ABOUT CARING FAMILIES
Caring Families is an online community resource with the mission of connecting and educating dementia family caregivers. Practicing care that is therapeutic for both loved ones with dementia and their caregivers is central to the Caring Families ideal. We believe that dementia care should maximize the autonomy of our loved ones with dementia, accept their perception of reality, and maintain truthfulness within these bounds. Care that accepts the person with dementia's perception alongside reality allows for family members to maintain intimate connections throughout the prognosis of the disease. Through our promotion of these practices, we hope to connect families with each other and with families going through the same experience in a way that expresses love and community.
ABOUT JULIA
Creator of Caring Families
Julia Lanfersieck is a sophomore undergraduate student studying neuroscience at Saint Louis University. Her interest in dementia began after her late grandfather's diagnosis with the disease in 2015. The treatment he received was at points manipulative and unethical, sparking her drive to eliminate this kind of behavior and leading to her initiation of the project that became Caring Families. After extensively researching the current practices within dementia care, Julia developed her tenants for how care can be the most therapeutic on both its giving and receiving ends.
In the future, Julia intends to use her degree to continue her work around the topic of brain diseases like dementia. She hopes to become a researcher of neuropsychology to better understand these diseases in order to promote proper prevention and treatment.
