Elder Care in Toronto, Ontario

I am a woman who has committed time over many years volunteering for seniors, mostly, including years of regular hospital visits to a wonderful woman until she passed from C-dificile. I would bring my violin sometimes, when appropriate, and end up with groups of patients so delighted to have lively music around them. I also volunteered at Baycrest for their Shabbat service each Friday for some years .As a hospice volunteer since 2011, I gave hour or longer relaxation therapy sessions each week to those that elected my help, using my knowledge as a hypnotherapist to encourage people to gain profound relaxation, develop their ability to visualize and fantasize to fight their illness and change their state for the better on all levels-emotionally, spiritually, physically and intellectually. This is work that has carried along to the present, where I now teach a method of childbirth preparation using self-hypnosis to expecting couples. Being in a helping profession and/or capacity with others has been my goal for several years after finishing up with a lovely career as a concert violinist for over two decades. I loved being a musician but always felt that it was kind of selfish as I got so much more out of it than I felt others could possibly gain from hearing our concerts or CDs. I returned to college some years ago after ending my performing career and became an addictions- prevention and education counselor. Unfortunately for me, all entry level positions required 24/7 365 availability which i could not commit to. After a full year of searching for addictions work ( I did get some interviews, but was not a former addict- often a requirement for a job, and of course had no previous related experience outside of extensive internships) others that were already in the field got these more desirable jobs. I stopped looking for addictions counseling work. What I gained from all this was an extensive body of knowledge in psychology, human behavior and doing change-work with others, fulfilling my desire to be of service which has continued with the volunteer work I am currently doing. I am a Roots of Empathy volunteer, delivering a 30 minute anti-bullying program to a combined junior and senior kindergarten class each week at my granddaughter's school. She and my 2.5 year old grandson are the lights of my life!