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Facing Dementia: Facilitating Planning and Communication With Patients and Families

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Includes a Live Web Event on 12/10/2025 at 2:00 PM (EST)

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Description

When individuals and their loved ones face a diagnosis of dementia, they are usually unaware that it is a long-term life-limiting illness that gradually robs the patient of the ability to live and function independently. The emotional, physical, and financial demands on unpaid caregivers are chronic and escalating, posing a health threat for the caregiver as well as the patient. Facilitating critical windows of opportunity at diagnosis can make a difference in the long-term coping of those affected by dementia. Helping clients understand the nature of dementia and the typical course of the illness, psychologists can also plant seeds for examination of life values, planning for late-life complications, and communication with loved ones about end-of-life preferences..

Continuing Education Information

1 CE Credit, Instructional Level: Intermediate

1 Contact Hour (New York Board of Psychology)

Disclosures: Presenter has no conflicts of interest to disclose. Generative AI was not used for the development or content of this presentation.

Learning Objectives:

  1. Discuss key discussion points when helping clients and their loved-ones plan after life-limiting diagnoses
  2. Describe dementia-specific considerations for post-diagnostic communications (e.g., decisional capacity, dementia addendum) 
  3. Explain the difference between living wills, healthcare representatives, and healthcare advocates in later-life decision making 

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CE Disclaimers

The National Register of Health Service Psychologists is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. The National Register maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

The National Register of Health Service Psychologists is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychologists #PSY-0010

Beverly E. Thorn, PhD

Beverly E. Thorn, PhD, is the author of hundreds of articles, two books, and four workbooks on coping with chronic illness. She spent decades as a faculty member at The Ohio State University and The University of Alabama, where she went on to serve as director of the clinical psychology PhD program and department chair in psychology. Currently professor emerita, she is also a certified end-of-life doula and continues to publish, speak, and conduct workshops nationally and internationally on managing chronic illness.

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