Our Approach to Memory Care Training
An Innovative Training Model That Produces Results for Residents and Providers
Organizations that partner with Hearthstone receive leading-edge training that allows them to provide excellent care and a high quality of life for people living with cognitive challenges. Partner organizations include long- and short-term care organizations including but not limited to:
- Assisted Living Facilities
- CCRCs
- Home Care
- Hospice
- Hospitals
- Municipalities
- Nursing Homes
- Rehabilitation centers
I’m Still Here® is an expression of Hearthstone’s founding belief that a person living with dementia is still there and can experience a high quality of life regardless of the severity of their memory loss. The Hearthstone Institute’s highly-acclaimed training on the I’m Still Here® approach offers healthcare providers an effective way to develop and re-energize their memory care programs by creating a Continuum of Cognitive Health™.
Hearthstone’s unique I’m Still Here® principles underlie everything we do. These principles are the basis for Institute advisory and training services. Applying the I’m Still Here® principles ensures that organizations trained by the Hearthstone Institute offer people with Alzheimer’s and related dementias the opportunity to truly flourish.
Hands-On Program Embedding Makes the Difference
Most classroom trainings, even those that include hands-on exercises, frequently leave trainees with only a general level of knowledge, and new tasks to carry out that are difficult to implement in the real world of their daily work environment.
The Hearthstone Institute training programs’ signature implementation and mentoring visits – what we call “embedding” – improve on this dynamic by having Instructors with real-world experience work side by side with trainees. We demonstrate to your staff how to overcome the daily challenges of implementing what they have learned. The ‘embedding’ process reinforces both the principles and practice of I’m Still Here® training so that the new behaviors and approaches they have learned are embedded in place over time creating a true culture of memory care excellence within your organization.
The power of the I’m Still Here® approach is that once staff members have learned the basic skills and how to apply our principles they can use their new knowledge to make ANY program or activity more engaging and productive. Institute training programs use unique and specially-developed activity materials (‘Hearthside Bookclub™ Stories’, ‘Lingo Bingo™’, and more) that then become your own tools and resources. And that’s just the beginning – we encourage staff members to use a wide variety of programs and supplies to keep their programs unique, engaging, and fresh for both residents and staff.
The Institute’s training and coaching model is enhanced by our instructors’ hands-on expertise in our own Hearthstone residences and over two decades of practical care giving experience. Continually refined and tested by Hearthstone’s Research Division, Institute training programs have improved the quality of life for thousands of people affected by dementia around the world.
Three Levels of Training
To help ensure that the incorporation of the I’m Still Here® methodology is successful, the Hearthstone Institute trains care partners and professional staff on three levels:
(1) Leadership Training instills attitudes and behaviors in our clients’ leadership teams that ensures that the I’m Still Here® approach becomes part of the organization’s core philosophy and culture.
(2) Management Training provides every management team with the tools to support and enable the successful implementation of the program.
(3) Staff Training ensures that the I’m Still Here® principles are understood and followed at every level of the organization and creates stability – even after our training teams have left!
Certification and Centers of Excellence
Upon successful completion of the comprehensive training in the I’m Still Here® approach provided by the Hearthstone Institute’s team of professionals, partner organizations receive formal designation as a certified “I’m Still Here® Center of Excellence”. Over the course of several months, the certification training packages bundle together the basic I’m Still Here® engagement, communication, and activities training modules with several focused “embedding visits” to implement skills learned in the classroom.
Click on the link below to see the locations of successfully certified organizations to date.
Improve your residents' lives and your market position today.