Wealth Academy Podcast - Episode #32 - Ecuador's Melissa Van Nest Discusses The Importance Of Having Conversations Surrounding Mental Health

Paul Lawrence Vann interviews Melissa Van Nest, she provides
expertise and knowledge about mental health in pandemic times and
beyond. In 2000 she obtained her Master's Degree in Social Work
in order to educate and facilitate solutions for people with
those very problems she reported on, while still building the
human connections that drew her to journalism. 


With a love for learning about other cultures through friendships
made in school, through colleagues and travels, Melissa moved to
the Southern Hemisphere in 2016 and now resides in Quito,
Ecuador, where she continues as a therapist in the mental health
community, as well as enjoys as a hobby teaching storytelling in
English, as a way to give back to the people in the country she
resides in. 


During over 85 days of a mandatory quarantine due to the Covid
pandemic, Melissa realized there was a forgotten population, The
elderly and disabled were forgotten, and using her background
working in nursing homes and firsthand experience and knowledge
about assisted living facilities, recognized the need for
domiciliary workers and family members to learn how to care for
their elders and the disabled with compassion and safety, while
taking into account the quality of life and identity of an
elderly or disabled person and she embarked on a mission to help
people of all socioeconomic classes with the spirit of the
highest form of love and giving, agape. 


Melissa is in the final stages of creating her company AGAPE SAS
Para Adultos Mayores y Discapacitado providing on-line
courses and safe closed groups for geriatrics, disabled, family
members, and caretakers with topics ranging from when and how to
discuss finances and end of life wishes, maintaining purpose and
self-identity as the body physically weakens or becoming the role
of caretaker, and an outlet to discuss privately in small groups
the taboo subjects of frustrations and resentments that come as
family members age, along with understanding and processing the
stages of grief while a person is still living, in addition to
in-home care and group activities.  


As in most countries, particularly South America, only a select
few can afford in-home care from nurses or aids, but with the
belief that providing tools to empower people to do better on
their own the most ethical and best practice, Melissa's on-line
courses and groups provided through AGAPE SAS give so many more
people an opportunity to care for this vulnerable and forgotten
population as well as themselves with higher knowledge improved
care and self-love.  


Host - Paul Lawrence Vann


Email: info@paulvannspeaks.com


Office: (800) 341-6719


Podcast Website: www.wealthacademypodcast.com


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