Programs for Elders

The Nature Connection

The elders at our client sites are so happy when The Nature Connection comes for our regular monthly visits. Our programs for elders are geared to trigger true engagement with the present and lively interaction with their peers.  Delivered on a monthly or bi-monthly basis, each program focuses on the senses: petting a chinchilla; hearing the soft coo of a dove; smelling the forest still lingering on a freshly cut pine bough.

Sensory activities tap memories long dormant and immediately, the stories start flowing!  Elders who may sleep through the day or barely say a word to anyone run their hands over a conch shell and are suddenly regaling their fellow residents with tales of summers spent on the Maine coast.

Our trained volunteers specialize in re-establishing the power of nature through one-on-one experiences and ongoing connections with elder residents throughout the year.

Nature As An Artist, 2018

Rediscovering the Positive

The Nature Connection - Programs for Elders

For just about all of us, the world tends to shrink as we get older. In retirement, the hustle and bustle of life and interactions with friends or co-workers give way to days spent near home with maybe a few brief exchanges with neighbors. With children grown, there are no longer any calls to help out with school activities. Community connections that once grew in myriad directions for so many years inevitably start to recede.

And later, when medical conditions arrive with accompanying memory loss and mobility issues, the world gets smaller still. The result? Feelings of isolation, loneliness, and depression.

Nature Connection programs target the skills that remain in elders rather than those that have been lost. We teach participants to rediscover the positive aspects in their lives and most importantly, encourage those warm associations and benefits to remain in the forefront between our visits:

  • increased social connections
  • reduced anxiety
  • stimulated senses
  • stronger rapport and bonding
  • more active participation in other site programs
  • diminished feelings of isolation
  • increase in recollection of past memories

Click here for additional information about our Elder Programs: