Best Friends™ approach

Demand keeps growing for well-trained staff to provide high-quality memory care. Those experienced in the Best Friends™ approach to dementia care have the skills and confidence to deliver optimal care and succeed in this challenging caregiving role.

Use this book to develop “dementia capable” staff in nursing homes, assisted living facilities, dedicated memory care, adult day settings, and anywhere people with dementia are served. It features engaging training ideas and exercises for use in stand-up meetings, full in-services, and orientation programs. Bell, Troxel and Cox provide practical guidance for helping staff achieve better outcomes and more rewarding experiences, which helps programs retain an effective, satisfied staff. Filled with examples from care communities successfully practicing this life-affirming approach to care, The Best Friends Staff provides inspiration and working tools to transform a care culture.

The acclaimed foundational book in the Best Friends series has been revised! As wise and relevant as ever, the updated second edition brings professional care partners a wealth of new advice on how to incorporate the celebrated tenets of Best Friends™ into the everyday care of people with dementia. Using the best qualities of friendship—respect, empathy, support, trust, and humor—you can ensure the highest quality of life for people in your care, making each day reassuring, enjoyable, and secure.

In addition to explaining the basic elements of communication and caregiving Knack that are essential to the Best Friends approach, this revised edition includes all-new chapters on using the life story, planning activities, being successful when behaviors become challenging, getting the best from families and volunteers, and effectively creating and sustaining a Best Friends program.

Planning activities for people with dementia can be easy and natural! Use these 147 “grab and go” activities to turn the simplest interaction into an engagement that satisfies essential physical, emotional, and spiritual needs! Ready to use at home, in adult day centers, and in residential care settings. Each one is designed to help families and staff approach activities the Best Friends™ way: connecting persons with dementia with life-affirming activities that make them feel good.

149 more activities for persons with dementia that add meaning and enjoyment in adult day care centers, home care settings, or residential care facilities. Feedback and insights from persons with early dementia helped shape this collection, which also focuses on diversity and multiculturalism as well as the needs of younger patients. With a chapter on engaging in spiritual and religious activities and tips for adapting activities to people in the early and late stages of Alzheimer’s disease.

The Best Friends™ Daily Planner shows you how simple it is to be a Best Friend to a person with dementia each and every day. Organized around the Best Friends™ Dementia Bill of Rights, this handy and practical tool provides you with Best Friends guiding principles, activities, and reflection questions to support your caregiving each week.