While dementia care means having to accept what has been lost, I can help you focus awareness on what’s left. By sharing what I know about dementia, I explore new ways for understanding and connecting with your loved ones so you can increase your care skills zand improve the quality of life for everyone involved.

My mother lived thirteen years with dementia and after her death I volunteered in various hospices across the country for twenty years helping dementia patients enjoy the last part of their lives. Four years ago I discovered that the Positive Approach to Care® Organization was teaching families and professionals the skills I had so badly needed thirty years before when my mother had been alive. In 2018, I quit my career as a graduate teacher and became a Certified Independent Positive Approach to Care (PAC®)Trainer and Consultant. In 2022, I also became certified as a PAC® Advanced Consultant in Dementia Care.

Fort Worth, TX, 2020
2023 EVENTS
1. ONGOING EDUCATIONAL CLASSES: LIVE at KINGSTON Residency of Santa Fe
Beginning Wednesdays on March 15 at 1 pm I’ll be offering 5 ninety-minute educational sessions for families to improve their awareness of what dementia is and how to improve support with practical, dementia-specific, hands-on skills. This class also allows you to connect with each other, to support each other’s unique skills and schedules, and to form a support team for the person living with dementia. The class is hosted by Kingston Residency Healthcare on Rodeo Road. Call or email below for details.

2. WORKSHOPS
As a PAC® Certified Independent Trainer, I offer experiential workshops designed by world-renowned dementia expert Teepa Snow to help family care partners, people living with dementia, professional caregivers, and emergency medical service employees improve the skills they use to approach, connect and communicate with people living with brain change.
WORKSHOPS 2019-2023:
- What is Normal vs. NOT-Normal Aging?
- Seeing Dementia From the Other Side
- Understanding The Progression– the GEMS ®
- Working with 5 Unmet Needs
- When Dementia Stops By For The Holidays
- Using the Senses to Understand and Communicate
- Starting the Conversation
- Practical Dementia specific Skills
- Securing Your Person’s Environment
- Six Pieces of The Puzzle– Problem Solving
- Self-Care in Tough Times–
- Deciding The Next Move
- When It Is Time to Let Go

3. FOR INDIVIDUALS WANTING ANSWERS

CONSULTATIONS
My goal as a PAC®Certified Independent Consultant is to help you figure out what you need to accomplish and how you want to accomplish it at the right time. We’ll start with an initial free 30-minute phone conversation to learn a bit about each other and if we decide we can work together, I’ll help you create a written assessment of where you are on the journey: what’s working well for you, what’s not working so well, and what skills you might need to learn next. When needed, I can help you and your loved ones through difficult transitions.



WHAT PARTICIPANTS ARE SAYING:
“There is no group Laura can’t reach. She knows how to teach to a large crowd and to smaller groups in hands-on workshops as well as in private one-on-one encounters. She is a master at organizing, presenting complicated ideas, and creating compelling Power Points.” TD, Santa Fe
“I think about things and having you reinforce thoughts and ideas is very meaningful, plus giving me insight into other possibilities!…everything is not solved, of course, but I begin to think more positively. Thanks for your time, expertise patience and wonderful friendship.” JR, Santa Fe
“There is no group Laura can’t reach. She knows how to teach to a large crowd and to smaller groups in hands-on workshops as well as in private one-on-one encounters. “ FR, Oregon
“I felt heard, emotionally held and wisely advised.” SD, New Mexico
Visiting with my mother, 1994
2022-23 EVENTS
- I’ll be coaching the memory care staff in the Teepa Snow methods of care partnering at Kingston Healthcare Residency in Santa Fe .
- I’ll be giving public talks once a month at Kingston Healthcare Residency for anyone interested in learning more about dementia awareness, knowledge and skills.
- CenterThrough the month of December, I’m training the staff at Montecito Santa Fe‘s memory care center in Teepa Snow’s Positive Approach to Care®
- I trained administrators at the Santa Fe County Senior Community Services in March 4, 2022
- I trained Santa Fe Emergency Medical Team, Santa Fe Police and Santa Fe Firemen as part of the Alternative Rescue Unit of Santa Fe in October, 2022
- I spoke to volunteer caregivers about dementia care at Coming Home
- I spoke to Los Alamos Lab employees as part of their Well-Being Expo in September 2022
- I spoke about my personal journey with dementia care at The Celebration in Santa Fe, on March, 2022 and also spoke with them about dementia awareness in June of 2022
- Thanks to Santa Fe Doorways, I presented a lecture/discussion/Q and A session in Feb., 2022 on dementia awareness and another on dementia communication in July, 2022.
- I began an ongoing support group for dementia couples through The Alzheimer’s Association.
- I have facilitated The Gloaming a support group for caregivers with Dr. Kitty Fallon on zoom all year.
- I spoke about dementia and the holidays for the Memory Care Alliance in November, 2022
- I re-certified as an Independent Trainer and Consultant in October and September with the Positive Approach to Care® organization
- I certified as an Independent Advanced Trainer in October 2022.
- I presented a talk on the effects of dementia on the five senses at the Rocky Mountain Alzheimer’s Association Conference on Dementia in March2022.
- I presented with my co-facilitator Paula Levy to a Colorado financial institution on zoom
- With my friend and co-facilitator Paula Levy, I led and supported 5 successful Never Alone Care Partner Support Series by zoom.
For Laura’s story of how she acquired her dementia awareness and knowledge, why she loves working with people living with dementia, and her credentials as a Certified Independent Positive Approach to Care trainer and consultant, go here.
–With thanks for this recording to THE CELEBRATION of Santa Fe,NM
To see an interview with Laura about her work in dementia care, go here.
TO CONTACT LAURA

I
In Dementia,
the relationship
is
EVERYTHING.
LAURA’s FICTION
READING COLORADO: A Literary Road Guide. Due out in April 2023 with a selection from my book, Stygo

REMEMBER ME, a novel published by Henry Holt in 1998 and by Picador and Piatkus in 2000, is based on my attempts to understand and accept the challenges of my mother’s dementia. Although it was written years before I took formal training in dementia care, it was a Barnes & Nobel Discover New Writers selection and a critically acclaimed finalist for the Dublin Award and the Mountains and Plains Bookseller’s Award.



STYGO won the 1994 Colorado Book Award for best design, the American Academy of Arts and Letters Rosenthal Foundation Award for First Fiction, the Mountains and Plains Regional Bookseller’s Award, and was a finalist for the Pen/Hemingway Award.
STYGO is a collection of interlocked stories about people trapped in a dying company town in Colorado. Initially published by MacMurray and Beck in 1994, it was re-issued by Simon and Schuster in 1996, and by McAdams/Cage in 2000.


PAC Certified Independent Trainers and Consultants are not employees of Positive Approach, LLC. Opinions and views expressed by Laura Hendrie, LLC do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of Positive Approach, LLC or its employees. Positive Approach, LLC is not liable for any actions by PAC Certified Independent Trainers or Consultants.