Mount Saint Mary College’s Center on Aging and Disability Policy (CADP) was recently awarded a grant for $50,000 from the New York State Developmental Disabilities Planning Council (DDPC) for phase two of their COVID-19 response project: Teaching Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction to Individuals with Intellectual/Developmental Disability (I/DD): A Train-the-Trainer Course.
CADP’s COVID-19 response project began in 2020, and expanded their Proactive Caring Program to tackle the additional stress placed on caregivers during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, the Proactive Caring-School Exchange program was continued, creating tools and resources for families regarding life transitions. Phase one of the project previously received a $50,000 grant from DDPC as well.
“The first COVID-19 response grant project was aimed at easing the transition process for students transitioning to adulthood at a time when a lot of the usual school supports, such as internships, were not available,” explained Mount alumna Valerie Capalbo ‘09, project administrator for the grant. “This new grant project will help individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities to use Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction strategies across the lifespan.”
With the aid of the DDPC grant, CADP will utilize the Train the Trainer curriculum for the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) model, developed in the first phase of this ProActive Caring grant project, with the goal of developing a statewide curriculum and teaching agency staff, school personnel, and other caregivers how to train I/DD individuals in MBSR.
In order to achieve this goal, the curriculum will be used to train trainers from across the state over an online video platform, coupled with in-person training. The trainers will be family members, self-advocates, agency staff, and other individuals that have a direct connection to the individuals they are training.
The trainers will then return to their home areas and agencies and train, in person, 150 individuals with I/DD that they have identified from their networks.
The project also incorporates a web-based platform to help the trained individuals remember the steps to practicing mindfulness that they have learned in the training. Supplemental to the curriculum, CADP will also provide 14 “Tip of the Week” videos providing guidance on becoming more mindful, and marketing tools for the trainers to use to market their MBSR training programs.
The findings of the program will also be shared with local, statewide, and national networks, and will share the feedback from trainers regarding their teaching of MBSR strategies to individuals with I/DD with interested stakeholders.
CADP is directed by Lawrence T. Force, a Psychology professor, and Jeffery Kahana, associate professor of History.
Force, a gerontologist, has worked in the field of aging and disabilities for more than three decades as an administrator, clinician, and educator. He has authored and collaborated on books, articles, and technical reports that address topics of aging policy, Alzheimer's disease, family caregiving, and end-of-life care.
Kahana, in addition to teaching at the Mount and working with the Center on Aging and Disability Policy, is a prolific author on subjects ranging from academics to social issues in the United States.