Memphis Caregiver Center
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For more information about the Training Materials & Certification Package, please contact
REACH Community has been such a success in the sites where it has been offered that we would like to train all Caregiver Consultants over the next year.
REACH Community is wonderful, after having worked on so many of these it is manna from heaven to finally have one that everyone loves and wants!
The University of Tennessee Health Science Center Caregiver Center, in the Department of Preventive Medicine, provides training in the REACH Community dementia caregiving intervention. Staff from health and social service agencies serving persons living with dementia and their caregivers can be trained and certified in the REACH Program.
REACH Community (Resources Enhancing Alzheimer's Caregiver Health in the community), the product
of 20 years of research and clinical translations, is a proven dementia caregiving
behavioral intervention focusing on information, safety, caregiver health, caregiver
emotional well-being, and patient behavior management. REACH Community is based on
the successful REACH VA Program which was a clinical translation of the Resources for Enhancing Alzheimer's Caregiver Health (REACH II) study.
REACH has been shown to decrease burden, depressive symptoms, the impact of depressive
symptoms on daily life, the potential for abuse as measured by caregiving frustrations,
and the number of troubling dementia related behaviors reported.
REACH Community is a caregiver support intervention delivered by certified Program Coaches. Sessions are targeted, by a risk assessment of each caregiver, and structured through protocols and scripts. There are:
- 4 Individual core sessions (Active Phase)
- Optional additional sessions if needed
- Maintenance sessions if caregiver requests
Interested in receiving REACH Community training?
REACH Community training is one (three hour) session; completed within a time frame set by the interventionist and the caregiver. Two to three months is a fairly common time frame. Sessions can be conducted either face-to-face (home or facility), by telephone, or using tele-health equipment if available.
To become a certified interventionist, staff first attend REACH Community training, which is 3 hours (webinar/video conference format). For certification, staff must complete an additional 1 hour role play session. UTHSC Caregiver Center staff provide ongoing consultation with interventionists to answer any questions concerning the program.
Interested in receiving REACH Community training?
Target Audience
Staff at community agencies such as Area Agencies on Aging, Alzheimer's Associations, health care systems, private physician’s offices, or dementia clinics working with patients and caregivers.
Training and Materials
REACH Community training, which is 3.5 hours (webinar/video conference format). For certification, staff must complete an additional 30-minute consultation call and 1-hour role play session. UTHSC Caregiver Center staff provide ongoing consultation with Program Coaches to answer any questions concerning the program. For more information about the Training Materials & Certification Package, contact Jennifer Martindale-Adams, EdD.