Introducing “From Surviving to Thriving: A 10-Day Toolkit for Care Partners”

by Mariam Boulos

Hello Everyone! My name is Mariam Boulos. I am completing my doctorate in Occupational Therapy at Cleveland State University. Over the past few months, I had the pleasure of completing my capstone project at Brush Development Company in Northeast Ohio.  

To give a bit of background, when I was looking for an organization at which to complete my capstone, I knew I wanted my project to focus on helping care partners of individuals with dementia. This topic strikes me both personally and professionally. For a few of my teenage years, my grandparents came to live with our family. Both had a diagnosis of dementia and my mom was practically their full-time caretaker. This was my first exposure to caregiving and dementia. Although my mom found her role extremely rewarding and truly special, it was emotionally and physically exhausting. I witnessed the ongoing struggles she dealt with day in and day out as both a daughter and as a full-time care partner.  

This experience drove my passion to work in the older adult population and for two years prior to grad school, I worked in a long-term care facility caring for elders with dementia. I remember wishing there was a way I could connect more deeply with them. With both of these experiences in mind, I knew I wanted my capstone project to be a program that could help care partners improve the care they provide to benefit the health and well-being of all involved. In my initial meeting with Jennifer Brush, Founder and Director of Brush Development, I was so thrilled to find out that she had the same vision!  

So, throughout these past four months in collaboration with Jennifer and with the use of her accomplished works, we created a new online, self-paced course called From Surviving to Thriving: A 10-Day Toolkit for Care Partners. The focus of this course is to provide family and professional care partners with a toolkit on how to manage the most common challenges that come with caring for a person with dementia. In each 10-minute lesson, we highlight easy to use techniques that you can begin to implement right away! 

Within this course you will find short, informative videos, helpful tip sheets, summary handouts, and engaging activity guides for both the care partner and the person with dementia. We understand from firsthand experience the daily challenges that can come with being a care partner for a person with dementia and that’s why we want to help you! This course provides care partners a shift of perspective when it comes to fostering positive communication and life enrichment for those with dementia as well as a way to purposefully and powerfully connect with the person! 

Learn more here: https://brushdevelopment.com/10-day-toolkit-for-care-partners/