The Well-BEING Project; Promoting Well-being Through Community Dialogue and Empowered Teams
What do people with dementia feel?
“We are, I believe, disabled as a consequence of misconceptions of dementia and of the fears these misconceptions create.� Richard Taylor Advocate, Author and Person Living with Dementia
New Way: Improving “memory/dementia care”
Promoting well-being
Re-Consider: How we Live (downstream intervention vs. upstream well-being) How we Learn (traditional vs. collaborative dialogue/conversations) How we Lead (top down vs. everyone has a voice and choice)
Downstream Living: • Misunderstandings and stigma limit worth and contributions . Medical models of care oversimplify the human experience. Downstream Learning: • “Expert” professional knowledge over lived experiences, focus on efficiency, meeting functional goals, and depositing knowledge. Downstream Leading: • Top down decision-making limits opportunities for
The Well-BEING Project: • To enhance each care partners ability to support persons living with dementia • Expand the possibilities for living well with dementia • Nurture relationships, collaboration and teamwork on each neighborhood by strengthening connection, communication and mutual trust • Identify, co-create and work toward future organizational improvements for the next 18
How Full is Your ‘Cup’? I have
purpo se
nce I experie Joy
I am growing ke a m I es c i o ch
I feel secure
I have trustin g relatio ns h
People know me
ips
• • • • • • •
IDENTITY CONNECTEDNESS AUTONOMY SECURITY MEANING GROWTH JOY
Outcomes from Institutional Model to Relational Model: Improvements in . . . . 68% collaborative decision-making as neighborhood teams 47% making decisions with elders (versus for elders) 47% supporting elder in doing ‘what they want, when they want’ 41% working more flexibly to support elder choice 37% care-partners opportunities to contribute to improvements 33% perceiving the environment as the elders’ home vs. workplace 23% asking elders for their opinion or advice
Five Cyclical Components Our thoughts on well-being Neighborhood Retreats Daily Neighborhood HUDDLES Neighborhood gatherings and goals Recognizing our successes
We Aim to: Transform the experience of residential living in partnership and collaboration with persons living with dementia and their care partners.
How To Get Started: Begin by Bringing together people living with dementia, professional and family partners in care to reflect upon: • what it means to live well, and live well with dementia. • What keeps us from engaging with persons living with dementia as the leaders in their own lives? • How can we engage everyone in a voice and a choice? • What are our ideas to enhance well-being, and how might we engage in action? • What can leaders do to support collaborative and empowered teams?
Hello Light
Thank you! To find out more about The Well-BEING Project and innovative thinking about Living Well With Dementia, please connect!
Jenna Weiss, R-DMT, LNHA jweiss@arc-ct.org Director of Learning Alzheimer’s Resource Center 1261 S. Main ST. Plantsville, CT 06479 860-628-3002
Questions?
Argentum 1650 King Street, Suite 602 Alexandria, VA 22314 (703) 894-1805