Our mission

Education

Sharing SPECAL^® insights and practical strategies for care partners, professionals, and community members to promote well-being for anyone living with dementia.

Enrichment

Helping people living with dementia and their care partners discover joy on the journey through social engagement.

Hope

Providing connection and support now, along with help and hope for the future.

Our Approach: SPECAL^® 

At Dementia Together, we operate and thrive under our three pillars: Education, Enrichment, and Hope.

All of our education is SPECAL-led, taught by licensed SPECAL coaches and practitioners who are credentialed by the Contented Dementia Trust in England.

Our life enrichment opportunities are facilitated by SPECAL-informed staff and volunteers.

The practical hope we get to share with our participants is SPECAL-inspired as we see the life-changing difference SPECAL makes for those who learn and apply it.

Creating and sustaining well-being become possible by understanding dementia through the framework of a simple and highly effective way of explaining how it feels to experience dementia, using the analogy of the SPECAL^® Photograph Album.  We conduct ongoing evidence-based research with Colorado State University on the impact of using SPECAL® which has shown, thus far, to significantly decrease stress for care partners while increasing their ability to identify the positive aspects of caregiving.  Our findings are consistent with the UK research from King’s College London which indicates the SPECAL Method boosts empathy, harmony, and resilience.

“Listen to the Expert—the person living with dementia IS the expert.”  SPECAL^® invites us to listen to and learn from the expert.  “The SPECAL® Photograph Album leads to a set of guiding principles and a practical, positive approach to the management of dementia – the SPECAL® method.    Without understanding of the photograph album analogy, the 3 Golden Rules may be misunderstood as limiting choice when in reality, they do the exact opposite.

The 3 Golden Rules are:

Don’t ask direct questions

Listen to the expert

Don’t contradict

By listening to the expert and understanding what the disability of no longer storing recent facts efficiently actually feels like, we can stop using condescending, patronizing verbiage such as “white lies, therapeutic fibbing, or creative deception” that are all too common in dementia care.  At Dementia Together, we have coined the terms humble deferral® and compassionate deferral® to replace the unnecessarily negative terms often used in dementia care when SPECAL principles are not understood.  When SPECAL principles are understood, it become clear why SPECAL works for managing the condition regardless of the presence of other dementia symptoms often considered unrelated to memory.

New SPECAL® coaches and practitioners are in training here in Northern Colorado, and we are honored to provide mentorship to them so we can better keep up with the requests for services in the months and years ahead as word is spread about the tangible hope that SPECAL provides.

The SPECAL method has been shown to:

• increase the person’s confidence and thereby seemingly slowing the rate of decline, producing a “plateau effect” in observed symptoms
• reduce the need for medication
• enable the person to remain in their own home for significantly longer
• minimize the distress all too often seen during and after a transition into a different care setting
• decrease the care partner guilt

SPECAL^® (pronounced “speckle”) is a unique, evidence-based, simple, counter-intuitive dementia management method that can be learned and used by anyone involved in the care of a person with dementia.

SPECAL was developed in the UK over the past 30+ years ago, and introduced in North America 15 years ago.

SPECAL is highly practical and effective.  It gives those in caregiving roles, the WHY, WHAT, and HOW to promote lifelong well-being for the person living with dementia.

SPECAL is a family-led model which has demonstrated improved empathy, harmony, and resilience for care partners.

SPECAL is tailor-made for the condition of dementia, whatever the cause.

Like other approaches rooted in person-directed/relationship-based care models, SPECAL places the well-being of the person with dementia at the center of care.

Unlike other approaches, an understanding of medical terminology, knowledge of specific dementia diagnosis, and a grasp on brain pathophysiology are not required in order to apply the practical strategies SPECAL teaches.

Use of the SPECAL method can bring about immediate and sustainable improvements in the quality of life of the person with dementia and everyone involved in care.

For the purposes of MANAGING the condition, SPECAL treats dementia as a simple disability and works positively with it, rather than trying to ignore or defeat it.

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The SPECAL Approach: We share the SPECAL Photograph Album analogy, and the 3 Golden Rules and Tools for effective communication in all of our dementia education aimed at helping someone “live well with dementia.”   SPECAL general principles apply to anyone coming into contact with a person living with dementia. The SPECAL approach is helpful for anyone seeking to accommodate for the disability of dementia in a meaningful way. Once we can understand what it actually feels like to have dementia, it immediately becomes obvious that a common sense approach to managing the condition is not useful. “SPECAL sense” is required.

The SPECAL Method: We work with families in this family-driven model to practice not only the general principles of SPECAL sense, but also take into account the very SPECific individual historical information of their loved ones along with their current carefully observed interactions, (questions, words, phrases, gestures, and responses of their loved ones) in order to develop an individualized care profile and manage the condition of dementia in a positive way. 

