Culture Change
Catalyzing Culture Change is a training program in a social engagement process that does more than occupy and entertain residents living with dementia. The program teaches staff at long-term care facilities a way of working that emphasizes and indeed elicits the individual preferences, perspectives, and abilities of all participants—including people usually perceived as incapable of contributing to a group. The “change” process begins with a 10-week intensive in a storytelling method known as TimeSlips. Trainers from ESTA teach facility staff the TimeSlips method and highlight the individually engaging and person-centered principals and skills it exemplifies, such as emotional attunement, open-ended questioning, validation, and non-verbal communication. When the TimeSlips module concludes, ESTA then works with care giving staff to apply these methods to other programs and activities throughout the facility.
