Wellness Calendar 4th QUARTER 2008 During the holiday season, it’s important to make the time to take care of yourself! During this 4th quarter The Wellness Program offers numerous ways to re-charge both your body and mind. Stress Management is our key focus this quarter. Also, if you haven’t already done so, now is a great time to take advantage of a Comprehensive Physical Exam at any one of the MPTF Health Centers. Read on for more details... In this Activities Calendar, you will find information about all of the services and classes available to you at no charge in the Fourth Quarter. For additional information concerning eligibility, program offerings, and coverage limitations, please refer to The Wellness Program’s 2008 Benefit Guide, or call The Wellness Program toll-free at 800-654-WELL (9355). For Participants who reside outside the Los Angeles area: If you are planning to visit the L.A. area, please take advantage of the wellness services provided. Reserve a space for a seminar, schedule a Comprehensive Physical Exam, or participate in other programs by contacting us at (818) 876-1792. The Wellness Program is provided by The Motion Picture & Television Fund (MPTF), an organization which promotes the well-being of the Entertainment Industry through health and human services. It has been specially designed to address Industry members’ needs and concerns. Please share your ideas and suggestions with us so we can ensure that The Wellness Program continues to meet your needs. COMPREHENSIVE HEALTH MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS The Wellness Program offers several Comprehensive Health Management Programs each quarter to help you and your family members maintain an excellent level of health and well-being. These will be higher impact, more intensive courses that usually run 2-6 weeks. These courses will provide in-depth support, information, and motivation. All courses will require a commitment and class size will be limited. Coming soon…… A new Weight Management pilot program for Active eligible MPI participants to start February 2nd, 2009. The Virtual Lifestyle Management (VLM) is an easy-to-use, web-based program with personal coaching that will help you to understand healthy lifestyle choices, identify easy ways to increase your physical activity, monitor and track your success and adopt and maintain new healthy behaviors. You will need access to a computer with Internet service. Space is limited, so call today to express your interest in this program. Participants will be taken on a first come-first served basis. Please call (800) 654-9355 (WELL). The Wellness Program/USC Lifestyle Redesign Weight Loss Program This weight loss program is a collaboration with the USC Occupational Therapy Faculty Practice and provides therapeutic assistance to help participants in implementing sustainable, health-promoting lifestyle changes in their everyday routines while helping them to lose weight and keep it off. This 16-week course is not a diet, but an intensive lifestyle modification. Each week, a new weight loss topic will be discussed, weekly goals will be set and health statistics will be measured. To qualify for the program, you must have a referral from a MPTF Physician and have a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 25+. There is a co-pay of $240.00 required for this program (However, half of the co-pay is refunded if you sustain your weight loss for 90 days after the completed program and have attended 80% of the classes). For more information, please contact the Wellness Program at (800) 654-WELL (9355). “Picture Quitting” The Entertainment Industry Quit Smoking Program Picture Quitting was launched by the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF) in association with the Motion Picture & Television Fund (MPTF) and with support from the Motion Picture Industry Health Plan (MPIPHP) as the first industry-led smoking cessation program ever offered in the United States that combines free counseling with low cost medication. This program offers tailored, comprehensive smoking cessation services. This innovative program uses scientifically proven methods to help smokers quit for good, including group or individual counseling by trained smoking cessation counselors, group support, and access to a number of different prescription and over-the-counter medications for a nominal co-pay. Counselors help smokers identify their personal reasons for quitting and smoking “triggers”, and then develop individualized quit plans. Quit rates are more than twice the national average for smoking cessation programs. For more information, please contact “Picture Quitting” at (818) 526-7644, or to obtain a referral to the program, talk with your MPTF physician. You can also check out their website at www.picturequitting.org. (New!) Diabetes Management: Nutrition and Carbohydrate Counting (Kati Konersman, R.D.) The purpose of this two-session course is to provide information to patients with diabetes to learn appropriate nutrition management. This class will address carbohydrate counting, meal planning, label reading and managing blood sugar. You will learn specific skills that will help you better manage your diabetes. 