The SPECAL System: We help families not only discover key components needed to create and sustain well-being but also walk alongside them as they practice their skills; develop a plan for growing their care team of SPECAL-informed people in senior care, health care, and the community sectors; and incorporate and communicate individualized strategies for risk-management, counter-intuitively placing emotional safety ahead of physical safety if even by a split second.   With the SPECAL System in place, confidence and competence are promoted for everyone concerned, thus making it possible to create well-being from early stages of cognitive changes through the end of life.

With SPECAL, we can make living well with dementia the expectation, not the exception.

Our Story

Originally Dementia-Friendly Communities of Northern Colorado®, Dementia Together started as a volunteer initiative under the umbrella of Partnership for Age Friendly Communities.  We offered one care partner support group and one memory cafe at Timberline Church in Fort Collins, CO.  In November 2015, we embarked on a dementia-friendly community initiative as a result of the incredible community support we received with the B Sharp Arts Engagement® program, a collaborative project enabling couples living with dementia to attend the symphony and participate in a research study. When the need for sustaining the volunteer initiative became apparent, we formed a 501c3 non-profit organization in January 2017. Dementia Together remains a Northern Colorado focused “in the meantime” nonprofit organization today. Due to our online programming and word of mouth, our reach is expanding throughout the United States and beyond.  We are supported by private donations, corporate partnerships, grants, and a lot of collaboration and passion.

We enthusiastically share the SPECAL® method as a framework to effectively and positively manage the condition of dementia to produce lifelong well-being.  We collaborate with many Northern Colorado organizations as well as several national and international organizations which include The Contented Dementia Trust, Dementia Action Alliance (DAA), Dementia Map, Alzheimer’s Speaks, and Purple Angel Ambassadors.  We were cited in the 2019 DAA white paper case study which stated: “one nonprofit organization, [Dementia Together], is leading the way in changing the predominant culture surrounding people living with dementia and their potential to ‘live well.’” We contributed to the DAA comprehensive manual in 2022, Pathways to Well-Being with Dementia.  More importantly, we create and share joy with our friends who are striving to live well with dementia.

Board of Directors

Meet the Team

Cyndy Hunt Luzinski is our founder and executive director of Dementia Together.  She is an advanced practice nurse, certified dementia practitioner, and the first accredited SPECAL® Practitioner in North America as credentialed by the Contented Dementia Trust in England.

Meghan Wall is our Program Manager and a SPECAL® Practitioner who oversees our education and enrichment services.  She is also still (unofficially) our Manager of Hope in her lane crossing roles with staff and participants.  She graduated with a Bachelor’s in Health & Exercise Science and a Minor in Gerontology.

Robin Westcott is our Business Manager. She is a Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant and Certified Dementia Practitioner® whose mother lived with dementia.

Claire Richardson is our Outreach and Resource Developoment Manager. She enjoys building relationships and creating awareness around the mission of Dementia Together.

Esther Gowin is our Social Media Coordinator. She is passionate about capturing and sharing Dementia Together’s impactful work and loves using social media platforms to create connections throughout our community.

Amy Threewitt is our Enrichment Manager. She has a background in Non-Profit and Volunteer Management, and has a passion for serving others and building community.

Sharon Keay is our Outreach Coordinator. Her strength and passion are in connecting people with the resources they need. As a former volunteer with Dementia Together, Sharon finds joy and purpose in spreading the word about the great work being done by Dementia Together.

Sarah Armold is our SPECAL Professional Education and Research Support Manager.  Her passion for education, patient care, and dementia advocacy drives her commitment to improving healthcare outcomes. Sarah is a Doctor of Nursing Practice with extensive experience in case management, education, and dementia care.

Strategic Partners

Chris Imsland of Imsland Consulting: An experienced consultant with a demonstrated history of working in the non profit industry. Chris is skilled in providing organizations with grant and proposal writing, fundraising strategy, organizational management, and business development services.  Because of our thoughtful strategy, engaged board of directors, and community energy around our work, Chris remarked at a recent board retreat, “Dementia Together is the best new nonprofit I’ve seen.”

Code Geek, who designed and maintains our website with updates and solutions that we don’t have expertise or time to manage…And they do it without complaining (to us)!

Twelve11Films, is a videography and photography company that specializes in telling your story.

Periscope Theory, an organizational development consulting business that provides strategic, relationship focused services which help us maintain best practice.

Community Advisory Board

Phil Leathery, expert living with dementia and Joan Leathery, care partner

Phil Thompson, expert living with dementia and Cathy Thompson, care partner

Chuck Hanson, expert living with dementia and Sheryl Hanson, care partner

Beverly Gamble, expert living with dementia and Bill Gamble, care partner