A headline statistic claims care partners have a 63% higher mortality rate than non-caregivers the same age — but subsequent research tells a very different story. In this episode, dementia care educator Teepa Snow breaks down what the science actually shows, why your attitude and circumstances at the start of your care journey matter more than most people realize, and what the key differences are between care partners who thrive and those who burn out.

Whether you're a family care partner or a professional, Teepa’s Positive Approach to Care® offers practical guidance on the questions you should be asking yourself right now — and where to turn if the answers concern you.

If this episode raises questions about where you are in your own journey — or where to go next — we'd love to help. A no-cost 30-minute consultation with our team can help you find the right path forward for your specific situation. Schedule your complimentary 30-minute consult

When someone we’re supporting is living with dementia, it's easy to start cataloging the losses. They can't remember the name of the restaurant. They can't find the word. They can't follow the plan. But what if can't is only half the story?

In this episode of the Dementia Care Partner Podcast, Teepa Snow and host Greg Phelps reframe one of the most quietly damaging habits in dementia care: noticing what's lost instead of noticing what's changing. The word dementia itself points to loss — but the brain is also doing something else. It's adapting. It's rewiring. And the way a care partner responds can either expose the loss or build a bridge to what's still there.

In this conversation:

• Why brain change is a more accurate — and more useful — frame than brain loss
• Neurodegeneration versus neuroplasticity, and why both are happening at once
• A real-time example of how the same question, asked two different ways, either shames or supports
• How to listen for the data a person is giving you, even when the words aren't clear
• Why forgiving yourself as a care partner isn't optional — it's an essential skill
• Where to start when you don't know where to start: training, community, and the resources Positive Approach to Care® offers across YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, and beyond

This episode is an invitation to stop swinging at every pitch and start learning the game. You won't hit a home run every time. Neither does Teepa. The true skill is in what you do after the miss.

For more dementia care resources and support for care partners, visit teepasnow.com.

#DementiaCare #PositiveApproachToCare #TeepaSnow #CarePartner #BrainChange #Neuroplasticity #PAC

Three hearing aids. Two sets of dentures. Glasses that keep going missing. If you're a care partner who feels like you're throwing money away on devices that get rejected or lost, this episode is for you.

In this conversation, Teepa and Greg unpack one of the most frustrating patterns families face: when a person living with dementia refuses the very devices meant to help them. The surprising insight? The problem often isn't the device — it's brain change.

In this episode, Teepa explains:

• Why hearing loss is sometimes actually brain change — and why simply turning up the volume makes things worse
• How switching between near and far vision creates brain fatigue (and why an individual might stop eating because of it)
• Why dentures can block the sensory feedback a person relies on to chew and enjoy food
• When to put the hearing aid in — and when to take it out
• How to shift from giving care to partnering in care

You'll walk away with a new lens for understanding refusal, and practical ways to support the person you love.

If today's episode opened up more questions than it answered, here's a great place to keep learning. Accepting the Challenge is a three-hour on-demand training led by Teepa Snow and Melanie Bunn, RN — an effective resource whether you're new to dementia care or refreshing what you already know. Across sixteen modules, you'll learn how to use the Positive Physical Approach™ in real moments, how to navigate mealtimes and personal care without conflict, and how to build meaningful days together, and how dementia changes memory, language, and impulse. It's the foundational knowledge a lot of care partners wish someone had handed them on day one: Accepting the Challenge.

🎧 New episodes of the Dementia Care Partner Podcast every week.

Have a question you'd like Teepa to explore on the show? Email Greg at GTPhelps@shaw.ca and cc info@teepasnow.com.

Learn more about Teepa Snow and Positive Approach to Care® at teepasnow.com.

#DementiaCare #PositiveApproachToCare #TeepaSnow #CarePartner #PAC

What makes an environment truly supportive for a person living with dementia — and for their care partners, as well? In this episode, Teepa walks Greg through an evolution of one of her most-used frameworks: the four Fs and four Ss of supportive environments, now expanded to 4+1.

The original four Fs ask whether a space feels Friendly, Familiar, Functional, and Forgiving. The four Ss ask whether an environment offers the right Space, Sensory match, Social match, and Surface-to-surface contact. But Teepa kept noticing something was missing — like a hand without its thumb. So she added Flexible to the Fs (because brain change keeps shifting, and rigid environments stop working) and Satisfaction to the Ss (because a space can check every box and still leave someone seeking rather than settling).

Teepa also shares how she tested this update with Positive Approach to Care® mentors and trainers in the field before bringing it forward — and why satisfaction must belong to everyone in the space, not just the person living with dementia.

If you're thinking about a home setup, a care community, or simply why a loved one seems restless in a room that seems like it should work, this conversation provides practical aspects to consider.

In this episode:

• Why the original 4 Fs and 4 Ss needed a thumb
• Flexibility as a response to ongoing brain change
• What satisfaction really means in a shared space
• How Teepa trials new ideas with the PAC mentor community

Want to take this conversation from framework into practice? Teepa's streaming program Designing a Supportive Dementia Care Environment provides over two hours of room-by-room guidance for setting up a home that works for both you and the person in your care — covering the spaces, routines, and small adjustments that protect quality of life as brain change unfolds.

