Non-UVRA Events
UVRA also aims to involve its membership through different valuable resources and educational programs offered by other organizations (i.e., AROHE, CURAC, and many more) that might interest some of its valued members. There are also invitations from various departments at UVic, and from students looking for 55+ participants for their research studies, received by UVRA for distribution to its membership. These items are first made known to UVRA members via emails, when appropriate, and then placed on the UVRA website under the Non-UVRA Events navigation bar.
Upcoming Events:
UVIC EVENTS
UVIC CONTINUING STUDIES
UVIC CONTINUING STUDIES UPCOMING COMMUNITY HEALTH COURSES
PsychedelicsScience and Public Health
Tuesdays, Oct 7-28, face to face
This course will provide a brief historical review of psychedelics, with a focus on traditional Indigenous uses and Western research over the past 150 years. You will explore the biological and psychological impacts of various psychedelic substances and review the most recent science exploring the potential personal and public health benefits and harms of psychedelics. Course material will include academic articles, podcasts and videos exploring the intersection of psychedelic substances, science and society.
Setting Healthy Boundaries Through Rest and Play
Wednesdays, Oct 8-29, face to face
We all understand that rest and play are essential components of a healthy life. Yet, it can be surprisingly difficult to step away from the constant pull towards productivity and meeting the needs of others. This course explores the factors that get in the way of taking restorative time for ourselves. Through guided discussions and written exercises, you'll build a personal toolkit for clarifying your needs, setting healthy boundaries, reconnecting to your joy, and restoring your vitality. We’ll discover how rest and play profoundly enhance our capacity to support ourselves as well as the people around us, and the causes we care about.
Grief, Memory and Healing Qualities of Time Travel
Tuesdays, Oct 21 - Nov 4, online
This workshop explores a fresh approach to grief that moves beyond the familiar five stages. Using the idea of time travel through memory, imagination, and embodied experience, we’ll explore how grief doesn’t always follow a straight line—and how continuing to connect with those we've lost can be deeply healing. Inspired by narrative practices and the work of David Kessler on finding meaning, we’ll create space to re-engage with loved ones in ways that feel personal, authentic, and counter to the cultural pressure to move on.
Radiant You: Learn to Rekindle Your Spark
Wednesdays, Nov 5-26, face to face (Langford’s John Hogan Campus)
You’re invited on a joyful exploration to rediscover what makes you feel truly alive and vibrant. Join us in a supportive community where your authentic spark is celebrated and nurtured. Through lively group discussions, playful self-discovery exercises, and inspirational journaling prompts, you’ll reconnect with your unique sources of joy and vitality. Each session is designed to uplift, energize, and guide you back to your most radiant self.
Investing for Financial Wellness
Wednesdays, Nov 5-26, online
Financial wellness is about more than finances; it is a primary contributor to overall well-being. Over four sessions, this interactive course examines the ways to manage your finances and investments to help you reduce stress, feel secure about your financial future, and enjoy life more. Guided by an experienced Chartered Financial Analyst, you will explore the attributes that lead to successful investing, learn to recognize common psychological pitfalls that might undermine your investing decisions, look at big picture investment themes, and learn strategies that will help you preserve capital and achieve peace of mind even in turbulent markets.
Living Life After Cancer
Nov 6, face to face
Your cancer treatment is finished but do you ever feel like your recovery is taking longer than expected? Are you feeling more stressed than usual? Do you find things like changes in your body make you worry about a cancer recurrence? Join us to learn about common post-treatment experiences. We will practice exercises to decrease stress, ease worry, and learn about programs that support people after treatment. We will offer ways to use your experience to inform the next chapter of your life. This workshop is for patients and partners.
Eating with Intention: Ayurveda, Food and Self
Thursdays, Nov 6-20, online
Eating is more than just nutrients, it is about energy, balance, and connection to self in your daily life. This course will introduce you to the foundational principles of Ayurveda, an ancient Eastern approach to well-being, through the lens of food. This is perfect for beginners looking for practical tools to better understand their body and make more intuitive choices.
Buddhist Wisdom for Silencing the Inner Critic
Thursdays, Nov 13 - Dec 4, face to face
Many of us have a tendency to be excessively self-critical, self-doubting and lacking in confidence. These debilitating thoughts can affect our relationships, our work and our ability to realize our full potential in life. In this course, we will learn how to use Buddhist insights and wisdom to free ourselves from self-critical thoughts and attitudes and recognize our potential for limitless inner peace and mental freedom. We can prove to ourselves that this “inner critic” is a mental distortion coming from our misconception about who we really are and so it can be eliminated completely.
