Validation Training Institute (VTI)

6 million Americans. 11 million unpaid caregivers. One question every family eventually asks:

"How do we stay connected when the rules keep changing?"

June is Alzheimer's & Brain Awareness Month. All month, we'll share stories, tools, and perspectives on staying connected with someone whose brain is changing — as a family member, as a professional, and as a community.

Validation doesn't promise to slow the disease. It gives you a proven way to keep showing up — with empathy, with skill, with presence — through every stage.

Fifty years of practice. Nine thousand certified practitioners. One method that works.

Follow along this month for practical tools you can use right now.

vfvalidation.org

Today's the day.

Our Validation for Activity Professionals cohort kicks off — 11 weeks of practical, hands-on training led by Nancy Brown, CVT, with 20+ years in dementia and memory care.

Over the next 11 weeks, this cohort will walk away with:

- The confidence to walk into any shift, any resident, any mood
- Real responses to distressed behavior — responses that actually work
- A deeper understanding of emotion underneath behavior
- Tools that make group programming land, not fall flat
- A Validation Gateway Certificate

No two days in memory care are the same. This course makes sure you're equipped, no matter what the day hands you.

Missed this round? The next cohort starts September 8th — and seats go quickly.

September registration: https://vfvalidation.org/product/validation-for-activity-professionals-starting-september-8th/

One trained caregiver changes a room. A trained team changes a building.

Here's a pattern we see constantly:

One caregiver validates Mrs. Johnson's feelings. The next one redirects her. A third tries humor. Mrs. Johnson doesn't know what to expect from the people caring for her — and her anxiety climbs.

Validation works best as a shared team skill. When everyone on the floor knows to center before entering a room, match their tone to the resident's emotional state, and meet the feeling underneath the words — the environment shifts. Measurably.

That's not theory. It's 50 years of practice in memory care communities around the world.

Managing a care team? We offer group training and Sponsorship Program options designed for organizations with limited budgets.

Reach out: [email protected]

Forty-three years. Four books in thirteen languages. 9,000 people certified. 430 Validation Teachers working in care communities around the world.Validation works.

It has been working since Naomi Feil walked into the Montefiore Home in 1963 and decided reality orientation was the wrong tool.

Our Spring Fundraiser puts that method into the hands of caregivers who want to learn it but cannot afford the course.

Sponsor a caregiver before May 31: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/where-connection-begins-vti-spring-fundraiser--2026