MAP (Memory Advocate Peers) is a pilot program at CaringKind that will help a person living with dementia and their support partner. The program will connect two people (the person living with dementia and their support partner) with a former caregiver/support partner who will be trained to provide emotional support, empathy, and information on additional resources. This former caregiver will be a MAP volunteer mentor. The program also looks to increase participation in clinical trials.
Former caregivers/support partners can speak from experience. The goal of MAP is to leverage that hard-won experience in a positive way to help people currently affected by dementia and their support partner. Through MAP, those affected by dementia will benefit from the experience of a former caregiver/support partner. Former caregivers will enjoy the satisfaction of helping others and having a greater sense of meaning and purpose in life.
This program is for people in the early stage of dementia and their support partners.
MAP volunteer mentors will be recruited by CaringKind. People living with dementia and their support partners will be referred to CaringKind by NYU, Montefiore, and Bellevue Hospitals. Once the participants are identified, MAP will pair the mentor with the person living with dementia and their support partner based on a set of screening criteria.
The first cohort of mentors have been recruited and their training is scheduled to begin mid-March. Once the assignments are made, mentors make a 12-month commitment.
Over the course of 12 months, mentors will report their activities to MAP. Likewise, MAP will gather information from the person living with dementia and their support partner through surveys on the usefulness of the relationship. The goal of the 12-month mentor commitment is to help a person living with dementia and their support partner build a strong foundation of support from a variety of sources.
To be eligible to serve as a volunteer mentor, caregivers must wait a minimum of 12 months after the completion of their caregiving journey.
For more information, please contact Marcia Henne at mhenne@cknyc.org.