{"id":17706,"date":"2021-07-21T09:00:35","date_gmt":"2021-07-21T13:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/?p=17706"},"modified":"2021-07-01T09:43:32","modified_gmt":"2021-07-01T13:43:32","slug":"teaching-classes-on-vegan-eating-at-a-residential-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/2021\/07\/21\/teaching-classes-on-vegan-eating-at-a-residential-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Teaching Classes on Vegan Eating at a Residential Program"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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By Hannah Etman and Rachel Eldering, University of Maryland Dietetic Interns (Written during a rotation at The Vegetarian\nResource Group)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Residential programs are a great option for\npeople to find the support they need, get back on their feet, and even take\nclasses to enhance practical skills. Christopher Place, an employment academy\nfor men experiencing homelessness in Baltimore, Maryland, provides education,\ntraining, and recovery support for these men. The men commit to a minimum of\nsix months in the program with the goal of gaining the skills and financial\nstability necessary to be successful after their stay. Christopher Place aims\nto aid the transition from homelessness, substance abuse, or dependency to\nfinding employment and living a stable life. The Vegetarian Resource Group (VRG)\nmember Marcy Schveibinz is privileged to teach 8-week sessions to the men at\nChristopher Place on various topics under the general umbrella of vegan eating.\nThese classes help build knowledge and practical skills surrounding food. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

     While\ncompleting our dietetic internship rotation with VRG, we had the opportunity to\ngain perspective on those who worked with Christopher Place. We spoke to two VRG\ninterns, Adhi and Julia, as well as Marcy, a VRG volunteer, who has been\nleading the classes. Each one of them had valuable points to share when talking\nabout their experiences with Christopher Place.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

     At\nChristopher Place, Marcy leads a structured classroom program in 8-week\nsessions, focused on vegan eating, where VRG interns also have the ability to\ncreate their own presentations for the classes. This class was originally\ncreated through a donation. The donation came from a vegan man who requested\nthe money be used to teach about vegan eating. To gain more insight into these\nclasses, we interviewed Adhi, Julia, and Marcy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Marcy\nis a certified wellness coach through the Mayo Clinic. She has been teaching\nthe class for about three years. There are different groups of men each time,\nmaking it a varied experience for her\u2014with the class being very engaged\nsometimes, and less so other times. Regardless, Marcy says that it is always an\neye-opening experience for the men. As you can imagine, the class structure has\nchanged significantly due to Covid-19. Prior to the pandemic, Marcy would go to\nthe classroom with a portable burner and ingredients for the dish she was to\ncook that day. She provided cooking demos incorporating education and\ndiscussion, then a taste test. Since the pandemic, the class has moved online\nand is largely discussion-based. With the men, she discusses their eating\nhabits, assesses their food-related knowledge, and facilitates conversations\nsurrounding food. Marcy\u2019s intent for the class is to have the attendees realize\nthat vegan cooking does not have to be difficult and can taste great. She wants\nthe men to feel confident and well-versed in their food choices. Other topics\nthat Marcy likes to cover in class include basic nutrition, diet and disease,\nglycemic index, benefits of eating vegan, and more. Now, Marcy is cleared to\nstart teaching some classes in-person again. For her current session, the first\n6 classes will be virtual and the last 2 will be in-person where they will get\nto do cooking demos. On her overall takeaway from this experience, Marcy says,\n\u201cI feel grateful for the opportunity to be able to meet and get to know these\nmen.\u201d She takes pride in being able to collaborate with and educate these men\nabout food choices while empowering them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

     We also\ninterviewed VRG intern Adhi (A Cornell nutrition student) on her experience\nteaching at Christopher Place. Adhi says that Marcy gives the interns freedom\nwhen allowing them to teach. For the first session Adhi got to choose her topic\nthat she wanted to teach on, then she made a presentation and practiced it with\nMarcy. After each session, they continue to refine the presentations together.\nAdhi\u2019s chosen topics were legumes, health benefits, and recipes. In total, Adhi\nwill have taught five classes once the 8-week session is over. Adhi described\nher valuable experience learning from Marcy\u2014she was able to observe classes,\ngetting to see the tools that Marcy uses such as videos and interactive\ndiscussions. On her favorite aspect of teaching at Christopher Place, Adhi says\nthat when she presents on new topics, she feels a sense of awe in the room as\nthe men take in this information. Their excitement over her topics, especially\nthe recipes, has excited her and she feels that she can see the men slowly\nbecome more open-minded and amenable to changes with food. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

     VRG\nintern Julia has also had a positive experience thus far working with\nChristopher Place. She says she has come to feel comfortable and confident\ntalking to the men and sharing her knowledge of food. Since January, she has\ntaught four classes on the topic of vegan eating on a budget. Julia told us\nthat working with Marcy has been valuable, as she is kind, communicative and helpful.\nWe asked Julia if she had any advice for working in a capacity similar to\nChristopher Place and she recommended engaging participants by asking them\nquestions and to keep the conversation casual, rather than rehearsed. Based on\nher experience, she said that the men have been talkative, fun, and that they\nask great questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     For\nMarcy, Adhi, and Julia, teaching classes at Christopher Place has been a\nrewarding and engaging experience. From what we learned during the interviews,\nit seems that the men also benefit greatly from being able to attend these\nclasses. Empowering others to make their own choices about food, while also\nexpanding their knowledge and conceptions surrounding food, is crucial to keep\npeople well-informed and excited. We are grateful that we were given the\nopportunity to gather more perspective on this unique aspect of VRG through\ninterviews. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more information about Vegetarian Resource\nGroup internships, see<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/student\/index.php<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To support VRG internships, donate at www.vrg.org\/donate<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or join VRG at https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/member\/2013sv.php<\/a>\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Hannah Etman and Rachel Eldering, University of Maryland Dietetic Interns (Written during a rotation at The Vegetarian Resource Group) Residential programs are a great option for people to find the support they need, get back on their feet, and even take classes to enhance practical skills. Christopher Place, an employment academy for men experiencing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17706"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17706\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17708,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17706\/revisions\/17708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}