DAWN Certified Dementia Trainers
Below is a list of our current DAWN Trainers. If you are interested in taking the DementiaCoach class for families and care partners, you will have an opportunity to request a particular DAWN trainer on your intake survey once you’ve signed up and paid for the course. Class times and dates will be worked out by you and your Trainer.
Elisa Lane, DDCS
- DAWN Trainer
My love for elders began with my grandmother. As a young girl, I cherished spending time with her and her friends, whether playing cards, cooking, or shopping. What fascinated me most was the richness and uniqueness of their lives at this stage, and even at my young age, I felt a deep calling to be present with them.
Since those early years, I have spent many fulfilling hours bringing joy and companionship to elderly individuals, including elders living with dementia, in Assisted Living Facilities and in their homes. My three homeschooled children joined me back in those days, and they, too, developed a profound respect and love for this remarkable group of people.
Now, in what some might consider the later chapter of my own life, I find myself once again, serendipitously called to this meaningful, honorable work. Guided by God’s grace and good intention, I am privileged to spend my days with some of the most courageous, wise, and extraordinary individuals I have ever known—those living with dementia.
There is a better way for our loved ones with dementia to live fully, enjoying life as much as their remaining abilities and skills allow—and many abilities do remain! The DAWN Method has shown me “this better way”, the “how to” in providing person-centered care for the much deserved, those living with dementia. The DAWN Method teaches the way to bring joy, beauty, and meaningful life experiences that can still be, and should be, a part of their lives. It’s an honor to not only offer this ‘person centered care’ but, also to teach the DAWN Method to families who seek a better path for their loved ones, as well as for themselves.
Through the many hours spent with clients, I have seen firsthand the success of the DAWN Method in creating compassionate, stress-reducing environments and living, for not only the individual living with dementia, but for their care partners.
As a DAWN-certified dementia care specialist and trainer, I am passionate about transforming how we care for those living with dementia. One family at a time, I hope to bring this ‘better way’ into more homes offering ‘strength based care’ and most importantly, hope.
Elisa Lane
Take a private DementiaCoach® class with Elisa
Jill Couch, MS, OT/L, DDCS
- DAWN Trainer
- Certified Dementia Practitioner
- Certified Beyond Driving with Dignity
- Better People Care LLC
- Pro31 Safe Senior Driver LLC
My Grandmother grew up in a sod house on a homestead in Western Nebraska. Years later, she and my Grandfather would purchase part of this homestead and farm and ranch there for decades. This ranch, and my grandparents, were profound parts of my growing up.
I watched my Grandmother fade from this life with a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s, and this spurred me to develop my Occupational Therapy career to become trained as a DAWN Dementia Care Specialist and certified DAWN Trainer. After watching my grandmother’s painful demise, I am so grateful to finally know how to get it right with dementia, to bring hope and help to families walking the dementia journey. This work with older folks, especially since becoming trained in the DAWN Method, has been the most meaningful season of my varied Occupational Therapy career.
I am honored to bring my professional background, as well as my history with the United States Army ROTC and service in the Army Reserve, and various other leadership and volunteer experiences, to the work I do with families.
I was asked recently how I work with dementia every day. My response was, “It is because I know the DAWN Method, and how to use the tools of the DAWN Method well, that I find such meaning and hope in what I do.” I understand and put into practice every day how we can provide care for folks with dementia in a way that brings them security, and joy, and beauty, and gives their families hope that dementia doesn’t mean that life is over.
Every day I see the tools of the DAWN Method bring to folks with dementia the security and well-being they deserve. When I have the privilege to teach the DAWN Method to families, I watch them find hope and become able to truly make daily life better for their loved ones with dementia, and themselves.
It is my honor to be a DAWN Method Trainer and Consultant, and help families and caregivers make this world a more dementia-aware, dementia-friendly place.
