When you retreat with us, one of the sessions raises the topic of cognitive decline in your elder. This can be a scary topic for many and a fear which can even entwine both the needs of taking care of someone but also contemplating our own aging.

At the retreat, our goal is to help you premeditate the support that is available if not directly suggest available resources if your elder parent is already showing signs of significant cognitive decline. The important thing is communication: every elder experiences some cognitive decline, and it’s vital that one not be driven by fear in facing reality. While your loved one may be among those who have to deal with a wide range of diagnosable conditions, it’s also a possibility that their neurology is aging in very common and unthreatening ways.

What’s important is to address it with good information but also compassionate listening. In the case where a form of dementia has been diagnosed, one resource is the “Living Well with Dementia Toolkit” developed by an interdisciplinary team from Ariadne Labs, a center for health care innovation associated with Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard’s School of Public Health. As their website (link below) describes it: “The Toolkit offers practical tools to navigate each step of the journey with confidence…. It addresses the wide range of areas impacted by dementia, with a focus on quality of life for the person with dementia and their supporters, care partners and family.”

In reviewing the materials on the website — https://www.ariadnelabs.org/dementia-solutions/ — we recommend it as a set of important tools for those now encountering the challenges of self-care and offering support dementia involves. Through guided “conversation cards,” the Toolkit helps structure discussion related to relationships, daily life, planning for the future, and other topics. The Toolkit can ensure you and your loved ones are communicating about the whole range of issues and questions that when better informed, result in replacing fear with real, knowing care.