Pain: The Good, Bad and Unwanted
Mondays, Nov 24 - Dec 1, face to face (Langford’s John Hogan Campus)
Pain science has grown in the past 20 years leading to a difference between what research tells us and what health care providers or the general public know, which likely leads to unnecessary suffering. In this course, we will explore the complexity of pain in plain terms with a goal to gain insights that could lead to the easing of our pain and suffering.
Beyond Biology: Connecting Pain with Mind, Culture and Community
Nov 26, face to face
Go beyond the biology of pain in this interactive exploration of psychological and social influences on the pain experience. Through case studies, small group discussions and practical exercises, you will learn how mindsets, emotions, culture and community impact persistent pain and recovery. Led by Dr. David Kennedy, this course is ideal for those familiar with basic pain science and seeking deeper, practical strategies for pain management.
For more information, and to register: https://continuingstudies.uvic.ca/health-wellness-and-safety/topics/community-health-and-wellness
CURAC EVENTS
Link to the CURAC Later-Life-Learning Calendar which contains a listing of the current and upcoming events and is updated regularly
Invitation to the October 2025 Webinar series from Seniors’ College Association of Nova Scotia
Everything you ever wanted to know about the canadian healthcare system, but were afraid to ask (a 6-part zoom webinar series)
DATE: Wednesdays, October 8 to November 12, 2025
TIME: 1:30pm to 3:30 pm Atlantic Daylight Time—which is 12:30 pm to 2:30 Eastern Daylight Time
BECOME A MEMBER AND REGISTER (FROM SEPTEMBER 8TH TO SEPTEMBER 17, 2025): https://www.thescans.org/
POPULAR MUSIC OF THE 1970’S (By Instructor Steven Baur)
DATE: Fridays, October 10 to November 14, 2025
TIME: 10am to 12 noon, Atlantic Daylight time –which is 9am to 11am Eastern Daylight Time
MEMBERSHIP REQUIRED: LEARN MORE AND REGISTER AT: https://www.thescans.org/
Invitation to the University of Calgary Retirees Association’s (UCRA) hybrid session
ENGINEERING TOMORROW: AI AND THE SMART CITY REVOLUTION
DATE: Wednesday, October 8, 2025
TIME: 4:20pm Eastern Time
PRESENTER: Sieran Heshami, Assistant Professor, Schulich School of Engineering
IN-PERSON LOCATION: Engineering Building, Block G, Second Floor, Room 207
ONLINE: Register for the online session at https://events.ucalgary.ca/emeriti-events/event/497321-engineering-tomorrow-ai-and-the-smart-city
Invitation to CURAC's/ARUCC's online series “Retiree Association Conversations”
The first session is entitled CURAC Affinity Partnerships and Their Perks
DATE: Thursday, October 16, 2025
TIME: 1pm Eastern Time
ABOUT THE EVENT: Ron Champion, the chair of CURAC / ARUCC’s Affinity Marketing Committee, will facilitate the conversation. The goal is to ensure that all the members are aware of the breadth of perks available to them as members of CURAC.
ZOOM LINK TO THE EVENT: https://ucalgary.zoom.us/j/92574072119
Invitation to attend York University online Event
GENDER CREATIVE MUSICKING: NAMING AND RE-STORYING THE WORLD THROUGH COLLABORATIVE SONGWRITING WITH TRANS YOUNG PEOPLE
DATE: Wednesday, October 29, 2025
TIME: 12:00 noon (Eastern Time)
SPEAKER: Kael Reid, Assistant Professor, Children, Childhood and Youth Studies, Department of Humanities, Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies
ABOUT THE EVENT: This presentation shares findings from a project that utilized collaborative songwriting—a participatory arts-based method, which focuses on supported storytelling and creative musical expression. Centering transgender young people as experts of their own lives and agentic creators of musical culture, this project invited them to name, re-story and document their identities and worlds through songwriting, recording, and singing.
REGISTRATION: https://yorku.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_37av_vukQmy7smvqPKQ68g#/registration
IMPORTANT: (CHANGE OF CURAC INSURANCE DISCOUNT PARTNER)
This is a notice of a change to the Home & Auto Insurance partner. It may affect your renewals if you have taken advantage of the CURAC member discount.
