

MRS PEARL GOH is the chairperson for the AWWA Centre for Caregivers and has been an educator all her life, at one time being a school principal. She has held a number of positions at AWWA including secretary of the Board of Management and vice-president, and she was also the AWWA representative at the Singapore Council of Women's Organisation for many years. In 2005, she was asked by the then-president, Claire Lim, to spearhead a new project called the Caregivers Training Centre (CTC). After AWWA was selected by NCSS to be the national caregiver centre in 2006, CTC was renamed the Centre for Caregivers (CFC). Since becoming chairperson of CFC since 2005, Pearl has brought caregiving to the forefront at a time when it was relatively unknown.

MR LAURENCE WEE is a Nominated Member of Parliament and is the executive director of the Presbyterian Community Services. He is also the immediate past president of the Gerontological Society of Singapore. Laurence has been in the social service sector for the past 30 years and his wide range of community service experiences cover work with children, youth, family and the elderly. He serves on a number of voluntary organisations' committees such as the Centre for Seniors, president of Care Corner Family Service Centre (Admiralty) and was past chairman of St Luke's Hospital Medifund Committee. He has been a speaker at various functions and seminars on ageing, parenting and social services for volunteers.

DR RICHARD BIRKEL is the executive director of the Rosalynn Carter Institute (RCI) and the Pope Distinguished Chair in Caregiving at Georgia Southwestern State University, United States of America. Prior to this, he served as the chief executive officer for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), the Lt JP Kennedy Institute in Washington, DC and the Immune Deficiency Foundation. He was startup-director of the Office of Prevention for the National Mental Health Association (now, Mental Health America) and was architect of the National Prevention Coalition. He has been principal investigator on more than a dozen research and demonstration grants in diverse areas of public health including family home-care, HIV/AIDS outreach, substance abuse prevention and treatment, and ageing. He speaks frequently worldwide on family caregiving and evidence-based approaches to supporting caregivers. He has served on the faculty of the Pennsylvania State University, the University of Maryland and Georgia Southwestern State University. He received his B.A. from Yale University, and his Masters and Doctoral Degrees from the University of Virginia.

DR RICHARD BIRKEL will deliver the keynote speech titled “Choosing To Care: A Journey of Discovery” as well as a professional talk titled “Supporting Family Caregivers Using Evidence Based Practices.”.

“Choosing To Care: A Journey of Discovery”

While the factors that trigger caregiving responsibilities, such as the onset of illness and disability in a loved one, may be beyond your control, you must ultimately make a choice to care, and care in a particular way. The way in which you view care, the lens through which you understand the tasks at hand, and what you decide is important and are things that you can and do choose. Research shows that your appraisal of the caregiving responsibilities and challenges you face is among the most powerful forces mediating the level of stress and burden you experience as caregivers, and the possibilities for personal growth and fulfillment.

This presentation will summarize what is known about successful coping with the stress of caregiving. Research over the past two decades has shown that the stress of caregiving does not affect caregiver health and well being through a direct path, but is mediated by appraisal, social support and coping. These findings will be used to present an approach to caregiving that is based on personal choice. “Choosing to Care” emphasizes the importance of:

1) Choosing to find personal meaning in the caregiving experience,
2) Choosing those with whom the caregiving journey will be taken, and
3) Choosing to learn specific skills that will help you master the challenges specific to your situation.

The overall goal of this session is to provide a framework for caregivers that emphasises personal empowerment through active choices.

“Supporting Family Caregivers Using Evidence Based Practices”
(*Please note that this presentation is for professionals only, family caregivers will attend the empowerment workshops conducted by the other speakers)

This presentation will provide an overview of the work done by the Rosalynn Carter Institute in Caregiving in promoting evidence-based programs for family caregivers. You will examine the need to support family caregivers and look at effective programs and strategies for that purpose. The development of evidence-based caregiver interventions in the United States over the past two decades will be reviewed and several examples of existing programs will be provided. Factors associated with program effectiveness will also be reviewed. The basic elements of a public health approach to caregiver support will be presented, including:

1) Population surveillance
2) Caregiver assessment
3) Availability of interventions for caregivers at different levels of risk, and effective implementation strategies.

Opportunity for questions and discussion of next steps will be included.

Closing Address

MR RODNEY WOULFE, counsellor and performance coach at Life Paths, brings over 10 years of experience in the designing and facilitation of programs in organisational and personal development.

He conducts workshops for the Social Service Training Institute (SSTI) on caring for the professional caregiver and preventing caregiver burnout, and is presently developing a series of workshops for family caregivers for the Asian Women's Welfare Association (AWWA).

Besides providing workshops for human resource management and personnel, Rodney also runs courses on developing emotional intelligence, anger and stress management, motivational conversations, life balance and achieving peak performance.

