Next Steps: More Practical Skills for Building Dementia Supportive Communities

Welcome to Next Steps: More Practical Skills for Building Dementia Supportive Communities. This course is designed to help you better understand dementia as a human experience that affects how people feel, think, and act.

Across five sessions, you’ll build on what you’ve already learned about making our communities more inclusive and supportive by diving deeper into:

• how dementia changes the way people process information and experience the world
• situational awareness, responding with empathy, and adapting spaces and interactions to meet people’s needs
• the small, meaningful actions that make a big difference and contribute to a culture of care.

Whether you’re here as a professional, volunteer, neighbour, friend, or family member, you’ll gain practical tools and deeper confidence to communicate with compassion and create environments where everyone feels safe, respected, and valued.

Throughout this course, you’ll be invited to pause and reflect on your own experiences, assumptions, and emotions in this downloadable workbook. Use it to jot down your thoughts, respond to prompts, and explore how the ideas in this course connect to your own life and community. These activities are optional but recommended. There are no right or wrong answers and most importantly, you’ll be able to keep revising and adding to your responses as you help your community become more dementia supportive.