Jill Couch
Take a private DementiaCoach® class with Jill
Malene Søbygaard, MA, MS, DDCS
- MS in Public Health (Britain)
- Master Coach (Manning Inspire)
- Licensed Occupational Therapist (Denmark)
- Certified Cognitive Stimulation Therapy Facilitator (Britain)
- Certified DAWN Trainer
- Fluent in English and Danish
Malene Søbygaard holds a Master of Science in Public Health and is a licensed occupational therapist in Denmark. She is also a Master Coach, certified in cognitive stimulation therapy, an experienced VIA Character Strengths practitioner, and DAWN Trainer.
With more than 25 years’ experience in the social and public health sector, Malene has experience in sensory integration, health policy, resiliency and positive psychology for young vulnerable adults; and has designed, evaluated and implemented health interventions in areas including diabetes, mental health, chronic illness, heart disease and arthritis. Her work has resulted in two Danish awards: The Protac Award for spreading knowledge about Sensory Integration in Denmark (2003), and the Arthritis Society Mobile Award for ensuring good quality preventive activities and patient outcomes for people with arthritis (2011).
Currently, Malene and her sister are the primary care partners for both her parents who are living at home with dementia. Caring for them and fighting for their right to a good life is her most important and meaningful vocation. She has founded an NGO providing cognitive stimulation therapy for people living at home with dementia in her community; she advocates for human rights for those experiencing dementia, as well as better quality care, support, habilitation and activities.
Malene is proud to be a DAWN Dementia Care Specialist and DAWN Trainer, and is looking forward to bringing DAWN to families and care partners in Denmark.
Take a private DementiaCoach® class with Malene
Ruth Minnema, RN, MA, DDCS
- DAWN Trainer
- Certified Coach
- Perspectives Coaching LLC
Prior to becoming a registered nurse, Ruth spent several years as an experiential educator working with troubled teenagers in an outdoor program. She loved high energy education and thought she found the perfect job. Life had other plans and Ruth became a registered nurse. After spending the next 30+ years in a variety of leadership positions in Long Term Care, she again found the perfect job. As a Certified Coach, DAWN Trainer and owner of Perspectives Coaching LLC, she enjoys providing strength-based DAWN dementia education and coaching to families. Ruth is also available to support communities who wish to implement the DAWN Method. DAWN workshops are interactive as participants practice skills necessary to support people living with dementia at home or in a community.
Ruth’s perspective:
Take a private DementiaCoach® class with RuthPeople living with dementia are our best teachers. My mom was a gifted musician, language scholar and therapist. Despite progressive dementia, she taught me what is important. If I asked her a question like what she had for lunch, she would remind me that she didn’t remember what she just ate and add ‘does it really matter anyway?’
“Based on understanding not only cognitive skills that are lost, but also those that remain and become strengths, the DAWN Method offers opportunities for both people experiencing dementia and their companions to learn together. This is experiential education at its best.
~ Ruth Minnema
Teri Skoog, DDCS
DAWN Trainer
Elder Care Consultant
Skoog Dementia Support LLC
AGE-u-cate Dementia Live Coach
BA Social Work
Certificate Aging Studies
Teri is founder and owner of Skoog Dementia Support LLC. She has over 30 years’ experience providing support and care to individuals experiencing dementia along with their family and caregivers. Teri received her BA in Social Work and Aging Studies from the University of Iowa. She is a DAWN Dementia Care Specialist and DAWN Trainer.
In addition to her professional credentials, Teri personally experienced the role of caregiver for her mother who lived and died with diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, and vascular dementia. Her passion is to assist and inspire those experiencing dementia to maintain dignity, purpose and hope as they age in place. She strives to create a community of empathetic care partners and companions who will walk alongside those experiencing life changing diagnosis and/or conditions through a strength-based, habilitative approach to care and support.
Teri provides virtual and in person training, consultation, care management and direct in-home companionship.
Take a private DementiaCoach® class with TeriI am excited to be a Trainer for The DAWN Method. In the years I have interacted with individuals experiencing dementia I have studied and incorporated many models of dementia care into my work, but none address the true understanding of those experiencing the condition with more dignity, insight and humanity than The DAWN Method®.
~ Teri Skoog, DDCS
