Links to Understanding: A Guidebook for Intentional Professionals Working with Aging People by author, speaker, and life transitions coach Carol Lee Bratter. It is a practical and proven guide and resource to effectively support an aging clientele as the next generation is reaching retirement age. "Life as we know it now is changing with the aging of the baby boomer generation," Carol writes. "The U.S. population age 65 and over is expected to double in size within the next 25 years and we need to be ready for it."

Links to Understanding, by Carol Lee Bratter, presents the realities of the workplace to the "Intentional Professionals," To those working as care providers, counselors, therapists, chaplains, and other human services specialists within the aging community. It serves as a guidebook that integrates our theoretical understanding of gerontological issues with practical day-to-day applications. The topics covered in this book are timely, acknowledging issues facing not only our aging population but also we who are interconnected by our commitment to the qualities of a life well lived.

Partial list of themes: Caring for yourself • Use and abuse of personal power • Intimacy and isolation • Leaving a legacy • Family and group dynamics • Fear of death • Forgiveness • Denial • Caregiver's bill of rights

"Ms. Bratter has brilliantly given professionals the helpful and inspiring guide she envisions in her prologue. Her words on practitioners' use of power, on case management, forgiveness, and gerotranscendence are especially powerful and useful." —Barbara Swanson Arnoldsen, M.S. (School Administration and Counseling)

About the Author:

Carol Lee Bratter's background in career development, human resources, and the multiple issues facing our aging population is extensive. Over the past several years, Carol has undergone intensive training in multiple interrelated disciplines, e.g., adult development, death and dying, and lay chaplaincy for the elderly. Currently, Ms. Bratter continues her successful private practice as a Life Transitions Coach "for older professionals facing personal and/or professional life challenges." She belongs to several professional associations, has served on numerous boards, and was recently appointed by the Governor for a four-year term on the Minnesota Board on Aging, where she serves on the Public Policy Committee.