The dementia journey can take a tremendous toll on everyone involved.  Sometimes, as in this story , dementia brings out the worst in people.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

Families on the dementia journey reach out to me when they are desperate, or scared, or exhausted, or there has been something happen that seems bizarre and unsettling.  

When I speak with them, I see that their shoulders are raised, their forehead is raised, their voice is raised…all the signs of fear and desperation and exhaustion and a sense of helplessness.

But in just a few moments, after they hear a glimmer of the hope and beauty that can be found along the dementia journey when we know how to get it right (using the DAWN Method), it’s as if families get to take a deep breath for the first time in a really long time.

And I watch their shoulders lower, their foreheads lower, their voices become more calm.  And then I know that we are headed down the right path, the path to helping the dementia journey be not all bad.

I then send them the link to the three videos produced by the DAWN Method, “Preparing for Dementia” and encourage them to order and read the first book in the DAWN Method: “The Dementia Handbook”. We continue to work together to help them become proficient with using the tools of the DAWN Method when spending time with their loved one with dementia.  And sometimes we have the privilege of stepping in to provide DAWN Dementia Specialist Care, which brings respite, and relief.

Recently, one of our team members told me that her Granddad is doing a nice job of caring for her Grandma, who is living with dementia.  This team member had consulted with me months ago, desperate to find a way to help her grandparents, as their dementia journey was quickly becoming a real struggle.  She was not able to convince her Granddad to spend time training with me, but she sent him the two DAWN Method books.  He read them, and he liked how they “were not all full of a bunch of medical BS.”  Yes, I agree.  The DAWN Method is practical, and allows family caregivers to have a sense of hope, a sense of ability, a sense of “Ok, I think I can do this.”

I wish Mr. Kotopka had been introduced to the DAWN Method two years ago, and the right help, when his wife’s dementia diagnosis began to make life hard.  

We will keep trying to bring hope, and real help,

Jill 

©Jill Couch