New to Best Friends? Our introductory training will get you familiar with the approach!
- Date:August 13, 2025
- Time:11:00–1:00 EST
- Registration Fee:$75 per person
- Registration deadline:August 6, 2025
Learn how you can make people with dementia feel safe, secure, and valued by following the acclaimed Best Friends™ approach to care. This relationship-centered care model is easy to understand and brings out the best in people with dementia – and also in staff. Not only will your residents or clients benefit, but you will see how activities, mealtimes, and personal care go more smoothly and your days are more enjoyable.
This virtual training program introduces the core elements of the life-affirming Best Friends™ approach in 2 hours of interactive learning. The training is led by a Best Friends™ Expert Leader, who is either the model’s founder or a long-time practitioner and trainer of this life-affirming approach.
Participants will learn how to
- Embrace friendship to ease the dementia experience
- Use each person’s life story
- Communicate skillfully
- Understand and minimize behaviors that challenge us
- Provide meaningful engagement
- Develop the Best Friends Knack of Caregiving
The Best Friends approach is valuable to anyone working with people who live with memory loss. This includes home care settings, adult day services, assisted living, skilled nursing, acute care, and hospice. It is effective for nursing staff, activity professionals, social workers, care managers, administrators, and frontline caregivers.
Give yourself or your team the indispensable skills of a Best Friends caregiver in this lively, Zoom-based training program.
Trainer
David Troxel, M.P.H.
Based in northern California, David Troxel is nationally and internationally known for his expertise in the fields of dementia & long-term care. He has co-authored (with Virginia Bell) six influential books, including his newest book, The Best Friends Approach to Dementia Care, Second Edition, and written numerous articles relating to dementia care and staff development and training.
He is a writer, trainer, and long-term care consultant who has spoken at over 500 conferences including keynote presentations at various U.S., Canadian, and international conferences. He served for a decade as the Executive Director of the Santa Barbara (California) Alzheimer’s Association (1994-2004). He also helped support his mother, Dorothy, in her 10-year journey living with Alzheimer’s disease.
David’s areas of expertise include best care practices for persons with dementia, caregiver support, staff training, and long-term care program development.
More information about David’s work can be found on his website at www.bestfriendsapproach.com or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bestfriendsapproach.
