The Montclair Health Department’s Stoop Time program returns for a second session, meeting Friday mornings, March 16 through April 20, at 10 am. Sessions will be held at the Montclair Municipal Building, 205 Claremont Avenue.
The Health Department describes Stoop Time as “a place for ‘mature’ women to discuss the ups and downs of life throughout its different phases with a small group of others who are experiencing similar change.” It’s a place for women to discuss their life issues, things such as experiencing a loss of a significant other or loved one, their neighborhood, careers and retirement, health changes, or being empty nesters.
Leah Johnston-Rowbotham, MS, APRN, BC created and will facilitate the Stoop Time group. “My own grandmother often discussed these issues on the front stoop while shelling peas, my mother had the stoop by the clothesline as she folded frozen towels and sheets in the late winter” says Rowbotham.
Johnston-Rowbotham notes that these stoop times can help one feel less isolated in the happenings of everyday life. Although not listed as an official intervention, she believes that “stoop time” can lessen isolation, increase cognitive activity, preserve memory and lift one’s mood.
To save your seat for this innovative group experience, please contact Erica Abbruzzese or Megan Ginter, Health Educators at 973-509-4969.
(Photo: Flickr)
