Tips for conversations with people who have dementia

DD Farmer #1, Feb. 2023

Shannon Braun, director of ERS' Center for Memory Support and Inclusion, recently spoke with DD Farmer, household coordinator at Deupree Cottages, to learn her suggestions for ways to have pleasant conversations with people who are living with dementia.

Suggestions from DD Farmer and Shannon Braun

Among tips you'll see in this video of their conversation are the "3Rs" — helping them feel they are Right, Reassuring them, and finally, Redirecting the conversation.

Another helpful tip is use of Improv strategies, and also, using your imagination to find solutions to the struggle the person living with dementia is facing.

Here's the video.

Contact us today to learn more about how living at Marjorie P. Lee can help you or a loved one incorporate these “brain health” components into your own life.

Kristin Davenport

February 13, 2023

Kristin Davenport is the Director of Communications for Episcopal Retirement Services (ERS). Kristin leads ERS’s efforts to share stories that delight and inspire through social media, online content, annual reports, magazines, newsletters, public relations, and events. Kristin earned her BFA in graphic design from Wittenberg University. She joined ERS in 2014 after a 25-year career as a visual journalist and creative director with American City Business Journals. Her role at ERS has ignited her passion for making Cincinnati a dementia-inclusive city, and she spends time with residents as a SAIDO® Learning lead supporter. Kristin is the executive producer and co-host of the Linkage Podcast for ERS. Kristin and her husband Alex live in Lebanon, Ohio, with their two daughters. She also serves as a Trustee and the President of the Lebanon Food Pantry and is a board member for ArtScape Lebanon, where she teaches painting and has an art studio, Indium Art.

Memory Support dementia dementia care Aging Life Care