Embracing Their Reality™
A New Kind of Dementia Care
I work with senior living communities and families to create compassionate dementia care programs.
I meet senior living companies where they are to help them build the best dementia care programs available. Whether your budget is large or small, your programming needs a tweak or a major overhaul, I can help you.
Evaluate & Escalate
This is the first step in my signature process and the best way to get my expertise without having to put me on a plane.
Evaluate & Escalate is perfect for senior living organizations who want to:
- increase the quality of dementia care
- empower staff with tools & techniques that actually work
- stand out from their competition
- increase the effectiveness of their family outreach
"With Rachael's knowledge and guidance, our Dementia Care Program has become more than what I could've ever imagined. Our Residents are engaged on a whole new level and our Team Members are too! Rachael truly breathed life into our Dementia Care Communities at Lavender Hills and gave us the tools to provide a higher level of service to our Residents."
—Trista Wilson, COO at English Meadows
Custom Program Design & Training
Ready to invest in a truly custom program that you can call your own?
Each senior living organization is unique, and your dementia care program should be, too. I believe that there is no cookie cutter program out there that comes close to what I offer with this individualized approach.
When I work with you to design your program, we’ll consider each of these areas:
- Staffing & Education
- Branding & Marketing
- Family Education & Move-ins
- Programming
- Dining
- Interior Design
And then I’ll help you custom-create a program for your organization, that you can brand and call your own.
That’s right, you retain all the intellectual property rights and there are no ongoing fees or licensing requirements.
I’ll help you train your staff, roll out the program to your families, and market your new program to the community.
Sound like exactly what you need?
The first step is for us to jump on a call and I’ll talk you through the process.
All of my long term projects kick off with an Evaluate & Escalate session (you can see more details on that here and we will talk through that in our call. I will also explain what it will look like for us to work together long term to create your custom program.
Check out what Sonida Senior Living was able to accomplish after working with me for 12 months:
“While the benefits to residents have been palpable, according to Ribar and Lody, the Magnolia Trails model should also bring business improvements. The first community to pilot this approach saw occupancy increase from 69% to 100% with a wait list, and average monthly rent increased 5%. In Q3 2020, average occupancy across Capital Senior Living’s same-community consolidated memory care units was 75%, and average monthly rent for that period was $4,707.”
The second step in working with me is to decide on our timeframe.
Each of my offers includes access to Dementia By Day School and monthly support group webinars for your residents’ families.
6 MONTH – $52,000
12 MONTH – $82,000
“We worked with Rachael through her 6-month consulting program, during which she created for us a train-the-trainer dementia education program for both our caregivers and our clients’ families. We didn’t have a program like this previously, and knew we needed something to keep us competitive. Rachael’s Embrace Their Reality technique matches our belief of meeting people where they are and the way we want to reach our clients.”
—Mike Hollen, Chief Innovation Officer at Asbury Home Services
What people are saying...
“We’ve needed a dementia care program for a long time and she has completely revolutionized what we offer.”
Working with Rachael has been wonderful! We’ve needed a dementia care program for a long time and she has completely revolutionized what we offer. Now we have life stations, resident engagement, staff education and more. It’s been great.
—Lisa Sikes, VP of Operations at Cardinal Senior Management
“Rachael has been a partner to Benchmark for years now!”
Rachael has been a partner to Benchmark for years now! We purchased over 700 copies of her first book for our residents’ families and we frequently engage her for webinars or 1:1 education and training. I highly recommend working with her!
—Michelle Tristani, Corporate Director of Memory Care at Benchmark Senior Living
“It has been so exciting to watch our Care Team embrace our resident’s realities...”
Thank you Rachael for such an informative and practical webinar with our Care Team. It has been so exciting to watch our Care Team embrace our resident’s realities and feel more confident in providing more fulfilling and meaningful engagements.
—Ashley, San Sereno Care Centre Community Manager, Johannesburg, South Africa
“Rachael’s Embrace Their RealityTM technique matches our belief of meeting people where they are...”
—Mike Hollen, Chief Innovation Officer at Asbury Home Services
“We immediately began seeing changes that positively impacted our Residents, Team Members, and Families.”
When English Meadows Senior Living began working with Rachael and the Dementia by Day program, we immediately began seeing changes that positively impacted our Residents, Team Members, and Families. The Dementia by Day program is different in that it’s not your typical videos that we’ve all seen before. DBD provides a unique insight into the world of individuals living with Cognitive Impairment(s). I’ve witnessed our Residents engaging with the Team in a way that I’ve never seen previously.
—Trista Wilson, COO at English Meadows Senior Living
“Dementia By Day School is so applicable and the team is enjoying and learning from it!”
We actually held-off enrolling in a dementia training because we couldn’t find anything that the care staff could really utilize during an 8-hour shift with our residents. Dementia By Day School, however, is so applicable and the team is enjoying and learning from it! The other day the care staff asked about our new carpet installation—they’d just watched the interior design portion of the course and were wondering if the carpet provided enough contrast for the residents!
—Lucy Boxrud, President at Elysian Senior Homes
Dementia By Day School
Whether for one individual or your entire staff, make meeting your state-mandated training hours fun, relevant, and easy to manage!
This program will elevate your dementia care programs, leading to happier staff, residents, and family members.
Did I mention it’s actually fun? It’s also interactive (monthly coaching calls for the win!)
“Rachael shared great examples that helped connect the learner back to each principle being taught. The topics covered were thorough and reached beyond the normal parameters of training. The way a space feels is important, programming and engagement are essential, reporting structure, family support; Rachael does a wonderful job exploring all the important pieces to dementia care. It was refreshing to see that incorporated.”
—Amber Dahle, VP of Memory Care and Life Enrichment at Northstar Senior Living
Additional Resources
Bulk Book Orders
Special bulk pricing for organizations who want to offer books to their staff and families. It’s a great way to introduce the Embrace Their Reality™ approach.
Live Webinar + Recording
A 1-hour “Everything You Need To Know About Dementia” webinar with Rachael that you can use to train your whole staff or educate residents’ family members on the Embrace Their Reality™ approach.
Freebies & E-Kits
Get the “Crush Your Move-In Quota” training for free and check out our inexpensive e-kits to get a taste of the Dementia By Day approach to bringing out the best in your dementia care programming.
Hey there, I’m Rachael.
A Dementia Care Consultant with a new approach to dementia care.
I believe dementia gives us gifts. Gifts that we shouldn’t reject.
I advocate ditching the word ‘lying’ when working in Dementia caregiving.
I believe that the kinder way to communicate with people living with dementia is to Embrace Their Reality ™. This is often different to what you normally hear in dementia care.
But, when we Embrace Their Reality, we actually enter their world, no matter where it is.
We stop worrying about “lying” and start worrying about what’s true for the person living with the cognitive impairment—even if it feels totally foreign to us.
What makes me qualified to talk about this?
I have a Master’s in Gerontology.
I’m the author of 2 (soon to be 3) books with Johns Hopkins University Press.
I share my content with care partners of all types, all over the world:
