Background: The Hummingbird ProjectTM Approach
At The Hummingbird Project, we believe in living our whole lives through truly living at every age and stage.
Our company was founded on this belief. We are passionate about supporting older adults, especially those living with dementia. Our driving purpose for professional care managers and fiduciaries is to help you enhance the quality of life for your clients.
A Passion for Quality of Life
Our passion for quality of life started at the inception of our company. For over ten years of working with older adults facing declining health, mood, or functioning, we have witnessed the challenges confronting our client families. Professional care providers and family members often share concerns such as:
- How difficult it is to start a meaningful conversation and connect with an aging loved one who may not remember one visit from the next.
- How they struggle to engage that person meaningfully despite spending many hours with a client daily.
Our one-on-one therapeutic activity program, introduced in 2013, specifically addresses those concerns. Our personalized and therapeutic activities for older adults ignite meaningful engagement that helps abate their sense of isolation, boredom, and loss of purpose.
From Individualized Delivery to a Turn-Key Solution
We know from a decade’s experience that our tailored, individual approach works. We’ve seen how Hummingbird Project’s quality-of-life activities significantly impact a person’s overall well-being. We’ve observed the positive changes in clients’ outlook, whether it’s seeing photos of their parents or grandparents, making things with their hands, or rekindling lifelong learning with an intellectual pursuit. The activities uplift spirits.
With more than ten years of success with these individualized programs, the Hummingbird Project founders Nina Herndon and Kari Rogenski were confronted with a nagging question:
How can we create a turn-key tool encompassing some of the proven therapeutic activities that can deliver benefits beyond our personalized therapeutic program?
That question led to the answer: the creation of our unique, off-the-shelf tool for family members and care providers. Guided by the answer, the founders created a series of quality-of-life activities packaged in one kit: Joyful Moments.
Joyful Moments opens a groundbreaking opportunity for any caregiver or professional. Regular visits with a loved one or client can now be transformed from the mundane to memory-making (even for those with memory loss).
Focus on Holistic Quality of Life Driving Today’s Eldercare
To appreciate the value of Joyful Moments, it’s essential to understand the evidence-based principles at the foundation of the Hummingbird Project’s approach to eldercare.
Today’s eldercare is changing. A new philosophy focused on holistic quality of life is revolutionizing eldercare. The groundbreaking work of our therapeutic activity specialists has helped inspire the growing holistic movement.
Holistic care means going beyond a person’s physical care. While everyday care starts with ensuring that basic physical and hygiene needs are met, there is much more required for older adults to experience purpose.
The Hummingbird Project philosophy is centered on the seven domains of wellness – the essential ingredients to a holistic quality of life. In short, stimulating all seven domains leads to self-actualization. The domains span:
- Physical — movement is good for the body, mind, and emotions.
- Spirituality — provides deeper meaning, satisfaction, and gratitude.
- Intellectual — stimulation of the mind.
- Vocational — activities that make one feel productive.
- Creative — expressions of creativity improve quality of life.
- Environmental — feeling harmonious in their environment.
- Emotional — connecting to other people.
Our Turn-key Solution: Therapeutic Activities for Older Adults
The seven domains of wellness shape the contents of our Joyful Moments kit. We created four cards for each domain: one that describes the domain and its value, and the other three cards provide activities that stimulate benefits associated with that domain.
How do Joyful Moments Work?
Very simply. Think of them like a recipe card! A beautiful image on the front; exactly how to engage the featured activity on the back. For example, we’ll walk you through an activity card that stimulates gratitude, an essential component of spirituality.
First, the card “Attitude of Gratitude” outlines how counting blessings can significantly improve our everyday lives as we age.
Then, three gratitude-stimulating activities are presented in separate cards. Below are the step-by-step instructions for creating a “Three Good Things in Life” journal. The activity partner (the older adult) is instructed to identify three things they are grateful for daily for 14 days. The card provides creative twists and alternatives, ways to share the activity with family and friends, and ideas for expanding the activity. Here is the card:
How Does Joyful Moments Improve Quality of Life?
The above activity card that promotes gratitude is just one example. The complete Joyful Moments kit includes three activities for seven domains of wellness, for a total of 21 in-depth activities. Together, these activities enable caregivers and professionals to implement the Hummingbird Project’s strength-based proven practices on their own timelines. Our turn-key kit offers four key benefits to older adults struggling to feel purposeful.
- Capturing the Magic: Joyful Moments helps capture the magic of life’s happiest moments and engages your loved one or client. Each person’s joy is unique and worth cherishing. Our activity cards provide ways to relive these moments in their purest form.
- Fostering Connections: Joy is infectious. Its impact multiplies when shared with others. Through activities, we encourage individuals from all walks of life to share – and celebrate – their joyful memories with others. In the Gratitude example, we encourage participants to involve visitors in the same exercise. Plus, we suggest writing thank you notes to those you are thankful for. By doing so, we build a community supporting and cheering on the participating older adult.
- Spreading Hope and Resilience: Hope and resilience are an essential part of the quality of life, even in the face of the difficult times that many older adults face. The moments of joy remind us of life’s beauty and give us the strength to face adversities with a smile.
- Cultivating Gratitude: Joyful Moments encourages participants to grow gratitude by focusing on the positive aspects of life. When we take the time to acknowledge and appreciate the little joys that surround us, we develop a more profound sense of gratitude for the blessings we often take for granted.
How You Can Get Involved
Whether you are a family member or a professional caregiver seeking to improve the quality of life for an older adult, especially one experiencing dementia, think of ordering your deck of Joyful Moments. Join us in helping your loved one or client embrace the magic of joyful moments and fostering connections.
Order Joyful Moments here.
About the Author
Kari Rogenski, LMFT, is the Director of The Hummingbird Project, a concierge in-person and virtual therapeutic activity program. Kari is a licensed psychotherapist and clinical supervisor. She is pursuing her Ph.D. in Humanistic Psychology at Saybrook University, where she studies creativity and gerontology.
