PACE asks the question – Am I Happy Yet?
By Cecilia Nasmith
The Northumberland PACE Speakers Series continues with its February offering – Am I Happy Yet? Pursuing Happiness in a Wellness-Saturated Culture with Dr. Sandra Demaries at 5:30 p.m. on Feb. 23 in virtual format.
Trained as a general psychiatrist, Dr. Demaries also holds a sub-specialty in geriatric psychiatry (one of three psychiatric sub-specialties recognized by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons), and has committed most of her career to helping older adults. At Northumberland Hills Hospital, she has served as an in-patient consultant working with patients who present with psychiatric symptoms identified through the course of their in-patient hospital stay – as well as those dealing with the challenges of dementia, Alzheimer's and other cognitive-type conditions.
Her PACE talk will explore important questions related to our societal preoccupation with the pursuit of happiness – how do we define happiness and wellness, how have some experts in the field viewed happiness, is it attainable, what are the most evidence-supported practices for mental and physical well-being?
As always during PACE sessions, questions from the audience will be addressed. These may be presubmitted prior to Feb. 23 by e-mailing mbhargava@imcare.ca (or, time permitting, posed live during the event itself).
PACE talks were originated by Dr. Mukesh Bhargava to answer the questions his patients most often brought to him (the acronym stands for Personalized Assessment and Change Education). Since 2018, PACE partners have hosted free public education sessions on a broad range of health and wellness topics which consistently draw large audiences with a variety of questions and perspectives.
The sessions originally alternated between Cobourg and Port Hope. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the series has adapted to a virtual format.
And the roster of PACE partners continues to increase, with the Ontario Health Team of Northumberland joining the planning table for the current seat.
Hour-long PACE sessions consist of a 30-minute talk, a 20-minute question-and-answer period with the guest speaker(s) and a short moderator summary.
Bring your questions, your suggestions and your experience and join what is expected to be another informative discussion on a topic chosen by previous PACE attendees.
Pre-registration is required, and space is limited to the first 300 to register. The event is hosted through Zoom, and attendees are asked to log in five minutes prior to the start of the event.
Register for Am I Happy Yet? Pursuing Happiness in a Wellness-Saturated Culture at www.pacetalks.com (where you'll also find recordings from many previous seasons' talks prepared by student partners from Loyalist College).
