Providing dementia care is profoundly stressful for families and caregivers. However, when we understand which skills are lost in dementia, and which remain, we can be proactive and tailor our support to meet emotional needs before they become difficult behaviors.The author, Judy Cornish, is founder of the Dementia & Alzheimer’s Wellbeing Network® and creator of the DAWN Method®. Her empathetic approach has become known as strength-based dementia care and improves the lives of those experiencing dementia as well as their care partners.Although dementia (and its most common type, Alzheimer’s Disease) result in very personal and individual experiences, there is an underlying pattern when we view dementia from the perspective of how people respond to changes in their ability to function. Through applying an experiential model rather than medical one, Cornish developed an approach that gives care partners the ability to be proactive and avoid inadvertently triggering conflict and stress. Instead, through working with their companion’s remaining skills, companionship and peace become possible. The Dementia Handbook: How to Provide Dementia Care at Home is the concise pocket guide you’ve been waiting for as you walk alongside your loved one on this difficult—but potentially rewarding—new path.
