Sylvia Nissenboim, M.S.W., L.C.S.W., has been working in the field of adult day services since 1982, after receiving her Master’s in Social Work from St. Louis University. For 18 years, she worked at the St. Louis Jewish Community Center’s Adult Day Services, where she developed The Positive Interactions Program as an approach to working with individuals with cognitive impairments. 

She has been training other professionals in this approach since 1988, and in 1998 she and Christine Vroman published a book on the subject: The Positive Interactions Program of Activities for People with Alzheimer’s Disease (Health Professions Press).  During her tenure, the JCC Adult Day Services was a recipient of a Technical Assistance Grant through the Partners in Caregiving program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Ms. Nissenboim was subsequently selected to be one of five RWJ, PIC technical assistance mentors to adult day services centers nationwide.

Ms. Nissenboim is presently employed by the American Red Cross, St. Louis Area Chapter, as Director of their four Adult Care and Enrichment Centers. She also runs a private consulting practice: LifeWork Transitions, a personal and professional coaching firm specializing in caregiving concerns and adult day care management coaching. The web site is www.lifeworktransitions.net.

Ms. Nissenboim is the Immediate Past President of the Missouri Adult Day Care Association, sits on the Missouri Governor’s Advisory Council on Aging, is Chair of the Alzheimer’s Association Speaker’s Bureau, and was recently appointed to the Missouri Lt. Governor’s Nursing Home Task Force.