Center for the Study of Aging & Clinical Applications (CSACA)
co-sponsored with
The Howard University Multidisciplinary Center on Aging
presents
Care Partnerships in Aging
Date: Sunday, January 18, 2026
Time: 10:00am – 5:30pm
Location: Online via Zoom
Co-Chairs: Rob Bamberger, MSW and George Saiger, MD
CEs/CMEs Pending
Program Description:
At some time in our lives, everyone will become a recipient or a giver of care:
- When your partner becomes disabled
- When your parent cognitively declines and loses executive function.
- When you find it harder and harder to manage your life on your own.
These situations force us to grapple with these questions:
- Can we be present for those who need us?
- Can we come to terms with being the one who needs care?
Even though caregiving is likely to engage us all at some point, there is deep reluctance to anticipate or explore the realities these roles will present. This conference will highlight this inadequately explored developmental task by identifying aspects of care partnerships from perspectives of systems theory, attachment theory, and psychotherapeutic interventions to support more informed care. The experience of family and professional caregivers as well as recipients of care will also be explored experientially.
Schedule:
10:00 – 10:10 - Welcome and review of conference norms (Rob Bamberger, MSW)
10:10 – 10:30 - Care Partnerships: Ambivalence and Resolution (George Saiger, MD)
10:30 - 11:30 - KEYNOTE: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach to Care Partnerships (Robert Cosby, PhD)
11:30 – 11:45 - 15 minute break
11:45 - 12:15 - The Role of Attachment in Care Partnerships (Glory Dierker, PhD)
12:15 -12:45 - When the Frame Doesn’t Fit: When A Dyad Isn’t A Dyad (Irene Jackson-Brown, PhD)
12:45 – 1:15 - Plenary Sessions for Questions and Discussion
1:15 – 2:15 - Lunch
2:15 – 3:45 - Action Exploration of Care Partnerships (Margo Silberstein, EdD)
3:45 - 4:00 - 15 minute break
4:00 - 5:15 - PANEL: Therapeutic Interventions in the care partnership universe
a. Therapy with Individuals and Families (Jane Brewster, MSW)
b. The Therapeutic Function of Support Groups (Rob Bamberger, MSW)
c. Health, Parkinson’s Disease and the Therapeutic Support Group (Leon Paparella, MSW)
5:15 - 5:30 - Closing Plenary: Reflections on the day
Learning Objectives:
1. Describe the complexities of the relationships between the caregiver, the individual receiving care and the family.
2. Identify interventions that will facilitate optimal functioning within the care partnership relationship.
3. Describe the various impacts that attachment styles can have on the caregiving partnership.
4. Utilize their own experiences to provide more informed care
5. Describe the dance between psychotherapeutic interventions and caregiving as case work
6. Identify effective psychotherapeutic interventions to improve functioning and quality of life for caregivers and care recipients.
7. Integrate psychotherapeutic work addressing a client's caregiving issues with other mental health issues being addressed concurrently with that client in psychotherapy.
8. Identify and manage transference and countertransference issues that manifest during psychotherapy with caregivers and care recipients.
Registration closes January 16, 2026 at noon ET.
