Napa Valley, CA – March 18, 2008 – Call Productions announces CARING FOR THE CAREGIVER, a one-day seminar introducing a wellness model for  managing career, caregiving and self-care.  The seminar is open to family caregivers and those who support family caregivers.  The event will be held on Saturday, April 26, 2007 from 9am to 4pm at the beautiful Christian Brothers Retreat & Conference Center in Napa Valley and includes 7 CEU hours.

I use a broken plate as a symbol of the Family Caregiving Wellness Model. When I moved my 88-year old mother from her lifetime home to a retirement facility 1500 miles away, I broke a china plate. The act of putting together the broken pieces brings new kinds of awareness that are useful both for personal and professional development. At the April 26 event, I team up with Donna Christner-Lile, author of  “Aging-in-Place,”   to demonstrate new ways of perceiving and managing the fragmented caregiving situation.

“We thank our Co-Sponsors, including the California Counseling Association, Agingworks.org, Christner-Lile Consulting, Born to Age / Yvonne Baginski, and The Eye Works Optometry,” commented Sandra Call of Call Productions.  A “family caregiver” is anyone who provides any type of physical and/or emotional care for an ill or disabled loved one or friend at home. As the “Boomers” reach middle age, more will be encountering the dilemma of caring for their parents, themselves in their 70s, 80s, and 90s. Coming to terms with the changes that age brings can be a challenge for all concerned – both sides.  If we are not already taking care of our parents, many of us  know someone who is or has been a “Family Caregiver,” said Call.

Additional speakers include  Craig Sultan, O.D. who focuses much of his optometric practice on Low Vision, which is vision that cannot be corrected through the use of glasses, contacts, medicine or surgery, and Deborah, RScP, the Vice President of Community Outreach for LifeFlow, a non-profit organization dedicated to quality life and quality end of life care. Caring For The Caregiver will be held at The Christian Brothers Retreat & Conference Center in lovely Napa Valley. Bring a friend and get a discount.  Early bird registration for one person is $150, early bird registration for two or more people is $135 per person through April 16, 2008.  After April 26, registration is $165 per person or $150 per person for two or more people registering at the same time.

To get more details on the conference contact 707-254-8508 or scall@call-productions.com or go to www.call-productions.com.  To register for the event, call 408-554-4249 or email call@regdesk.com .

April 26 all-day conference on "Caring for the Caregiver: Balancing Your Career/Caregiving/Self-Care

• Christian Brothers Retreat and Conference Center in Napa
  
• Co-sponsored by the California Counseling Association. CEUs available.
  
• Open to all family caregivers and support professionals.
  
• Meet the presenters...www.call-productions.com/speakers2008Apr.html
  
• Contact: www.call-productions.com.

Memory Mining: Digging for gems from your past good work, by Allan Hay (August, 2007). Book Publishers Network. 102 Pages. Paper. $14.95.

Intended Audience
job seekers, career changers, senior workers and executives, college juniors and seniors, managers, and other professionals

Major Headings from Table of Contents
There Is No Ministry Of Job Titles;The Job Description and Memory Mining; Using Memory Mining; Prioritize Your Skills; The Requirements Section of the Job Description; Update Your Resume the Easy Way; A Cover Letter Designed to Grab the Reader; REsponding To Posted Job Openings; The Interview - Promises and Pitfalls; some Final Throughts

How is the book most useful for its audience?
If you are searching for a job, you problably want to know the best way to find the right job as efficiently and painlessly as possible. In 100 pages, the author shows you how.

The five top things I learned from reading this book:
1. The process of finding a satifsying job can build self esteem.
2. Understanding how your achievements relate directly to the needs of the job gives you an adanctage during interviews.
3. Positive thinking and building on your strengths, backed by careful preparation, can lead to a successful job search.
4. Metaphors, such as "Memory Mining" can focus your attention on how to land a good job.
5. A sales background can be helpful in both writing a "how to" book and in finding a job.

I like to understand why an author writes, why he writes about a particular topic, and what his unique perspective is on that topic. When I discovered Allan Hay, author of Memory MIning (Book Publisher's Network, 2007), was a former Vice President and Senior Career Advisor for Bernard Haldane Associatres, everything he wrote in his new book made sense to me.