401 Toluca Lake—December 1 & 8: 7-9 p.m. (New!) Making This the Best Time of Your Life: Life Skills for Mid-Life (Wendy Wood) Acknowledging that we are approaching a new life transition can be daunting-especially if one experiences it alone. You will learn how to make the best use of this special time and opportunity. Join Wendy Wood and explore how to determine your life’s purpose at mid-life, how to move forward with grace, how to take more risks, laugh more, live more, and love more. There is no single answer, no single path. Come examine the different possibilities, new mid-life models and potential solutions to mid-life angst so you can claim and not just accept your mid-life years. Learn how to invigorate, enhance and enjoy EVERY life stage! 402 Toluca Lake—October 22, 29 & November 5: 7-9 p.m. (Updated!) Stop Stressing-Start Resolving Do you stress over issues, rather than resolve them? Join Jenine Weyrauch, M.A. for this two-part workshop and discover life management skills that will enable you to confront and control your stress. By de-stressing you will increase your energy, enhance your motivation, and have a better attitude to communicate, rather than conflict. Diminish your stress through organization, prioritization, and stop your procrastination. Don’t miss this session and begin living a healthier, more balanced life! 403 Toluca Lake—December 3 & 10: 7-9 p.m. 404 Woodland Hills—November 5 & 12: 7-9 p.m. LIFESTYLE ENHANCEMENT SERIES (New!) On The Road to Better Managing Your Diabetes Join us for a conversation about managing your diabetes. Engage in an open discussion with others led by certified diabetes educator, Nancy Fisher, RN, CDE. Learn from the knowledge and experiences of one another. This session is designed to help you discover what you want and need to know about managing your diabetes or that of a loved one. 405 Woodland Hills—October 25: 10 a.m.-12 p.m. (New!) Stressed – Spelled Backwards is Dessert (Judie Cotton, MFT) Dessert is good, not always good for you. Stress is bad, not always bad for you. Too much dessert can make you ill, likewise too much stress can lead to all kinds of illnesses. Learn the differences between, stress, anxiety, sadness, situational depression and clinical depression. Here is a chance to learn some ways to better adjust your life and your attitude so that you have less stress, sadness and avoid depression. 406 Toluca Lake—December 2: 7-9 p.m. (New!) When Will Anger Be Out of Your System? (Isabelle Smalios) How many times did you promise yourself you would resolve issues differently and not let your anger take over? Anger is an emotion and an adaptive response to a threat which allows us to fight and defend ourselves. Anger can vary in intensity and it is when we can’t control the intensity that this emotion becomes detrimental. The goal is not to suppress the emotion of anger, but instead to modify its form of expression at will by controlling our internal response. Our responses can be connected to unresolved past events or behavioral habits we copied from our parents. Come learn how to convert your anger into a more constructive behavior, which will permit you to get your needs met without hurting others or yourself. You will also learn practical tools to deal with angry people in ways that can modify their internal state instantly! 407 Toluca Lake—November 19: 7-9 p.m. 408 Westside—November 22: 10 a.m.–12 p.m. (New!) Time Management: Don’t Waste Time, Gain Time! (Laurie Seligman, M.A.) It can feel like you’ve created more time when you choose wisely. Losing track of time is healthy and doesn’t happen often enough. Multitasking can actually waste time, drop productivity and challenge your immune system. There are 1,440 minutes in a day. When they’re gone, they’re gone. Come learn better ways to manage time and health. 409 Toluca Lake-October 28: 7-9 p.m. (New!) Work Place or War Zone? (Judie Cotton, M.F.T.) Are you always stressed at work? Is the management fair and even handed? Does it seem that there is someone out to get just you? There is a real difference between a challenging or demanding work environment and one that has toxic emotional energy. We will look at the differences and define some coping skills that may help. 410 Toluca Lake—November 18: 7-9 p.m. (New!) Another Powerful Stress Management Tool: Learning to Use Positive Affirmations Positive affirmations are a great tool to reprogram your unconscious mind from negative thinking to positive. The idea is to take positive statements of what you would like to see manifested and repeat them enough so that they’re part of your way of thinking and seeing the world; this operates in the same way that negative self-talk does, but in a way that benefits you. Louise-Diana, Ph.D. will send you home with your own positive affirmations to help you incorporate healthy changes and create a lower-stress lifestyle. 411 Toluca Lake—December 4: 7-9 p.m. (New!) Reduce Your Stress Through Guided Imagery (Maile Gray, C.Ht.) We are all aware that stress can accumulate over time and negatively affect all areas of life, our physical, our mental and emotional health. The stress in our life also has a huge impact on our most important relationships. Imagery is one of the most beneficial skills you can learn for your own physical, mental, and emotional health and well-being. Experiencing Guided Imagery will teach you to relax and open the door to use your own inner imagery with skill and purpose. 412 Toluca Lake—December 9: 7-8:30 p.m. 413 Woodland Hills—November 20: 7-8:30 p.m. Clearing Up The Confusion Among Dietary Supplements There is a lot of new information in the media about supplements. Do you want to make sure you are taking the right supplements? Don’t miss this informative workshop by Robyn Goldberg, R.D. on reading the labels of supplements, what to look for, how to understand if you are actually absorbing what the bottle says you are getting, and how to get these vitamin and mineral sources in various foods. 414 Toluca Lake—November 11: 7-9 p.m. Aging Well: Add Life to Your Years and Years to Your Life (Judy Friedman) Still looking for that magic pill that will slow down the inevitable aging process? It might not be as simple as popping a pill, but the road to adding more quality years to your life sure isn't complicated either. And the journey will be well worth it! No matter what your real age or how old you think you are, you really can reverse the aging process. Come learn immediate ways to incorporate simple lifestyle changes that can make all the difference in your energy levels and zest for life. 415 Toluca Lake—October 21: 7-9 p.m. Life After Loss (Isabel Smalios) Why is it so difficult to get over the loss of someone we loved, or something we cared about so much we wanted to keep it forever, like a house, a job, or our youth? How does that impact our lives and our future if we keep living in the past? What is the difference between a person who starts recovering relatively quickly after a loss and one who stays lost in excessive grieving? The emotion of grieving humanizes us and teaches us the beauty and importance of life itself. It is important to learn how to recreate emotional balance after having gone through a loss of any kind. In this seminar, you will learn it is not necessary to prolong feelings of sadness and sometimes depression when there are healthy and effective ways to recover from loss while respecting and keeping forever in our heart the people or things you love. 416 Toluca Lake—November 12: 7-9 p.m. The Relationship Cure: How You Can Make Your Partnership Last (John Drimmer, Ph.D.) All successful couples need a tune-up now and then. This two-part course is a new way for couples to improve their game and have fun doing it. This course isn’t just for romantic partners. It’s open to couples of all kinds: business partners, friends, siblings, writing partners, roomies, parents and children. Decrease your stress by learning new exercises that have been proven in scientific research to give couples a renewed sense of caring and partnership through emotional connection. You’ll be working with your partner in class and at home. You’ll learn about each other and yourselves. What’s more, you’ll be able to take the lessons you learn and apply them to other relationships in your life. 417 Toluca Lake—November 6 & 13: 7-9 p.m. Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise: A Psychological Approach and Understanding of Our Financial Lives (Wendy Wood) Our financial identities originate from our childhood. Do they serve you well or not well in your current circumstances? Come learn how to choose a positive financial identity, decrease your fear, worry and anxiety around your financial issues; and increase your financial awareness. Learn new skills and claim the financial life you most want to live. You will also learn to create a road map to financial stabilization and ultimately to financial peace. In the second session, practical strategies in the marketplace will be discussed. 418 Toluca Lake—November 1 & 8: 10 a.m.–1 p.m. Eliminate Stress by Learning How To Communicate Effectively (Isabel Smalios) Stress is increased by conflicts triggered by poor communication skills in many areas of our lives, whether they relate to family, friends, or co-workers. In this workshop you will learn and train in order to be able to express your point of view in any circumstance while keeping a good rapport. You will master the use of language in order to persuade and have greater impact while maintaining ethics and respect toward the people you interact with. Your stress level will decrease considerably because you will feel heard and understood as a result of effective communication skills. Feel calm and successful when you communicate in any given situation. 419 Woodland Hills—November 11, 18, & 25: 7-9 p.m. HEALTHY FAMILY SERVICES Adult CPR Heartsaver course This course is designed to teach CPR to those who have a duty to respond to a cardiac emergency because of job responsibilities or regulatory requirements. A two-year certification card is issued to students who complete the skills successfully. The curriculum consists of Adult and Child CPR, relief of choking and the use of barrier devices. Also included is a discussion about the risk factors leading to heart disease and stroke, prudent heart living, signs and signals for action, and the chain of survival. 420 Bob Hope—November 8: 9 a.m.-12 p.m. 421 Toluca Lake—November 3: 6-9 p.m. CPR for Family and Friends This course teaches CPR to parents and members of the community who want to learn CPR, but do not need certification for their job requirement. This program teaches infant/child/adult CPR and how to help a person of any age group who is choking. There is an overview of infant and childhood safety and accident prevention. (Please no children under the age of 12.) 422 Woodland Hills—November 22: 9 a.m.–12:30 p.m. Essential Parenting Skills: Tools for Building a Responsible Child (Judie Cotton, MFT) Back by popular demand! Learn the right words to say, when to say them and how to say them. Simple changes in vocabulary send different messages to your child, some words are empowering, some allow for others to get credit (blame). This class will teach you the words that will encourage self-confidence, a “can do” attitude and help build a responsible (child) adult. 423 Toluca Lake—October 23 & 30: 7-9 p.m.