Description
The DAWN HomeCare online dementia course is designed for you and your family—to give you and everyone interacting with your loved one an understanding of how to provide strength-based Alzheimer’s/dementia care at home. When everyone uses the same techniques, and gains an understanding of the skills kept despite dementia, well-being is enhanced for your loved one and for everyone else as well.
The DAWN Method equips families to provide strength-based Alzheimer’s and dementia care at home. These practical tools and techniques will help your loved one feel happier and more comfortable so that you can postpone the expense of long-term care.
Emotional needs caused by Alzheimer’s disease/dementia
Why is she hiding things from me? Why won’t he cooperate?
Dementia causes fear, embarrassment and frustration. Imagine walking to the parking lot and not remembering what your car looks like… imagine meeting someone on the street who seems to know you but you have no idea who they are. Wouldn’t you begin to withdraw? Wouldn’t you be afraid?
Understanding the emotional needs caused by dementia is at the core of the DAWN HomeCare Online Dementia Course for Families. When people are supported emotionally, they are more at ease and there is less conflict between those experiencing dementia and their families.
If we understand the emotions caused by dementia, and the skills that are not lost, we will be able to provide more empathetic and effective support to our loved ones.
Although our loved ones with dementia are not able to recall, interpret or express ideas regarding their experiences, they are still having experiences. Their experiences will be causing them pain and relief, happiness and sadness, fear and anger—just like ours cause us.
What’s in the dementia course?
Our online dementia course is divided into eight lessons, each including a number of 10–20 minute videos (total of 36 videos), which will introduce you to strength-based dementia care. Each video covers one concept or technique, in simple terms with real life examples, drawn from Judy Cornish’s experience with her clients at DAWN. The lessons are cumulative, building on one another.
Through watching the videos in all eight lessons, you and your family will have a full understanding of the emotional needs caused by dementia, as well as the tools and techniques of the DAWN Method.
Strength-based dementia care begins with understanding the skills not lost
It’s helpful to look at dementia from the perspective of the changes in a person’s functioning, rather than as a disease and symptoms. When we do this, their behaviors make sense and are manageable instead of unexpected.
Learn how to:
- Spot the warning signs of dementia
- Understand why the new person-centered care is so effective
- Manage interactions so that your loved one can stay relaxed and enjoy the present
- Capitalize on the thinking skills your loved one will not lose
- Maximize your loved one’s level of functioning
In Lesson 1, Judy explains how dementia becomes so much easier to understand and live with when we stop trying to make sense of it from a medical perspective, and instead approach it as a condition that changes functioning—seeing not just what our loved ones become unable to do, but also the very valuable skills they retain.
Judy explains how not all our cognitive skills are lost to dementia. She details the rational thinking skills we lose and the intuitive thinking skills we retain; she explores how losing memory takes away the ability to visit the past but enhances our experience of the present; and describes how we lose the ability to direct and manage our attention, while other valuable skills are heightened.
Sample videos from the course
Please watch these complimentary classes, “Is it Dementia or Normal Aging?” and “Why Person-Centered Care Works” from Lesson 1:
About your instructor
Judy Cornish, creator of the DAWN Method, is the author of Dementia With Dignity: Living Well with Alzheimer’s or Dementia Using the DAWN Method and The Dementia Handbook—How to Provide Dementia Care at Home as well as founder of the Dementia & Alzheimer’s Wellbeing Network® (DAWN). She is also a geriatric care manager and elder law attorney, member of the National Association of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA) and the American Society on Aging (ASA).
Online dementia course details
- Family subscription for up to 6 people with separate logins
- You as the subscriber are the team leader
- You may invite up to five additional family members and/or caregivers to the course
- You can add or replace team members as needed
Team subscription with multiple user accounts
We’ve designed this course as a team subscription (for a group of up to 6 family members/caregivers) so that you can share the classes with each caregiver and family member in your loved one’s life.
Once you have purchased a DAWN HomeCare subscription, you will be able to designate your care team with their individual email addresses. If you have a change in caregivers, you may delete a caregiver from your account and add a new one as needed. Each person will have their own login and be able to complete the course at their own pace.
Dementia Care Courses for Institutions and Organizations
Institutions and organizations may buy this product in bulk. Please contact us at info@thedawnmethod.com for information about bulk subscriptions. There is also a version of this course with longer quizzes that is offered as a dementia certification course for employees or as a dementia certification course for individual caregivers.
Barbara Campbell (verified owner) –
I am so glad I found the DAWN HomeCare Dementia Training. I learned so many things that have made my care for my husband more sensitive and understanding. I am much more relaxed and focused on creating a pleasant environment and life for him. Now that I understand what he has lost or is losing (rational thought) and what he retains (intuitive thought), I concentrate on the skills he has left. I am conscious of what is important, helpful, and enjoyable, while letting go of unrealistic expectations. This training will help me as we need to hire outside caregivers. I signed up for the 12 month program because I plan to share this program with the caregivers. That way we all will be able to provide my husband the best, most compassionate care we know how.
The Snell and Knowles Families (verified owner) –
Judy’s DAWN Method is an extraordinary training program. Our entire extended families all accessed the program training videos and read both of Judy’s books. She and her staff were always available, helpful and encouraging. The information, guidance and real-life experiences presented in the course opened our eyes and minds to the realities of dementia. It gave us insightful, effective tools we could learn to become effective, loving and caring partners for our wife, mother, friend. With this approach, we were able to coalesce our support for my wife and become a family “team” with a common game plan. We started this program one year ago in the midst of the COVID pandemic and it was a miraculous blessing for all of us. Thank you!
Betsy G. –
The DAWN Method training and tools are a valuable lifeline for those involved in caring for someone with dementia. The information provided in the coursework is excellent. And the ability to share the training with family members is a great idea. I am encouraged and empowered. Thank you, Judy and the DAWN team!
Kathleen Cruz –
I am only half-way through this course, and have already learned so much that will be of tremendous value in helping my companions with dementia. I am grateful for the opportunity to have been offered access to this course, and I know that it will make me a more compassionate and informed caregiver for my clients and their families.