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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