Dr. Kenneth Barringer, a retired pastor and clinical psychologist from Sun City Center, has written a book called Making Healthy Choices for Senior Living that is now for sale at several sites online. Barringer is best known in South County for founding the South Shore Coalition for Mental Health and Aging in 1992.
Penny Fletcher photo.
Dr. Kenneth Barringer says that choosing your lifestyle and core values are the most important decisions people can make for retirement.
The retired Methodist pastor, college professor and clinical psychologist is known in South County for having founded and led the South Shore Coalition for Mental Health and Aging in 1992 and working with area groups to help seniors through their problems.
His three graduate degrees — two in theology and a doctorate in educational psychology — preaching, and years of teaching in the social science fields gave him all the expertise he needed.
Now that Dr. Robert H. Trivus, an MD, is at the helm of the organization Barringer founded, Barringer, who lives in Sun City Center, has had time to write a book summing up what he has taught for a good part of his life. But he still works hands-on with the Coalition and also with the National Alliance on Mental Illness, or NAMI.
Recently he received the Butterfly Award for outstanding service to seniors. The award states that his work symbolizes a butterfly rising out of the cocoon for a new life, just as he advises elders to begin again rather than give up on living.
The book, Making Healthy Choices for Senior Living, outlines the essentials of good decision-making and gives composite examples from his practice. Each chapter also includes a photo that is included to portray the mood the chapter is intended to convey; like “happiness with your family” – with a picture, then an example, followed by the premise of the chapter and finally the writing in a storytelling style.
“There’s not a lot of theory here,” Barringer said. “I want people to enjoy reading this and take it to heart. It can help them. I have seen these things help others. These are realistic examples of real people and situations. It took two years of actual writing and editing.
“My editor, Liz Bleau, was an enormous help,” Barringer said. “She kept me on task of writing properly for publication.” Bleau is a local freelance editor who recently retired from The Tampa Tribune.
In addition to the chapters, Barringer has also compiled charts and questionnaires about seniors’ health; spiritual, physical and emotional well-being; finances; property management and goal setting.
As a supplement, he includes a checklist for health choices and how seniors can harm themselves with risky behaviors.
“Anger and bitterness can really hurt a person,” he said. “Practicing forgiveness and acceptance are the best ways to go.”
He said his book is the product of the lessons he learned during his long career helping men and women make better choices.
Making Healthy Choices for Senior Living sells for $19.99 in paperback and $3.99 in eBook online at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. He says his publisher, Xlibris, also has it for sale at www.xlibris.com.
“I’m hoping it sells well enough to be picked up by a large publisher,” said Barringer.
Xlibris is a fee-for-service publisher that prints books as they are ordered.
