After five years of research and development, we’re excited to announce our new partnership with ALLE Learning™ to create EngAGE EnCOURAGE™: a new and innovative memory care engagement program designed especially for the unique needs of seniors.
We are now utilizing this program in our clubs, and have made this program available for adult daycare centers and memory care facilities around the globe.
What is EngAGE EnCOURAGE?
This program is redefining the industry standard of activities that are boring or child-like, and creating an experience that is engaging and encouraging. NO sorting socks, sitting in front of a television, playing bingo, batting balloons, and coloring!
For the past twenty years, scientists and researchers have struggled to find a cure for dementia. During that time, we’ve learned a lot about our brains, including what works and what doesn’t.
Research has proven that the old “brain games” don’t move the needle. People continue to slide along the continuum, becoming less engaged with the world around them, and losing their ability to communicate their feelings or even their daily needs.
While we can’t eliminate many of these outcomes, we can change what people with dementia experience daily. Using the proven theory that most people enjoy the interaction with others, we have blended creative and expressive sessions with lifelong learning and developed a program that enables everyone to feel loved, valued, and connected.
How are we different?
It’s all about the experience. Participants leave feeling valued, loved & connected. Research has shown that there are enormous benefits associated with experience-based programming.
Blending the strategies of lifelong learning + creativity provides different types of experiences that support tapping into the unknown and celebrating accomplishments.
Lifelong Learning:
- Uses adult language and terminology enabling participants to feel respected
- Provides opportunities for participants to make their own choices
- Offers inspiration for recall, reflection & validation
- A new excitement associated with learning & experiencing familiar and new things
- Engagement & interaction with other adults
Creativity:
- Meaningful opportunities to tap into the unknown
- Use different parts of the brain
- Generate new ideas & expand our world
- Celebrate accomplishments
- Engagement and interaction with other adults
- Promote critical and creative thinking
Why EngAGE EnCOURAGE?
Everyone prefers to spend their time in a purposeful and meaningful way. That need doesn’t diminish with age or dementia. The need for purpose is one of the defining characteristics of human beings. Without a sense of purpose, we are more vulnerable to boredom, anxiety, and depression. Having a sense of purpose can have a powerful positive effect, including feelings of belonging and of being accepted.
Using adult terminology and creating a daily schedule based on meaningful ways to spend our time leaves less time for negative experiences. Participants in the EngAGE EnCOURAGE™ program are immersed in an environment of learning and creating receiving positive reinforcement every step of the way.
The outcomes are visible and contagious to those around these special people:
- An increase in self-esteem and confidence
- Feelings of accomplishment of being successful and achieving goals
- Hope for what is to come
- Each day participants are exposed to a holistic learning experience that ends choppy activities and provides multiple ways to make the experience come alive: see, hear, touch, say, think, and express.
Familiarity with the EngAGE EnCOURAGE™ process blends comfort with excitement. Each class is designed to inspire curiosity and allow for recall and validation of a life well-lived.
To learn more about the EngAGE EnCOURAGE progam, click here.