It's not that he worked for Bernard Haldane Associates, it's that he was influenced by Bernard Haldane, himself, the originator of dependable strengths and builder of self-esteem. Allan was also influenced by Jack Chapman, salary negotiation expert. With these two formidable mentors, it's no wonder that Hay's new book, Memory Mining, is full of positive coaching suggestions. He is a powerhouse of positive energy, so desparately needed by anxious job hunters.

Hays has one other characteristic that makes him perfectly suited to helping job hunters look for a job "match," rather than just a job. Before working in the field of career development, he was in corporate account sales and management. He is well equipped to help job hunters sell themselves.

One of the first things sales people do is brand their concept. Allan Hay brands his book "Memory Mining," with a tag line of "digging for gems from your past good work." Gems connotate wealth, a goal of most job hunters. According to Hay, "memory mining is a specific technique you can use to showcase your experience, talents, and potential to prospective employers." The author recommends mining one's own strengths to find satisfying work. Throughout the book, he demonstrates how job hunters can demonstrate their strengths in the resume, in the interview, in salary negotications, and in the cover letter.

To support his "Memory Mining" model of finding satisfying work, Hays employs case studies, sample resumes, and charts to assess the job function, one's strongest qualifications, and transferable skills. Transferable skills include both self-management skiils and professional skills (people skills, idea skills, things skills, and information skills).

The job search process is a dance between what the employer requires and the job hunter's qualifications. Hay guides job hunters step by step through an organization's job description and dissects it into its simplest elements or functions. As a result, the juob hunter can measure his background against what the employer requires to present himself in the best light to secure the job he wants.

Hay's key to job hunting success is creating stories that allows the job hunter to both enhance resumes and cover letters and to shine in interviews. In "Menory Mining, " the author shows how to uncover and develop those stories.

The book is short - about 100 pages. That's good, because job hunters don't have much patience to weed through wordy material. They want immediate results. Although the author can't promise that the reader will get a job tomorrow, his process will help build self-esteem and lead to better resumes, cover letters, and interviews. By mining this book, readers can't lose.

One way to take care of yourself when you are caring for others is to write in your personal journal. Following is a short piece I wrote about a special young woman who influenced my family profoundly.

For additional ways to manage loss, click HERE. For additional self-care and caregiving techniques, view Family Caregiver Counselor Certificate Program.

A Victory of Color and Light

Kate entered an "I've Got Color" contest on the Internet. The goal of the contest was to find "the boldest, coolest, most colorful room in the USA along with all the tips and resources we need to get color ourselves." Kate wrote in a post that accompanied photos of her entry, "Color is expression. It provides meaning without words." In a few weeks, she gained 2983 votes and won the online contest.

In response to Kate's post, a blogger wrote: "... even with limits the designer has made this space a tiny retreat with color and balanced accessories."

Kate was gifted in making small spaces not only accessible, but also beautiful. Here dream was to provide that service to people who are homebound and who live in small spaces, so that they could enjoy the environment where they spend most of their time.

The modest sized home that Kate shared with Eli, her fiance, is infused with joyous color, patterns, and an extraordinary style. She created a vibrancy that comes from within.

Kate was a little person with a big heart, a big dream, and lots of artistic talent. Winning the color contest was a huge accomplishment that gave her great joy. She shared her abundant self-taught interior design talent through the apartmenttherapy.com contest, paving the way for others to carry out her vision of uplifting homebound people's lives by creating color and light in small spaces.

Kate passed away on May 24, 2007, one month before her 30th birthday. May the vision that she turned into reality be shared with other homebound people who would appreciate living in a beautiful space of color and light.

Here are some additional ways that I have managed loss.

9:30 AM (WCT) Brian (and Mike, if he can be with us) opens the teleconference, makes a very brief welcome and advises participants that we will be breaking at 10:30 am for refreshments and restroom. He will briefly introduce all the panelists. (A bio on each of the panelists will be available for participants, along with a one or two page topic outline of the panel discussion.)

