Continuing Education for Activity Professionals (and Others)

Learn. Grow. Inspire.

Welcome to the Gift of Purpose Continuing Education Division, offering APNCC-approved live continuing education designed specifically for Activity Professionals and others who support person-centered care. Our courses combine practical knowledge with real-world application to help you strengthen your programming, enhance person-centered care, and grow professionally. Through engaging discussions, demonstrations, hands-on activities, and clinical insights, you'll gain ideas and techniques you can begin using immediately. Whether you are new to the profession or an experienced Activity Professional, our live courses are designed to build confidence, encourage creativity, and improve the quality of life for the individuals you serve.

Live Course Continuing Education Catalog

The Gift of Purpose offers engaging, evidence-informed continuing education programs designed specifically for Activity Professionals, healthcare staff, caregivers, and others who serve older adults. Every course emphasizes practical application, person-centered care, and ideas participants can begin using immediately in their own organizations.

Please let us know which course interest you most and we will move it to the top of the list.

Assessment & Clinical Programming

Drawing Tells More About Us Than a Picture: Understanding the Person Through Drawing and Image Replication - 1 Hour

A person's ability to communicate cannot be judged by speech alone. Someone who speaks fluently may struggle to organize thoughts, solve problems, or understand what they see, while another person who has difficulty speaking may still think clearly and understand far more than they can express. Through interactive drawing and image replication activities, participants discover how these simple tools reveal important information about visual perception, planning, spatial awareness, attention, and motor function while learning to incorporate these observations into successful person-centered programming.

Clocks Tell More Than Time: Using the Clock Drawing Test to Enhance Person-Centered Programming - 2 Hours

The Clock Drawing Test is much more than a simple drawing exercise. Participants explore several versions of this valuable cognitive screening tool and discover how it provides insight into executive functioning, memory, planning, attention, and visual-spatial abilities. The course demonstrates how assessment findings can be translated into meaningful, individualized activity programming that builds upon each person's remaining strengths.

Professional Roundtable Theme Activity Labs

Each Professional Roundtable is an interactive workshop where participants learn how to transform a single familiar theme into a complete person-centered programming experience. Through collaboration, discussion, and idea sharing, attendees leave with practical activities they can immediately implement in both one-to-one and group settings.

Watches Theme Activity Lab - 1 Hour

Discover how watches and the concept of time can inspire reminiscence, sensory experiences, creative activities, puzzles, and individualized programming that encourages meaningful engagement.

Trucks Theme Activity Lab - 1 Hour

Explore how trucks and transportation can become the foundation for adaptable programming that promotes conversation, creativity, and person-centered engagement.

Groceries Theme Activity Lab - 1 Hour

Transform grocery shopping, favorite foods, neighborhood stores, and meal preparation into engaging activities that encourage conversation, connection, and purposeful participation.

High School Theme Activity Lab - 1 Hour

School memories, sports, clubs, music, report cards, and lifelong friendships become meaningful opportunities for reminiscence and individualized programming.

Homemade Pie Theme Activity Lab - 1 Hour

Family recipes, favorite pie flavors, baking traditions, and holiday memories inspire creative, sensory, and reminiscence-based programming that celebrates each person's life story.

Baseball & Softball Theme Activity Lab - 1 Hour

America's favorite pastime provides the inspiration for meaningful activities centered on favorite teams, players, traditions, and cherished memories.

Let's Play Cards Theme Activity Lab - 1 Hour

Bridge, poker, solitaire, euchre, and family game nights become opportunities for cognitive stimulation, storytelling, and person-centered engagement.

Aprons Theme Activity Lab - 1 Hour

Cooking, gardening, sewing, woodworking, and family traditions come together through the familiar symbol of the apron to inspire activities rooted in former life roles and meaningful memories.

Bridges Theme Activity Lab - 1 Hour

Covered bridges, travel, engineering, fishing, and symbolic connections become engaging themes for reminiscence, creativity, and conversation.

