Validation Training Institute (VTI)

As Alzheimer's & Brain Awareness Month closes, here's the takeaway:

You don't need a certification to start communicating differently with someone whose brain is changing. You can start today.

- Make eye contact at their level before you speak.
- Match your voice to their emotional state — if they're scared, speak with a scared voice tone.
- When they say something that doesn't match reality, respond to the feeling, not the fact.

These three shifts won't cure anything. But they'll change the next conversation you have. And that conversation matters more than you think.

Ready to keep building? Here's where to go next:

- Self-paced start — Beginning Validation Tutorial: https://vfvalidation.org/course/beginning-validation/
- Practice — 6 Skill Building Blocks: https://vfvalidation.org/product/the-skill-building-blocks-all-6-blocks/
- Work with a Teacher — Validation for Activity Professionals (Sept 8 start): https://vfvalidation.org/product/validation-for-activity-professionals-starting-september-8th/

Validation started in one nursing home in Cleveland. Today it lives on every inhabited continent.

From Germany to Israel to Japan to the UK — Validation is practiced in care communities, hospitals, and homes around the world. 430 certified teachers. 9,000 certified practitioners. One shared method.

This October, the international community comes together in person: Vienna Symposium 2026.

Learn from Validation practitioners worldwide. Share breakthroughs in practice. Connect with a network of people who believe dignity doesn't have an expiration date.

More details coming soon. For now: save the date.

vfvalidation.org

"It enables you to do the job you signed up for."

"I am a carer for my mum, who has been living with dementia for 16 years. One of the hardest, but most amazing things has been learning a new way to communicate and connect with her. That didn't come naturally to me, and no one tells family carers we need to change how we communicate." — Diane Bushell, family caregiver and PhD candidate in dementia care

Diane's takeaway from the Skill Building Blocks course:

"For families, it helps you reconnect with your loved one; for care staff, it enables you to do the job you signed up for."

The 6 Skill Building Blocks — centering, observation, voice tone, mirroring, and more — are self-paced and available to start today.

https://vfvalidation.org/product/the-skill-building-blocks-all-6-blocks/