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10/05/2022 08:30 AMAs someone who’s never embraced the word “retirement,” Dr. Margo Merin, DSW, went back to college at 77 and earned her Ph.D. in social work. This Saturday, she’ll moderate a panel of shoreline residents with ages ranging from their 70’s to 100, during a free public forum, “Seniors Embracing Life.”
The panel conversation, set for Saturday, Oct. 8, 1 to 3:30 p.m. at Guilford Free Library (GFL), encourages residents of all ages, and especially older adults and their families, to drop in for the discussion – no registration required. Light refreshments will be served.
Margo organized the program working with Bernadette DiGiulian, a founder of Shoreline Eldercare Alliance (SEA).SEA is offering the panel talk in partnership with GFL.
Founded in Branford 10 years ago, non-profit SEA (sea-ct.org) gathers leaders of ethical businesses and area organizations to provide shoreline senior adults and community members with information, resource referrals, education, and quality professional services.
Margo, a Branford resident, says the panel she and DiGiulian have curated will share life experiences underscoring the full title of the talk, “Seniors Embracing Life: Living with Meaning, Relevance, Vitality, Hope.”
“Bernadette and I built this panel with people who are upbeat – those who can tell others, ‘This is what you can do, if you have a positive approach,’” says Margo. “This is about how to make life have vitality, hope, purposefulness – to feel like you’re still in the game. How do you do that? It varies for every person. These are all individuals who have made their lives, regardless of how old they are, have that purpose to it. “
A Branford resident, Margo holds a Master's and a Ph.D. in social work, a Master's in dance/movement therapy, and certifications in movement analysis and clinical group therapy. To date, her career has encompassed working in the fields of mental health, education, and corporate business.
Margo first became involved with SEA about a year and a half ago, after SEA president Steve Cudgma asked if she’d like to give a SEA talk about issues impacting older persons.
“The SEA presentation was well received, and that got me thinking,” says Margo. “My next endeavor, within my format, is going to be motivational speaking; bringing in all these things that affect us as older persons, but putting it into a framework of positive thinking, positive attitude. Exploring what you can to make your life be as rich as possible in your own interpretation.”
Margo says among motivational messages she wants to bring seniors is to dispel societal thinking that labels older adults as those in their “senior years” and “retired” — words which she feels equate to “elderly” and “resigned.”
Margo also loves her current work as an Alzheimer's Association community educator, as well as a facilitator of a bereavement group at Women and Family Life Center in Guilford. She’s also in the process of writing a unique self-help book for seniors that’s set to be completed by the end of this year.
Let’s Talk
As moderator of the “Seniors Embracing Life” panel, Margo plans to prompt her panelists to respond to some telling questions, such as, “How does it make you feel when you are referred to as a ‘senior?’”
“The first time somebody offered me a seat [on the bus], I was in my 50’s; and I was offended by it!,” recalls Margo, who was in New York City at that time “...in full speed of working.”
Margo also plans to ask the panel if humor enhances their lives.
“I think humor is a very important piece. When I started school again, I was 77; and I said to the person taking my student ID picture, ‘I’ll have to figure now, when I shop, do I take the student discount or the senior discount? Can I combine them?’” says Margo. “And he got it – he laughed!”
That’s not to say life’s a joke, she adds.
“No matter what happens, in the immediate, you’re not laughing. But ultimately, if you’re healthy in your emotional life, you’ve got to find something to laugh about.”
When working with bereavement groups, “I tell people, when you start laughing again, you’re going to realize, ‘I don’t feel guilty.’ It’s okay – because you’re going to cry, too,” says Margo.
Margo’s late husband, Dr. Charles Barr, passed away in 2021 at age 92.
“He worked until he was 89. He actually wrote his obituary – and I want to write my obituary, too,” says Margo.
Margo is currently crafting a proposal to help others workshop their own obituaries to help recognize, and celebrate, the lives they are living.
Please Join In
Margo invites older adults, their families, and all interested community members, to please join the audience for the Oct. 8 panel discussion.
She’s looking forward to moderating the panel, as well as being one among many in the room learning from the remarkable, dynamic “...septuagenarians, octogenarians, nonagenarians and centenarian” populating the group.
“Our panelists can tell you, in all the decades they’ve lived, what they’ve done. There are people on our panel who are dealing with serious issues, or have had serious issues, but they’ve come around to say, ‘I’m going to live with all of it, and I’m going to make every day be something.’” says Margo. “It is our thinking, and how we feel and act, that will allow us, as seniors, to embrace and experience our lives with meaning, relevance, vitality and hope.”
“Seniors Embracing Life,” a free panel presentation hosted by SEA and GFL, and moderated by Dr. Margo Merin, DSW, will be held Saturday, Oct. 8, 1 to 3:30 p.m. at Guilford Free Library (GFL), 67 Park Street, Guilford. To contact Dr. Merin, email mmerin.dsw@gmail.com