Getting oriented
Helping families understand the care landscape and identify useful next questions.
Our priorities
No family should navigate alone
Family Support
Building practical, compassionate support that helps families find reliable information, plan for change, and sustain their own wellbeing.
In development
IDCC is building this area thoughtfully with qualified partners and people whose lives are affected by dementia.
Our approach
Purposeful work, shaped by evidence and lived experience.
Families often become care coordinators, advocates, researchers, and decision-makers with little preparation. The experience can bring profound connection as well as uncertainty, exhaustion, financial strain, and grief.
IDCC is developing family support around listening, practical navigation, and respect for each family’s culture and choices. Our role will be to connect—not replace—clinical care, emergency services, legal counsel, or other qualified professional advice.
What we will focus on
Four commitments guiding this priority.
Each focus area will be developed with clear objectives, appropriate expertise, and meaningful community input.
Practical planning
Tools for routines, appointments, family communication, care coordination, and future conversations.
Care-partner wellbeing
Normalizing support, rest, boundaries, and attention to the caregiver’s own health.
Peer connection
Creating respectful spaces where families can share knowledge and feel less alone.
Programs we are shaping
Building the foundation before the launch.
These initiatives are planned concepts, not yet active services. Their design, timing, and scope will depend on expert review, partnerships, community input, and funding.
Family orientation
An introductory learning path for families entering a new stage of the dementia journey.
Peer connection circles
Facilitated groups centered on practical exchange, dignity, and mutual support.
Care-planning toolkit
Flexible worksheets and conversation guides families can adapt to their circumstances.
Resource navigation
A curated pathway toward local, national, and condition-specific support.
Who this work is for
Designed around people, not programs.
People living with dementiaSpouses and partnersAdult childrenLong-distance care partnersFriends and neighborsFamily advocates
Build this with us
Partnership makes the work stronger.
We welcome family-serving organizations, respite providers, clinicians, social workers, community navigators, and people with lived experience who can help build a humane, useful support network.
Trusted starting points
Explore authoritative resources.
While IDCC develops its own reviewed materials, these public resources offer credible information and pathways for learning.
IDCC does not provide medical diagnosis or treatment. Information on this site is educational and does not replace advice from a qualified professional.
Continue exploring