Alena Forbes, PhD

Welcome to my practice, where research, clinical nutrition, and healthy aging come together to explore how people cultivate resilience across the lifespan.

My work focuses on the everyday practices through which people adapt, recover, and continue to grow in the face of adversity. Drawing on qualitative research, clinical nutrition, and decades of professional experience, I translate these findings into meaningful applications for healthcare, community programs, and healthy aging.

My doctoral research developed a constructivist grounded theory describing how community-dwelling older women cultivate resilience through their beliefs and everyday practices. It contributes to a growing understanding of resilience as a dynamic, lifelong process with important implications for clinical practice, public health, and community well-being.

Resilience does not begin at a single moment in life. It is shaped by our biological inheritance, early experiences, relationships, culture, and the environments in which we live. Throughout life, it is continually strengthened, challenged, and reconstructed through the choices we make, the meaning we create from our experiences, the relationships we nurture, and the everyday practices that support health and well-being. My research suggests that resilience is not something we simply possess—it is something we continually cultivate throughout life.

Whether you are a researcher, healthcare professional, student, or someone interested in healthy aging across the lifespan, I invite you to explore the research, resources, and educational materials shared here.