He has a Masters in Business Administration (in Training and Development) as well as a Masters degree in Counselling.

Mr Rodney Woulfe will be speaking on the following topic:
Handling Your Emotions as a Caregiver

Caregivers can go through a myriad of emotions from joy, hope and fulfillment to despair, anger, grief, sadness and resentment. This can lead to a draining of energy and can also cloud your thinking and decision making as a caregiver, causing you to be withdrawn and in turn damaging relationships.

This workshop will allow you to learn how to get in touch with and manage these emotions, as well as reduce their intensity so they do not take a toll on you.

DR PATSY TAN is an American Board-Certified Music Therapist with 10 years of working experience in the United States before joining Singapore General Hospital (SGH) in 2005. She is also a certified neurologic Music Therapist and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Music Therapist.

As an experienced Music Therapist, she has introduced music therapy programmes to SGH and National Heart Centre (NHC), and has given talks, lectures and conference presentations in Singapore, Taiwan, China and the United States of America on the subject matter.

Currently, Dr Tan is serving in the Founding and Editorial Board. Committee in the International Association for Music and Medicine.

Dr Patsy Tan will be speaking on the following topic:
Using Music to Bond with Your Loved One with Alzheimer's

Music Therapy is a healthcare profession that uses music to address physical, emotional, cognitive, and social needs of individuals of all ages. It has been used effectively on children and adults with disabilities and illnesses as it helps to promote wellness, manage stress, express feelings, enhance memory and improve communication.

Over the years, Music Therapy has become a therapeutic tool for those suffering from Alzheimer's disease and related dementias, strokes and depression. This workshop will touch on how you can use music therapy for your loved one with Alzheimer's and also use it to enhance your own well-being.

MR WONG CHAI KEE is the author of "Even When She Forgot My Name - Love, Life and My Mother's Alzheimer's". This critically-acclaimed memoir is part family history, part psychological portrayal, and mostly a first-person account of lives bruised and blessed by Alzheimer's.

A Melbourne University-trained psychologist, Chai Kee heads his own management consultancy company called CPS Consultants. An expert presenter, he has addressed both large conferences and small workshops alike, working with clients such as DBS, IBM and Shell.

Find that you are having a hard time balancing caregiving with your working life? The PPP (purpose-priority-planning) principles of meeting time demands and life aspirations will allow you, as caregivers, to achieve realistic and challenging goals while giving attention to yourselves and the loved ones you are committed to in caregiving.

This workshop will show how these principles can sustain purposeful caregiving, guide you on prioritising what you must do, and make time for meaningful things to do for yourselves and the loved ones you are caring for. Mr Wong will also share his expertise as a time management consultant and psychotherapist as well as his own two-year caregiving journey with his Alzheimer's -stricken mother.

MR PHILIP MERRY, owner and president of Philip Merry Consulting Group, has been consulting and training teams and leaders in organisations for 28 years in 50 countries. He focuses on how concepts from positive and happiness psychology can improve well-being and results in the workplace. He also helps global organisations understand and deal with the impact to the bottom line due to cross cultural and global issues. He aids people in recognising how culture and personality clashes can eat away at well-being and happiness of staff, and is a recognised specialist in this area and is often sought after by many of the world' leading organisations. As someone who is passionate about driving results in organisations by enhancing happiness and well-being, Philip organised the 1st Asian Happiness and Well-Being Conference in 2008 and led the search for Singapore's happiest person. He originally trained and practiced as a family therapist and marriage counsellor and is no stranger to issues of family conflict and family harmony.

Mr Philip Merry will be speaking on the following topics:
Conflict and Communication in Caregiving

Knowing how to communicate effectively is crucial to you as a caregiver. This workshop will explore communication within the family in caregiving situations, specifically helping you become more aware of your communication style and how to handle yourself especially in conflict situations. By developing effective communication and influencing skills, effectiveness can be greatly enhanced and ideas and/or messages are delivered in a way which ensures understanding, thus helping people work together rather than against each other.

Managing Your Stress
Do you feel the day is not long enough and you need to better manage your work/life balance? Do you feel you take on too much and can't say no? You might need to manage your stress more effectively.

From this workshop, you will learn stress management techniques, identify symptoms of stress, assess your personal stress profile, understand the difference between positive and negative stressors, identify sources of stress in your life and learn how your style in human interaction can cause stress. You will also learn how to develop a personal action plan that will have immediate and long-term benefits in managing your stress.

From Learning to Action - The Next Steps
This session brings together what was learnt throughout the day so that you can leave with an action plan on how to maximise your "Self-care" as caregivers. Individually and in groups, you will identify key moments from the day where you feel that you have learnt something that you can put into practice in your lives.

