By Kara Jacobsen

Kristen Henley always knew she wanted to work with older adults. Her mother was a private caregiver growing up, so she’d often interact with this population and gained respect for their wisdom and life experience early on. With awareness of diseases like Alzheimer’s and other dementias, Kristen was excited when a position opened at Alzheimer’s San Diego for the role of Clinical Care Coach.

One of her favorite parts about working with the families at Alzheimer’s San Diego is seeing how they interact with each other during the support group sessions.

“Their strength and energy is inspiring. They are just so kind and appreciative. It’s a joy to work with them,” she describes.

Kristen was born and raised in San Diego and earned her Bachelor’s and Master’s in Social Work from Arizona State University. In addition to assisting with support calls, Kristen primarily works to support people referred through our ART (Alzheimer’s Response Team) program. ART is in partnership with the County of San Diego and serves those currently in crisis situations working with Adult Protective Services (APS). Kristen’s day-to-day involves coordinating with APS to establish long-term care goals for the person living with dementia and/or their care partner, and then ensuring they are met.

Although advocating for those referred through ART has become increasingly difficult due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Kristen continues to support these clients over the phone and conducts strict and safe home visits. Despite the many roadblocks from the past year, Kristen finds her role extremely rewarding.

After initial phone screenings from APS, Kristen still meets with clients outdoors, socially distanced, and in full PPE attire. One standout moment for Kristen so far was when she was able to help a family where the wife had early-onset Alzheimer’s and the husband, due to his own physical conditions, was unable to safely care for her. The wife’s dementia progressed into the later stages and she was hospitalized several times, and then unsafely discharged back home. Once Kristen and the ART team became involved, she was able to help coach the husband on language to use when advocating for his wife. He was successfully able to discharge her to a Skilled Nursing Facility where her physical condition improved vastly and she was properly cared for.

“It was such a meaningful case to work on because in the end I really saw the impact of my efforts as we helped this woman get the care she needed,” Kristen explains.

Kristen knows the demands placed on caregivers can be frustrating when it feels impossible to provide for a person’s basic needs let alone care for their own. That’s why she welcomes those even just looking for a sounding board to request a social worker at Alzheimer’s San Diego for advice.

“Living with dementia can be a long, slow progression and it’s easy to get burned out or overwhelmed early on. Remember this phrase we often repeat at this organization because it’s very true: you can’t pour from an empty cup! And every skill learned early on will only help you better care for your person over time.”

You’re not on this journey alone — talk with one of our Clinical Care Coaches by calling 858.492.4400, or schedule a Zoom appointment to connect with a friendly face.