Judith Sachs

I facilitate movement and try to work with couples as martial artists or ballroom dancers. I created a program called Close Contact for Couples® with PD to help partners, one PWP and one CP, to learn communication and movement skills for activities of daily living that can raise awareness and confidence.

The traditional model of care is to offer therapy for PWPs and resources for carepartners separately. And indeed, they do have separate needs. However, they are also in the midst of a changing relationship. Very often, the carepartner also becomes ill with a major medical condition, and the couple struggles with who takes care of whom, and when.
 
They entered their marriage or coupled relationship as individuals with identities intact, but dealing with a chronic illness has labeled them as “patient” and “carepartner.” This program, focused on the mental health of both partners as well as the couple, will restore a sense of identity and humanity to the couple as well as informing their providers as to how to optimize treatment and guarantee compliance.

My new program, Date Night & Intimacy: Reconnecting Partners and Dating Singles with Parkinsons, attempts to re-create the reason we get together with another human... to laugh and play and hopefully, to fall back in love.