Watch it here: https://shop.teepasnow.com/product/designing-a-supportive-dementia-care-environment-streaming/

Learn more about Teepa Snow and Positive Approach to Care at teepasnow.com.

Have a topic you'd like Teepa and Greg to explore? Email GTPhelps@shaw.ca and cc info@teepasnow.com.

#DementiaCare #PositiveApproachToCare #TeepaSnow #CarePartner #PAC

You know you're right — but does saying so actually help? In this episode, dementia care expert Teepa Snow and host Greg Phelps explore one of the most common traps care partners fall into: the impulse to correct. Whether it's a misremembered fact, an outdated term, or a flat-out wrong take, the instinct to set the record straight can quietly damage the relationship you're working so hard to protect.

Teepa shares why curiosity is more powerful than correction — and how reframing what someone says, rather than rebutting it, keeps the conversation moving forward without anyone feeling attacked or embarrassed. She also reveals why the skills that make you a better care partner have a funny way of improving every relationship in your life.

In this episode:

• Why "being right" can mean losing the relationship

• How to use curiosity to redirect — without arguing

• The art of restating what someone said so they feel heard, not corrected

• Why these skills work on your kids, your spouse, and your coworkers too

There's a line in Teepa's new Dementia Care Partner Guide that captures what today's episode is really about: let go of what is missing, and learn to celebrate and use what remains. That shift — from correcting to connecting, from caregiver to care partner — is what the whole book is built around.

Inside, you'll find the updated GEMS® States of Brain Change, a photo-by-photo walkthrough of Hand-under-Hand®, Positive Action Starters, Visual-Verbal-Touch Cueing, and bonus resource cards you can use right away. If you're ready to make life worth living all the way through the journey, this is where to start. Pick up your copy at shop.teepasnow.com.

🎧 Subscribe to the Dementia Care Partner Podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts so you never miss a new episode.

📩 Have a question or topic you'd like Teepa to explore? Email Greg at GTPhelps@shaw.ca

#DementiaCare #PositiveApproachToCare #TeepaSnow #CarePartner #PAC

On a recent walk in the woods, Greg overheard a small but telling exchange: a daughter snapped at her mother for misremembering who once owned a camera. It was a tiny correction — and a familiar one. In this episode, Teepa Snow and Greg Phelps unpack why our reflex to set the record straight can quietly erode the relationships that matter most.

Teepa walks care partners through a more useful question than Am I right? Instead, ask yourself: Is it worth it? Worth it in five minutes? Five hours? Five years? Worth it when this conversation is the last one you'll remember?

You'll learn:

· Why correcting a person living with dementia often feels like an attack, even when it's well-intentioned

· How to slow down and use curiosity instead of confrontation ("So you're thinking it was me that owned that type of camera?")

· A practical reframe for everyday moments — wet pants, spilled soup, mistaken identities — that protects dignity and the relationship

· Why it's better to be kind than to be right is a skill, not just a saying

Whether you're supporting a spouse, parent, or client, this conversation will help you trade the urge to correct someone for the power to preserve your connection.

If today's conversation made you stop and think about how you show up in those moments — the corrections, the arguments — check out Improving Communications in Dementia Care. It goes well beyond today's episode with five hours of hands-on skill-building that changes not just what you say, but how you connect.

Subscribe to the Dementia Care Partner Podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts so you never miss a new episode. Have a question or topic you'd like Teepa to explore? Email Greg at GTPhelps@shaw.ca

#DementiaCare #PositiveApproachToCare #TeepaSnow #CarePartner #PAC

A recent study found that people under 70 with hearing loss who used hearing aids had a 61% lower risk of dementia — and that kind of headline is hard to ignore. But does that mean hearing aids will protect your loved one from dementia? In this episode, Teepa and Greg take a closer look at what the research actually tells us, why hearing loss may be an early identifier of brain change rather than a cause, and what truly helpful communication looks like — with or without hearing aids.

If you're navigating communication challenges with someone living with brain change and want practical, real-world guidance, Positive Approach to Care® on-demand streaming videos are a great place to start. Learn at your own pace and build skills you can use the same day. Browse the full library at: https://shop.teepasnow.com/product-category/online-video/?utm_source=social&utm_medium=organic_social&utm_campaign=4499760-New%20Podcast%20Dropped

A headline says lifestyle changes can improve cognition — and that sounds like great news. But what happens when the ask is so big it becomes another source of stress? In this episode, Teepa and Greg unpack why sweeping lifestyle changes often backfire, how to find smaller shifts that can be maintained, and what it really means to involve the person living with brain change in decisions about their own life. Because care without the person isn't care — it's something else entirely.

Ready to build the communication skills that make lifestyle conversations less of an uphill climb? The PAC Champion Courses are short, skill-focused trainings designed to help you lead with connection — so you're prepared for real moments, not just theory. Explore the Champion Courses and find the level that's right for where you are right now.