Tag: Honoré France

Supporting one another

On Jan. 22, Jewish Seniors Alliance, as part of its Empowerment Series, presented a lecture by Dr. Honoré France. An educator, artist, writer, therapist and consultant in the field of mental health, France explored the early history of seniors peer support, which is based on the concept of seniors helping seniors. 

Grace Hann, trainer and supervisor of Senior Peer Support Services at JSA, co-hosted the Zoom event with Andrea Krombein of South Vancouver Seniors Network, which co-sponsored it. About 60 seniors participated. Gyda Chud, past president of JSA, welcomed everyone.

In her introduction of France, Hann said she uses his writings in the JSA’s peer-support training program. She noted that France has presented his ideas on training in many countries and has been involved with peer support since the late 1970s, when he moved to Victoria. He was influenced by the works of Viktor Frankl, as well as work done in a hospital in Paris, where a doctor and a former patient began a program to help patients by using recovered patients as volunteers. Much research has been done in this area, she said, and it has been shown that paraprofessionals can be as effective as therapists.

France has written a book on peer counseling and peer support. As well, he said, Frankl’s book Man’s Search for Meaning and Erik Erikson’s eight stages of life (of psychosocial development) are still being used by therapists. Communication and listening skills are of prime importance in peer counseling, he said, and Hann pointed out that silence, as well as mirroring back what the client has said, are useful in opening communication and forming a bond between the volunteer counselor and the senior. Two volunteers, Marie and David Kirkpatrick, said they had learned from the training provided by Hann and Charles Leibovitch, senior peer support services coordinator with JSA, and through contact with clients.

France also discussed some of the myths about aging. For example, we are just as mentally fit at age 80 as at age 20, he said, but our reaction times are slower. To keep healthy, we need to exercise both the body and the mind, he said.

Chud thanked France for his comments and his work, noting how effective it has been in JSA’s peer support training program. Comments and questions included Margot Beauchamp on the connection between isolation, loneliness and general health, and Larry Shapiro said volunteering should be first on any list of things seniors should be doing.

A new training session for peer support will begin on March 1 and those interested should contact the JSA office. The next Empowerment program will take place in March, with the Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia. More details will soon be available at jsalliance.org. 

Shanie Levin is a Jewish Seniors Alliance Life Governor. She is also on the editorial committee of Senior Line magazine.

Peer support’s long history

The Jewish Seniors Alliance of Greater Vancouver has invited Honoré France, a scholar on aging and expert on peer support, to speak via Zoom on Jan. 22. He will discuss the topic Discovering the Essential Importance of Seniors Supporting Seniors.

France, a professor emeritus in the department of educational psychology and leadership studies at the University of Victoria, will focus on the senior peer support training he developed. The training has been used by JSA for several years to help new volunteers learn how best to connect and liaise with isolated, lonely seniors in the community.

Among the topics France will cover are the early history of seniors peer support, strategies for self-care, information about memory, the value of exercise and the development of a healing presence.

Earlier this month, France shared some of his presentation with the Independent, including a peek at the origins of peer support during the beginning of psychiatry in the late 1700s – through French physician Philippe Pinel and hospital superintendent Jean-Baptiste Pussin. 

The talk will then move to more modern examples of senior peer support, including Indigenous approaches, and the development of group homes and inclusive treatment.

According to France, peer support is successful when various factors are in place, including effective approaches in helping aging populations and the promotion of the concept of self-help and independence among older people. 

Additionally, for peer support to be beneficial, people need to want to help themselves, there needs to be a reserve of talented older people who want to be helpful and, should someone have a problem or concern, there must be a willingness to seek out peers. 

After addressing various aging myths, such as the belief that dementia is inevitable, France will examine ways to stay mentally, physically and spiritually fit. He will explore nature as medicine, practices of letting go and cleansing, positivity (finding purpose and meaning), and mind-body activities like yoga, meditation, art and helping others.

France said he hopes that, by the end of the session, participants will “understand the developmental stage of aging and the central concept from Viktor Frankl about meaning and the crucial role it plays in healthy aging, and to follow their dreams as they age in the same way they did earlier in life.”

Frankl, an Austrian psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor, believed finding meaning in life to be the central human motivational force.

“Aging is natural and part of living,” said France, and people “can be in control physically, mentally, psychologically and spiritually. Aging is what you make of it and learning is a medicine and keeps you mentally fit.”

France emphasized that, no matter what a person’s condition in life is, they can live fully, consistent with their physical and psychological level. 

His talk will look at ways people can train themselves “to listen to others and to be like Frankl – optimistic, resilient, and always ‘moving.’ And, finally, [how to] develop a healing presence, as well as how to empathize at a deep level by bringing ‘light’ into the world to those in need.”

He added, “I will also provide some strategies for dealing with stress that I use. There will be a question period at the end, and Grace Hann will speak about the volunteer program at the Jewish Seniors Alliance along with one or two volunteers,” France said.

Hann is JSA’s senior peer support services trainer and supervisor.

Aside from his role at UVic, France is an artist, writer, therapist and consultant in the field of mental health. He has worked at the Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Addis Ababa University and the University of Massachusetts, where he graduated with a doctorate in counseling.

His academic interests include diversity, group processes and creative arts therapy. His current research involves reconciliation and residential schools, cross-cultural issues, creative arts, spirituality and eco-psychology (an intellectual movement to understand the relationship between humans and nature).

France has written several books and more than 75 academic articles on counseling issues and practices. Further, he has presented more than 80 scholarly book chapters around the world. He is currently re-writing and updating a 1989 publication on senior peer counseling, titled Senior Peer Support/Counselling Handbook: An Interactive Guide, which is set for publication this year.

On a personal level, he keeps active through gardening, playing squash and pickle ball, carving, building furniture and participating in strategic games, such as Go and chess. Currently, he is finishing up a novel based on his experiences hiking the West Coast Trail, his life teaching and backpacking around the world.

France’s talk is part of the JSA Snider Foundation Empowerment Series and the South Vancouver Seniors Network is a co-sponsor of the event. The Zoom starts at 11 a.m. The link to join it will be distributed through JSA’s email newsletter. Those interested in attending can also email [email protected] for the link. 

Sam Margolis has written for the Globe and Mail, the National Post, UPI and MSNBC.