6th Annual Aging Conference to take place at Fairfield University's Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts | Press Releases

Fairfield University's School of Nursing, and the Southwestern Connecticut Agency on Aging (SWCAA), will sponsor, "Intimacy & Sexuality in Older Adults" for its Sixth Annual Conference for Providers of Services for Older Adults, on Friday, April 23, at the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts.

A growing success over the past five years, this conference is geared toward health care professionals who serve older adults. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. with refreshments and a chance to see exhibits. Robert A. Raines, Ph.D., former director of the Kirkridge Retreat & Study Center, author of 13 books, and national lecturer, will deliver the keynote address, "Aging with Intimacy." He will identify the conditions affecting a person's needs, wants, and inhibitors for intimacy while discussing the seven steps of creative aging.

Ilene Warner-Maron, M.A., M.L.S.P., R.N., will follow with "The Sexuality of Aging," defining sexuality and the physical changes that impact it as people age, including medications and specific disease processes. Warner-Maron is a licensed nursing home administrator specializing in community-based and institutional care needs of older persons. She has also authored several articles for professional publications.

"Helping Clients Have More Fulfilling Experiences of Intimacy" will be presented by Robert Selverstone, Ph.D. A licensed psychologist and presenter of more than 1,000 national and international lectures, Dr. Selverstone will discuss the relationship between intimacy and sexuality and how to support the rights and opportunities of clients to increased joy and meaning in life through interpersonal intimacy and sexuality.

The afternoon will include three breakout sessions: self-esteem and intimacy, how to increase comfort and competence in order to help clients, and the effects of mental illness and cognitive impairment on sexuality and intimacy.

Speaker presentations have been made possible through the generous support of Pfizer, Inc. and Sunrise Senior Living.

The conference aims to educate providers with new knowledge and attitudes about the importance of intimacy and sexuality when dealing with older clients and their families. "We are human beings in need of intimate contact from the day we are born until the day we die - to be touched, held and loved," commented keynote speaker Dr. Raines. Too frequently older adults are thought of as asexual and the speakers seek to change that stereotype.

This program has been approved for four Continuing Education Credit Hours by the National Association of Social Workers, CT and meets the continuing education criteria for Social Work Licensure renewal. The cost of the conference is $75, including lunch. For more information or to register, call Catherine Rogers at SWCAA at (203) 333-9288.