We just launched Redeeming Dementia with Dorothy Linthicum For Individuals and For Groups.

As a culture, we are afraid of dementia. We rely so heavily on our brains’ functioning as they should that it can feel like everything is lost when our rational functions and memories become inaccessible to us. It’s terrible for family members and friends to watch the people they love apparently disappear into the confusion — like people’s lives are over, though their bodies remain alive.

Even life’s hardest experiences offer chances to learn and grow. People treat dementia differently because it seems like there’s nothing to learn from it. How can you grow from something that diminishes you or a loved one so thoroughly? In this class, Dorothy Linthicum, a teacher, public speaker, workshop leader, and co-author of the book Redeeming Dementia (2018). shows that, just like other difficult experiences, it is possible to find value in dementia — in experiencing it, even if we don’t learn the way we once did, and in watching loved ones experience it.

In this course, Dorothy discusses what dementia is from a scientific standpoint — what happens within the brains of people who experience it. She talks what it means to be human — how, from a Christian perspective in particular, the ability to reason and remember is not what defines our humanity; why our value and our selfhood are more than our brains’ correct functioning. She examines ways in which dementia can offer people unique access to aspects of their spiritual lives that they may never have been able to explore. She argues that they can grow from these spiritual experiences, and we can learn from them. Finally, Dorothy discusses ways in which churches can reach out, both to members with dementia and to their caregivers.

This course is ideal for anyone interested in dementia, older adult ministries, or caregiving. For a preview of the course, please click below.