MR SHERMAN CHAN is the Operations Manager for the Centre for Enabled Living and has been working in the social work sector for 11 years focusing on elder care. Currently in Centre for Enabled Living, he is overseeing various schemes such as the Assistive Technology Fund (ATF), Carpark Label Scheme for persons with physical disabilities, Foreign Domestic Worker (FDW) Levy Concession (for persons with disability), Traffic Accident Fund (TAF) and Caregivers Training Grant (CTG). His experience spans various elder care settings and his passion is serving elderly people while providing direct care. He is also a grassroots leader and acting secretary for the Teck Ghee Resident’s Committee Zone “F” where he is actively involved in welfare projects. Sherman also holds a Master of Science in Counselling.

DR R AKHILESWARAN is the chief executive officer and medical director of HCA Hospice Care. After practicing radiation oncology and palliative medicine for 16 years, he moved into palliative medicine full-time and has been practicing for 8 years. He has done fellowships in France, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. He has spoken at medical conferences worldwide and has published articles in leading medical journals. Dr Akhileswaran joined HCA Hospice Care as its medical director in 2001 and was promoted as its chief executive officer and medical director in 2007. He has been shaping HCA to be a "Centre of Excellence in Hospice Home Care" and is actively involved in teaching palliative medicine to medical students, doctors, nurses and volunteers. He is currently pursuing his MBA (part-time) from the National University of Singapore (NUS), which he will complete end of this year.

MS ANITA HO, project manager of AWWA Centre for Caregivers, has 15 years’ social service experience working with children, youth, elderly and family caregivers. Anita is a registered social worker in Hong Kong, England and Singapore and graduated with a Bachelor Degree in Social Work from the University of Hertfordshire. She managed Dorcas Home Care Service, the first home care service in Singapore, for more than 6 years and contributed to the development of the home care service model, along with the standards and benchmarks with the National Council of Social Service (NCSS) and other home care service providers. In 2005, she joined AWWA to develop a caregiver’s training and support programme and later was instrumental in setting up AWWA Centre for Caregivers in 2006 with the support from the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports, and the NCSS. The Centre has since reached out to some 26,000 family caregivers and has successfully raised public awareness on caregiving issues. She has been a member of the Gerontological Society Singapore for the past 10 years and held the role of honorary secretary from 2006 to 2009.

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR PREMARANI KANNUSAMY is the Director of Nursing at the Institute of Mental Health , Singapore . She is also an Adjunct Associate Professor of Nursing at the Alice Lee Centre for Nursing Studies at National University of Singapore. Prema was a World Health Organisation Fellow and holds a PhD (majoring in management), Graduate Diploma in Advanced Nursing (Nursing Education) and Bachelor of Nursing from the La Trobe University, Melbourne. She also has a Master of Health Science with Distinction (Health Administration) from Queensland , Australia . She has a strong passion for education and has been teaching for the last 22 years at NUS, NTU and the Polytechnics. Prema was instrumental in developing the curriculum for the Bachelor in Nursing and the Master in Nursing program at NUS. Her passion also extends to research and evidence-based practice. She has been the Principal Investigator of several research studies, and has published and presented extensively in the local and international arena. This year, she was also instrumental in publishing five clinical practice guidelines on mental health nursing care. Prema has also received 28 international, national and regional awards, including the highest accolade for nurses, The President’s Award, in 2004.

MS LINDA CHUA is a management commiitee member of the Alzheimer’s Disease Association Singapore. The youngest of six siblings, Linda is an ex-caregiver and returned from abroad in 2002 to care for her mother who had Alzheimer’s disease. Even though it was not easy caring for her loved one while seeing her condition deteriorate gradually, Linda took on the task with a positive attitude, making sure her mother was well cared for through five years till her demise in 2007. She found the caregiving role challenging yet rewarding and is happy to share her experiences with other caregivers. She has conducted caregivers’ training sessions at the Alzheimer’s Disease Association’s centre to provide support to caregivers and help them in managing their stress. She is a certified hypnotherapist and helps her clients with everyday problems and issues and also teaches self-hypnosis.

MS FAEZAH SHAIKH KADIR is an assistant manager at Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) covering the ACTION team project which spans nationwide across all restructured hospitals. The ACTION project was initiated by Ministry of Health (MOH) and AIC to ensure a smooth transition of elderly patients from the hospitals to their homes. With over 24 years of experience both abroad and locally, Faezah has been in various nursing specialties throughout her career. She has a special interest and is qualified in geriatric nursing. Faezah had headed the geriatric ward at Changi General Hospital since 1996 before joining AIC. Whilst in the hospital she has helped to set up services for elderly in specialty areas like orthogeriatric care, managing the elderly fallers and helping caregivers manage and care for their loved ones with dementia. Currently at AIC, she is managing the transitional care project in the hospitals with the care coordinators, assisting patients and their family transit smoothly across the continuum of care. She has helped explore care options and support caregivers in making important care decisions throughout their caregiving journey. .