More Than Memory: Mood, Meaning, and Connection in Dementia Care Webinar

More Than Memory: Mood, Meaning, and Connection in Dementia Care
with Katherine Tineo-Komatsu, LCSW, RYT

Friday, Aug. 14, 2026, 12-1PM (Zoom)
Register here

Most people living with dementia will, at some point, experience changes in mood, behavior, and communication. These changes, more than memory loss alone, often shape day-to-day quality of life for both the person and those who care for them. For healthcare professionals, many of these moments are fundamentally mental and behavioral health moments: depression, anxiety, apathy, agitation, and suspicion that can be understood, engaged, and addressed. This session reframes such behavior not as a problem to be suppressed but as communication to be understood. It also reframes aging itself, even with dementia, as a time that still holds the capacity for growth, expression, and connection.

Using a single, evolving case vignette, participants will work through a person-centered, mental health–informed model of care grounded in the principles of creative aging: how to communicate and therapeutically engage when cognition is impaired, how to interpret behavior as an expression of unmet need, and how to respond using a structured, evidence-based approach that leads with meaningful, creative, and social engagement before medication. The session also covers distinguishing dementia from delirium and depression, knowing when to screen and refer, and recognizing and supporting the family caregiver’s mental health as part of the plan of care. Participants will leave with concrete, transferable tools they can apply in their next encounter

By the end of this workshop, participants should be able to:

• Apply person-centered communication and engagement strategies when working with older adults living with dementia.
• Use the DICE framework to assess symptoms and design creative interventions.
• Differentiate dementia, delirium, and depression, and identify how to support family caregivers.

FREE CE’s available for Social Work, LMHC, OT, PT, Speech Pathology

Western New York Rural Area Health Education Center, inc. (WNY R-AHEC) is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Boards For Social Work (#SW-0685), Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, and Mental Health Practitioners (#MHC-0268) as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers, physical therapists and assistants, occupational therapists, and assistants, and licensed mental health counselors.