Economical Insurance (Home and Auto): New business and renewals will cease with the discount as of March 1st 2024. Insureds under the program will remain Economical policyholders, however they will not be receiving the discount under the CURAC program.
Johnson Insurance (operating as Belair Insurance Company Inc) will apply a Group Discount to home & auto insurance policies issued to members of CURAC. (The discount depends on the terms of the policy/policies so a discount rate cannot be specified.)
Also Note that automobile insurance policies are only available to Members who reside in Ontario, Quebec, Alberta, British Columbia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, or Prince Edwards Island.
AROHE EVENTS
AROHE Matters: September 2025 Academic Retiree News
EDITOR'S NOTE: In this issue the announcement and question about the future AROHE in-person conference, and the video about one professor's closing of a 40-year teaching career, The Last Class. See Tell Us Your Story to share your intergenerational experience.
LINK TO VIEW: https://www.arohe.org/resources/EmailTemplates/AROHE%20Matters%202025-09/index_preview.html
Invitation to AROHE’S Online Course
Part I: Introduction to Estate Planning: The Five Essential Documents
DATE: Tuesday, September 30, 2025
TIME: 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM (EDT)
ABOUT THE COURSE: This course will explain the five essential documents used in estate planning, including their purposes and the choices they involve. These include, more or less in order of importance: Durable Power of Attorney, Health Care Proxy, Will, Revocable Trust, and Medical Directive
REGISTRATION: https://www.arohe.org/event-6242902
OTHER EVENTS
LAtest and Most Up-to-Date information on EC events
https://emerituscollege.ubc.ca/upcoming-events
UBC Emeritus College
UBC Emeritus College | SPRING 2025 Newsletter
The Spring 2025 issue of the UBC Emeritus College Newsletter is available online with:
- A special highlight on King Charles III Coronation Medal Recipients.
- An article from Susan Barr called "Life as an Undergrad—The Second Time Around".
- And a review from Kate Sirluck of the Pulitzer Prize winning novel, James by Percival Everett.
LINK TO READ: https://emerituscollege.ubc.ca/sites/default/files/2025-06/ECSpring2025News_0.pdf
UBC Emeritus College
UBC Emeritus College Webinar
TRUE NORTH: WHAT’S NEXT FOR CANADA–US RELATIONS?
DATE: Thursday, October 23, 2025
TIME: 12:00–1:15PM PT
SPEAKERS:
- Justin Bull, BA’05, PhD’15 — Lecturer, UBC Sauder School of Business; Academic Director, Master of MEL and MHLP, UBC
- Michael Devereux — Professor, Vancouver School of Economics, Faculty of Arts, UBC
- Terri Givens (she/her)—Professor, Department of Political Science, Faculty of Arts, UBC
ABOUT THE EVENT: With Canada in an economic tug-of-war with the United States, where do we go from here? How have political strategies shaped this situation—and how will they impact immigration, trade, and sustainability? Hear from three UBC experts from diverse fields discussing shifting dynamics with a once steadfast ally. Attend this session to discover what’s next for the nation on the global stage.
REGISTRATION: https://ubc.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_sIdHEgcGTsWuFvTkm49g2g#/registration
Cyber Seniors - Free Tech Help for Older Adults (September 29- October 3, 2025): Understanding Modern Tech
REGISTRATION AND EVENT DETAILS:
MEMORY CONNECTIONS
ARTS AND MUSIC PROGRAMS FOR CARE PARTNERS AND PERSONS LIVING WITH MEMORY LOSS
Memory Connections, a non-profit organization focusing on the arts, music and recreational activities for persons living with memory loss and their care partners. This Fall it will be offering the following:
MEMORY CAFÉ: Memory Cafés are professionally led arts and music activities that bring joy, learning and social connections with others. These programs improve well-being and quality of life by focusing on imagination and creativity. Both members of the memory café attend weekly for a 2 hour activity. Dementia is never mentioned—the goal is having fun, developing friendships and creating a caring community.
FOR MORE INFO: https://www.memoryconnections.org/
TEAM PIVOT: Team Pivot, a new program focusing on persons with young onset dementia (less than 65 years of age). Team Pivot is a social and recreational program which will include non-competitive and team building activities such as canoeing, bowling, playing table tennis, hiking and more.
FOR MORE INFO: https://www.memoryconnections.org/
RESEARCH STUDIES
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