Person-centered care
The foundation of Aging Wisdom’s Creative Engagement program is person-centered care, which is built on the core values of purpose, respect, and exquisite listening1.
Treating a person with dignity and respect, while providing opportunities and experiences that bring them joy, a sense of purpose, and meaningful connection enhances well-being.
A person-centered approach prioritizes an individual’s preferences, goals, and needs. This approach ensures that individuals living with dementia or other health changes can participate in what they value and enjoy.
Our person-centered approach includes:
- Focusing on our clients’ strengths and abilities, rather than what they may have lost the ability to do, to find activities with purpose.
- Understanding our clients’ goals and interests to provide choices to them and therefore restoring autonomy and dignity.
- We extend invitations to participate in a project, outing, or event. We do not assume to know what our clients want. We end visits asking if they have enjoyed themselves.
- ‘Exquisite listening,’ is an approach that builds trust by rephrasing what you’ve heard to show understanding while mirroring volume & body language to reduce anxiety.
RESULTS: Each day in our Creative Engagement practice we witness the enriching benefits of prioritizing person-centered care with clients, ensuring they can participate in what they value and enjoy.
TESTIMONIAL & EXAMPLES:
Parkinson’s disease (PD) can greatly hinder mobility. One client living with PD asked for Creative Engagement visits to help him regularly get outside of his assisted living community. After getting to know him better, his goals were to get to the waterfront, explore somewhere new, or visit buildings from his past. His Creative Engagement Specialist (CES) knew these goals and would bring options to him each week. In a disease that can take dignity away, given these choices weekly, while enjoying nature and reminiscing, led to improvements in his mental health and general happiness with his living situation. On days he wasn’t up for an outing, he would teach the CES dominoes or chess or write an Op Ed with typing assistance from the CES. The client enjoyed purpose, nature, social conversations, and autonomy.
One client who was in an advanced stage of dementia needed more one-on-one time in memory care. She spoke several languages, though English was not as readily available to her at that stage, and she often spoke in her native language. The client’s Creative Engagement Specialist (CES) spoke with her family to understand her past interests and what might engage her now. The CES played music for her from her native country, which brought smiles to her face. As visits continued, the CES also learned a few words to connect with her in her own language. The CES would announce themselves to her and sit down at her level to visit with her. They also visited her home garden (at the encouragement of her family) to bring her figs from her tree – her favorite! Providing these personalized visits with respect and the help of the family’s insights brought her so much joy and engagement.
TAKE THE NEXT STEP
If you live in the greater Seattle area, you can schedule a get-acquainted call with one of our senior care managers.