Panelists will present on (names of topics) topics. Each panelist will prepare a 4-5 minute discussion on his/her topic (an outline of which will be provided for the participants as a handout). After each presenter speaks, Brian will invite a brief 5-minute Q&A discussion directed to that presenter. When all presenters have finished, Brian will invite an open discussion for about 10-15 minutes during which any questions may be raised on any of the topics.

Brian will moderate discussion among panelists. Sally and Marilyn will help each round table group choose a scribe to collect any questions and comments in writing from each round table group as the panel progresses, which they will read to Brian.

Brian will ask for questions and comments from each round table group. This should facilitate clearer communication among all participants. Brian will simply ask each group whether they have a question or comment.

If a group does NOT have a question or comment, they will respond, "This is e.g., Bob Anderson, and at this time we have no questions or comments", and Brian will move from table to table to see who has a question or comment.

When a group DOES have a question or comment, Brian will ask the scribe to read the question or comment, always with a preface of this specific introduction- e.g., "This is Joan Smith. My question or comment is as follows:....."

Brian will repeat the question or comment and then moderate the appropriate panel discussion.

At 11:50 a.m. Brian will end the discussion, and ask for ONE MINUTE CLOSING THOUGHT OR COMMENT FORM THE PANELISTS. Brian will thank the panelists and all the participants, and close the panel discussion.

We thank you for your interest in this 2006 panel discussion and look forward to your participation in a lively dialogue!

MATERIALS
All panelists will be asked to develop a one to two-page handout that describes an overview of their presentation topic including any suggested relevant books or articles. These handouts will be sent electronically to each participant who has enrolled in advance of the event.

10:15 AM (WCT) Sally Gelardin opens the teleconference, makes a very brief welcome and advises participants that we will NOT be breaking at any time during the two hour (whatever time period) teleconference. She will encourage all participants to feel free to quietly take a refreshment and restroom break as needed as the teleconference progresses. She will briefly introduce all the panelists. (A bio sheet on each of the panelists will be available at all the sites along with a one or two page topic outline created by the panelists.)

A panel of theorists and practitioners will present on (names of topics) topics. Each team of presenters will prepare a 4-5 minute discussion on their topic (an outline of which will be provided for the participants as a handout). After each presenter speaks Brian will invite a brief 5-minute Q&A discussion directed to that presenter. When all presenters have finished, Brian will invite an open discussion for about 10-15 minutes during which any questions may be raised on any of the topics.

Brian will moderate discussion among panelists. Sally and Marilyn will help each round table group choose a scribe to collect any questions and comments in writing from each round table group as the panel progresses, which they will read to Brian.

Brian will ask for questions and comments from each round table group. This should facilitate clearer communication among all participants. Brian will simply ask each group whether they have a question or comment.

If a group does NOT have a question or comment, they will respond, "This is e.g., Bob Anderson, and at this time we have no questions or comments", and Brian will move from table to table to see who has a question or comment.

When a group DOES have a question or comment, Brian will ask the scribe to read the question or comment, always with a preface of this specific introduction- e.g., "This is Joan Smith. My question or comment is as follows:....."

Brian will repeat the question or comment and then moderate the appropriate panel discussion.

At 11:50 a.m. (WCT) Brian will end the discussion, and ask for ONE MINUTE CLOSING THOUGHT OR COMMENT FORM THE PANELISTS. Brian will thank the panelists and all the participants, and close the panel discussion.

We thank you for your interest in this 2006 panel discussion and look forward to your participation in a lively dialogue!

Proposed:

1. What skills/values/personality traits/experience/education are employers looking for in employees?

2. What do job seekers of each generation want in a job? (break up into generational tables after break during Q & A)

3. What is company's view of flex-time? What benefits does your company offer (education? volunteer time for to local causes? Opportunities for advancement? Childcare? Pets to work?)

4. How do global forecasts impact education and training programs in the schools, in higher education, in the community, and in the workplace?

Questions for Panelists
Logistics of Panel Discussion

$58 for members/$68 for non-members ($48 or $58 if paid by September 1, 2006). On-site registration only if space is available. You must specify this program on the registration form. Luncheon is included.