I Am Giving a Series of Presentations This Week in Montreal

This week I will have the pleasure of flying to Montreal and meeting the staff of the Cummings Jewish Center for Seniors, an agency providing a wide range of social and volunteer activities as well as social services to older adults including extensive direct services to Holocaust Survivors.

 I am particularly pleased to be invited to give the morning presentation to the wider staff, focusing on the risk and causes of dehumanization in medical settings in general, and in care of elderly clients in particular. Studies have shown that there are inherent non-conscious processes which might lead to dehumanization even by well-intentioned professionals who are dedicated to helping others. It is extremely meaningful to me to bring these insights from research in social cognition to professionals who are working with the elderly, especially elderly Holocaust survivors and other trauma survivors, to avoid re-traumatization in the relationships they experience with service providers at the time when they are again experiencing vulnerability and need our help. I am particularly happy to be able to address the non-mental health professionals, as they are often the ones in direct contact with the clients and have often less opportunity to process the difficult experiences they encounter on a daily basis in their work with the elderly clients. The afternoon presentation will address primarily the clinical staff and will focus on the effects of prior trauma on elderly survivors as they age.

On Wednesday evening, I will have the pleasure of meeting with a grass-roots group of second generation from the local Montreal community.  I will give a presentation entitled “2G: Navigating Our Lives and Legacy”.  More information is available from their group’s Facebook page, by clicking on the image below:

Irit Felsen