Drawing on brain health and aging research, University of Illinois Extension Educators, Molly Hofer and Chelsey Byers, developed Wits Workout, a 24 session curriculum guidebook designed for professionals or lay leaders to facilitate their own brain exercise classes. This interactive model serves a need in increasing socialization, reducing isolation, and promoting intellectual engagement in older clients, all of which complement current aging brain health research.  Through its interactive dialog and experiential activities, Wits Workout can assist recreation therapists, lay leaders, and volunteers in helping their participants maintain or adopt long-term health-promoting behaviors through ongoing brain exercise classes.

Choose from one of two training dates.Trainings will be held on:

• Friday, January 22, 2021 - 10:00am - noon CST
• Friday, January 29, 2021 - 10:00am - noon CST

Login information will be sent to registered participants via email at a later date. Please register for training by Monday, January 18, 2021 to allow sufficient time for our team to electronically receive training materials.

Register By: January 18, 2021 (updated)

Training Date: January 22, 2021 or January 29, 2021 (updated)

Participants will be able to:

• Identify examples of how older adults can practice/implement research identified brain health contributors
• Reteach learned intellectual challenges as a programmatic approach with older adults
• Provide purposeful opportunities for older adults to increase social connectedness and intellectual challenges

(virtual outreach approaches will be addressed with this curriculum)

Curriculum will be mailed upon completion of training

The Wits Workout curriculum package sells separately for the following when not included with training.

If you cannot attend the training but would like to purchase the materials, you can here!

If you have any questions or need reasonable accommodation to participate in this training or access the materials, please email Family Life Educator Chelsey Byers, clbyers@illinois.edu. Early notification is strongly encouraged to allow sufficient time to meet your access needs.

*Current registration and training dates have been updated from original dates of Dec. 2, 2020 and Dec. 11, 2020 to accommodate additional participants.