A Matter of Balance Workshop is conducted over 7 sessions, meeting twice a week (Mondays & Wednesdays), 2 hours per session.

When signing up for this class, you are committing to all 7 classes.

Class Dates -

Jan. 12, Jan. 14, Jan. 21, Jan. 26, Jan. 28,

Feb. 2, and Feb. 4

**NO CLASS ON JANUARY 19th  IN OBSERVANCE OF MLK JR. DAY**

Go to the January 12th class to sign up for the series

Each class includes a break for light refreshments. Early sessions focus on changing attitude and self-efficacy before attempting changes in actual behavior. The exercise component, which begins in the third session, takes about 30 minutes to complete.

A Matter of Balance is a structured group intervention that utilizes a variety of activities to address physical, social, and cognitive factor affecting fear of falling and to teach fall prevention strategies. The activities include group discussion, problem-solving, skill building, assertiveness training, videotapes, sharing practical solutions and exercise training.

During the class, participants learn to:

• View falls and fear of falling as controllable (involves changing behavior with a focus on building falls self-efficacy, i.e., the belief that one can engage in an activity without falling).
• Set realistic goals for increasing activity (by instilling adaptive beliefs such as greater perceived control, greater confidence in one’s abilities and more realistic assessment of failures).
• Change their environment to reduce falls risk factors (use a home safety evaluation and action planner to reduce fall risk hazards in the home and community).
• Promote exercise to increase strength and balance.

Who should attend A Matter of Balance?  The Program was designed to benefit community-dwelling older adults who:

• Are concerned about falls.
• Have sustained a fall in the past.
• Restrict activities because of concern about falling.
• Are interested in improving flexibility, balance, and strength.
• Are age 60 or older, ambulatory and able to solve problems.