Wits Workout Training: An Engaging and Interactive Brain Health Program for Older Adults in a Variety of Settings - APRIL 2023

Are you in charge of leading programming in a community setting for adults or older adults? Is brain health a programming area that is of interest to you?  If so, Wits Workout is the program for you!

Drawing on brain health and aging research, University of Illinois Extension Educators, Molly Hofer and Chelsey Byers, developed Wits Workout, a 24-session curriculum guidebook designed for professionals or lay leaders to facilitate their own brain exercise classes. This interactive model serves a need to increase socialization, reduce isolation, and promote intellectual engagement in older clients, all of which complement current aging brain health research.  Through its interactive dialog and experiential activities, Wits Workout can assist recreation therapists, lay leaders, and volunteers in helping their participants maintain or adopt long-term health-promoting behaviors through ongoing brain exercise classes.

Following training, participants will be able to:

• Identify examples of how older adults can practice/implement research-identified brain health contributors
• Reteach learned intellectual challenges as a programmatic approach with older adults
• Provide purposeful opportunities for older adults to increase social connectedness and intellectual challenges

(virtual outreach approaches will be addressed with this training)

Training will be held on April 28, 11:00 am - 1:00 pm CST

Login information will be sent to registered participants via email at a later date. Please register for training by Friday, April 21, 2023 to allow sufficient time for our team to electronically send training materials.

Register By: Friday, April 21, 2023

Training Date: April 28, 11:00 am - 1:00 pm CST via zoom

Cost: $100.00 for training and Wits Workout curriculum which will be mailed after attendance and completion of training.

Add-ons:

• $20.00 for additional staff to be trained
• $25.00 for a USB loaded with the participant handouts by workshop session. Print from a computer instead of copying the manual for session handouts.

If you have any questions or need a reasonable accommodation to participate in this training or access the materials, please email Family Life Educator Chelsey Byers, clbyers@illinois.edu. Early notification is strongly encouraged to allow sufficient time to meet your access needs.