Pack a Lunch Theme Activity Lab - 1 Hour

Lunch boxes, picnics, homemade treats, school lunches, and family traditions inspire sensory experiences, sequencing activities, reminiscence, and creative programming.

Mail Theme Activity Lab - 1 Hour

Letters, postcards, greeting cards, stamps, and memories of receiving mail provide opportunities for storytelling, creativity, sorting, sequencing, and social connection.

House Plants Theme Activity Lab - 1 Hour

House plants, windowsill gardens, watering routines, and propagation become engaging themes for sensory experiences, reminiscence, creativity, and meaningful person-centered programming.

Understanding the Brain Series

Understanding how the brain works is essential for providing truly person-centered care. This five-part educational series explores how different areas of the brain influence thinking, communication, memory, movement, and daily function. Each session may be taken individually or completed as a comprehensive series.

The Hippocampus: Understanding Memory, Learning, and Habilitation - 1 Hour

Learn how the hippocampus forms new memories and how neurological disorders affect learning. Participants discover practical habilitation techniques that preserve dignity while supporting successful person-centered programming.

The Frontal Lobe: Understanding Executive Function, Initiation, and Purposeful Action - 1 Hour

Explore how the brain's executive center influences planning, organization, judgment, and the ability to begin meaningful activity while learning practical strategies that promote successful engagement.

The Temporal Lobe: Understanding Language, Communication, and Meaning - 1 Hour

Learn how the temporal lobe affects language, hearing, and communication while developing practical person-centered communication strategies that preserve dignity and reduce frustration.

The Occipital Lobe: Understanding Vision, Perception, and Visual Processing - 1 Hour

Discover how the brain processes visual information and learn strategies that improve safety, communication, and activity participation for individuals experiencing visual processing challenges.

The Parietal Lobe: Understanding Perception, Recognition, and Sensory Integration - 1 Hour

Examine how the parietal lobe interprets sensory information and supports spatial awareness while learning person-centered approaches that promote successful engagement and independence.

Person-Centered Care Series

Introduction to Person-Centered Care Part One: Knowing Myself as a Person - 1 Hour

Person-centered care begins with understanding ourselves. Through guided reflection and experiential learning, participants explore identity, relationships, values, and life experiences while discovering practical ways to preserve dignity, individuality, and personhood for those living with memory loss.

Introduction to Person-Centered Care Part Two: Building the Home of Person-Centered Care - 1 Hour

Using the metaphor of a home, participants explore how meaningful relationships, human needs, and life experiences create the foundation for compassionate, individualized, and person-centered care.

Introduction to Person-Centered Care Part Three: The Elements of Person-Centered Programming - 1 Hour

Discover the four essential elements of person-centered programming and learn how to evaluate and improve activities so they honor each person's history, preferences, abilities, and sense of self.

Professional Practice

ADPIE for Activity Professionals: A Professional Process for Person-Centered Practice - 1 Hour

Every healthcare profession has a structured process for assessment and care planning. This course introduces ADPIE for Activity Professionals, providing a practical framework that strengthens documentation, interdisciplinary communication, individualized care planning, and person-centered programming.

Dementia Assessment & Programming

Understanding Dementia Staging: Turning Assessment into Person-Centered Programming - 2 Hours

Participants compare the Global Deterioration Scale, Allen Cognitive Levels, Three-Stage Model of Dementia, and BIMS while learning how to translate assessment findings into meaningful, individualized activities that support dignity, engagement, and quality of life.

Person-Centered Life Stories

Life Story Books: Preserving the Past, Enriching the Present - 1 Hour

A Life Story Book is much more than a scrapbook. It is a powerful person-centered tool that captures an individual's life journey, relationships, accomplishments, and memories. Participants learn how Life Story Books strengthen communication, preserve identity, reduce anxiety, encourage meaningful engagement, and enhance quality of life across long-term care, assisted living, home care, and memory support settings.