ODL 297 Finding Purposefulness in Aging with a Firsthand Perspective 

Please make sure to check with your own state board to ensure the transferability of CE credit for an asynchronous course. Some state boards may place restrictions regarding the modality of training required for ethics credits to be awarded. If this training indicates ethics credits are available, please verify that your state allows them to be earned through an on-demand course format.

2 CREDIT HOURS APPROVED FOR:

Social Workers
ASWB ACE –2 CE Credits
New York State Education Department’s State Board for Social Work – 2 Contact Hours
Psychologists
This course is not approved for APA Contact hours.
Counselors
NBCC ACEP – 2 Contact Hours
New York State Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners – 2 Contact Hours
Substance Abuse Counselors
NAADAC – This course is not approved for NAADAC Contact hours.
Nurses
California Board of Registered Nursing – 2 Contact Hours
Case Managers
CCMC – 2 Contact Hours

Created On: 9/11/2024       Revised On: 6/2/2025

Target Audience:

This course is targeted for social workers, counselors, nurses and case managers.

Overview:

As we enter a new chapter in history, our communities are recovering from trauma, grief, and the ripples of a health system that was upended from a global pandemic.  As many reflect on the lessons learned, they are reassessing what “aging”, well-being and purposefulness means to them. To this end, it is imperative that helping professionals share evidence-based practices and innovative strategies to improve the health and wellbeing of our aging communities. A key aspect of this includes embracing the concept of purpose in aging so we can better support individuals as they navigate life’s later stages with meaning, fulfillment and dignity.  This training includes a pre-recorded segment of a firsthand account of how one senior used music as his purpose and how it changed the lives of other seniors around him.  From there, Chris Millett, will explore how using strategies and resources to help seniors tap into their sense of purposefulness can help improve lives and outcomes for the clients we serve.  You will leave this training inspired and equipped with tools to help your clients explore purposefulness in their lives as well.  

Course Objectives:

By the end of the session – the participant will be able to:

• Summarize the concept of purposefulness in relation to the aging process
• Recognize the importance of connectedness, purposefulness, and joy in an individual’s development
• Explain benefits, strategies and resources around using music and other creative arts as  tools when working with aging clients

Presenters:

Chris Millett, MM, MT-BC

Chris Millett, MM, MT-BC, is an Assistant Professor of Music Therapy at the University of Louisville. As a music therapy clinician and educator, Chris identifies from a Community Music Therapy (CoMT) – eclectic theoretical orientation. After nearly a decade, his clinical experience includes a wide range of populations including adolescents in group residential care, pediatric and adult medical populations, addiction recovery, senior living and memory care, exceptional education communities, neurodivergent populations, and more. As clinical and administrative coordinator of a non-profit community music therapy clinic, Chris also has experience in securing grant and philanthropy funding to serve marginalized communities.

Chris has a wide range of music therapy, music technology, and audio engineering experience and enjoys regularly teaching on those topics at regional, online-based, and national conferences. Of primary teaching interest to Chris is the use of electric and acoustic guitar in therapy, expanding music therapists’ music tech literacy (e.g. effects pedals, audio engineering, synthesizers, etc.), and increasing clinical musicianship.   Outside of direct clinical work, Chris hosts the podcast / media series Make More Music on podcast platforms and YouTube. He has collaborated with many top electric guitar effects companies including Chase Bliss, JHS Pedals, Wampler Pedals, Caulfield Cables, Yahama, Jamstik, Pedaltrain, Truetone, Strymon Engineering, and more.

Anne McSweeney, LCSW

Anne McSweeney, LCSW, President of CEU Creations, has a diverse background in medical social work, education, and community relations. With a social work career that spans over two decades, she has been planning continuing education trainings for over 17 years. Anne founded CEU Creations in 2010 to transform the CE landscape.  Her goal is to provide innovative trainings that keep the learner engaged, connect the learner with community resources/companies which allows for the CEs to be more affordable, and ultimately change best practices and outcomes.

Prior to founding CEU Creations, she practiced medical social work for over eight years – working primarily with the geriatric population in home health, hospice, and dialysis.  In 2015, she was appointed to the Fulton County Commission on Elderly Affairs where she served for five years as an advocate for seniors in Fulton County. She has served on the boards of The Aimee Copeland Foundation, The Atlanta Senior Care Network Niche and Ageless Interaction.   In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her family – including her husband, two adult daughters, and two adorable pups, reading, and college football.

Sade Thompson, LMSW, CDACCT, CDP

Sade Thompson is an LMSW, CDACCT, CDP in the Pennsylvania area. Over the past decade Sade has worked in the gerontology and behavioral health industry with a focus in memory care, and mental health. Over the past five years Sade presented training on various memory care models and helped with development of Memory Care in a private CCRC community. In Sade’s free time she enjoys spending time with her family and friends.

Marv Weisbord, Author, Speaker, and Co-Creator of “The Senior Songbook”

Marvin Weisbord has journalism degrees from the Universities of Illinois and Iowa. He has been a business executive, magazine writer, organization development consultant for corporations and medical schools, and author or co-author of a dozen books. His best known work is Productive Workplaces, continuously in print since 1987. He founded, with Sandra Janoff, an international non-profit, the Future Search Network, in 1992. Their book Future Search is used by strategic planners around the world. He has had visiting appointments at University of Pennsylvania, Seattle University, Benedictine and Seattle Universities, The Norwegian Institute of Technology, and the Ashridge Business School in the UK. He lives with his wife Dorothy in Bryn Mawr, PA. They have four children, eight grandchildren, and two great-grands. He retired in 2013 to a late-career as a pianist with the Wynlyn Jazz Ensemble.
Most recently, Marv and his friend  Alan Tripp co-created The Senior Songbook, an album of songs focused on love, loss, and aging, selling out its first copies within days. Marv, Alan, and The Senior Songbook project was featured in People online.