Dementia: What is it, What’s Normal Aging, and What Do We Do?

Jill Johnson-Young, LCSW

Summary: This course will provide an overview of the multiple kinds of dementia faced by families and their loved ones. It will distinguish between the losses seen in normal again versus the clear indicators of dementia. It will address the greater impact of early onset dementia and how that changes the course of the illness. We will discuss the reality that dementia is in fact a terminal illness, and leads to death, and how that should change the conversation about what needs to be taken care of and the issues confronting families.

Participants will be able to identify/describe/discuss:

• Types of dementia
• Normal aging brain loss traits
• Increase in dementia with age
• Early onset dementia
• Managing someone with dementia

Clinicians will also learn the following in dealing with families with dementia impacting them: how to speak with doctors, documenting symptoms, locating online education and support, being realistic about limits and the need for outside help- and asking for help, caregiver strain and illness, understanding anticipatory grief, including:

• Things NOT to say to families dealing with dementia
• Things NOT to do or say to those living with dementia
• The list of stuff to get done if dementia is setting in: POA, DPOA, POLST, trusts, Living Wills, videos, letters, “buckets,” creating a village at home
• Dementia buddies
• Dementia villages

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Jill is a therapist in private practice in Riverside, where she co-owns Central Counseling Services with Sherry Shockey-Pope, LMFT. Jill completed her MSW at the University of South Florida. Her professional life has been anchored by hospice, grief and loss, life transitions, and adoptions. She created the online grief recovery program “Your Path Through Grief,”which is available at www.yourpaththroughgrief.com.  She is a Certified Grief Recovery Facilitator through the Grief Recovery Institute. Jill is also a member of the Riverside Mayor’s Task Force for creating a Purple City, focusing on the issues of dementia in the population. She created and facilitates a dementia support group monthly in Riverside, and provides services for families facing dementia and the multiple issues that overwhelm families coping with dementia in their midst. She is also a regular presenter at the Death Café at Cal State Fullerton’s OLLIE program.

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