Validation Training Institute (VTI)

The 10-second skill that changes every conversation that follows.

Before you walk into a patient's room. Before you sit down with your mother. Before you respond to a resident who's been calling for help for 20 minutes.

Center.

Breathe in through your nose. Breathe out through your mouth. Release the last conversation, the to-do list, the frustration. Be here, now, with this person.

Centering is the first of the 6 Skill Building Blocks of the Validation Method — and it's the one that makes every other skill work. You can't truly hear someone when you're carrying your last interaction into this one.

Try it today. Before one conversation. Notice what shifts.

Ready for all six? They're available as self-paced modules:

The Skill Building Blocks (All 6 blocks) - VTI Store 6 online, on-demand training blocks that deliver basic Validation techniques that help you better communicate with aging parents and ...

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

There is a daughter caring for her mother at home. Her mother is in cognitive decline. The conversations between them, the ones that used to be easy, have become the hardest part of her week.

She corrects her mother and feels worse afterward. She goes along with everything and feels dishonest. She wants to help, and she does not know how.

She is not alone. There are activity professionals walking into memory care rooms without the training they need. Nursing assistants doing the work with their hearts but not the tools.

Volunteers showing up because someone has to.

Today we are launching our Spring Fundraiser. Between now and May 31, we aim to sponsor up to 50 caregivers through Beginning Validation, our foundational training in the Validation attitude: how to center yourself before a hard conversation, how to listen for the emotion behind the words, and how to honor what someone is feeling.

$25 sponsors one caregiver.

If you have ever watched someone in your facility, your family, or your community do this work without the tools they need, this is the moment to change that for somebody.

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

"What do I say when my mom says something that isn't true?"

That's the question families ask us most. And the instinct — to correct — is the instinct that costs you the conversation.

If your mom says she needs to pick the kids up from school, and the kids are in their 50s, correcting her will land as frustration, withdrawal, or agitation. Every time.

Here's the shift Validation teaches:

"It sounds like you're thinking about the kids. You've always been such a good mom."

You're not lying. You're not correcting. You're connecting.

That's the foundation of the Validation Method — and it's a skill anyone can start practicing today.

Fifty years of practice, 9,000 certified practitioners, and families all over the world will tell you the same thing: responding to the emotion changes the relationship.

Ready to go deeper? The Beginning Validation Tutorial is self-paced and available year-round:

https://vfvalidation.org/course/beginning-validation/

Beginning Validation Course - Validation Training Institute This course is great for in-service training. Content includes videos, text with narration, interactive quizzes and completion certificate.

"It transformed how I respond to challenging situations."

"Even in an assisted living setting, this course was incredibly impactful. It deepened my understanding of residents' emotions, strengthened my use of Validation, and transformed how I respond to challenging situations. Nancy and Brenda are exceptional, supportive educators." — Recent graduate, Validation for Activity Professionals

This is what participants walk away with:

- Confidence in the moment — they know how to respond when a resident is distressed, wandering, or repeating
- Practical tools for group programming — engagement that actually engages
- A lens for reading emotion underneath behavior — so they stop firefighting and start connecting
- A Validation Gateway Certificate — proof of skill they can take anywhere in their career

The next cohort starts May 26th. 11 weeks, fully online, 6 live webinars with certified Validation Teachers.

Register: https://vfvalidation.org/product/validation-for-activity-professionals-may-26/

Validation for Activity Professionals (Starting May 26th) | VTI Courses Practical Validation Training is nteractive training is designed for both professional and non-professional caregivers

Nursing school doesn't teach you this part.

It teaches you medications, wounds, and vital signs. It does not teach you what to say when your patient with dementia is terrified, furious, or calling for a husband who died 20 years ago.

That gap isn't your fault. It's a gap in training — and Validation fills it.

The Validation Method is how nurses and clinical staff respond to emotional distress without defaulting to redirection, white lies, or sedation. It's not a replacement for clinical care. It's the communication layer that makes clinical care land.

Fifty years of practice across hospitals, care homes, and hospice units say the same thing: when clinicians use Validation, agitation goes down, cooperation goes up, and the nurse goes home less depleted.

This week and every week — thank you for showing up.

Visiting a loved one with cognitive decline can feel overwhelming. You want to connect, but conversations don't flow the way they used to.

Here are three small shifts that can make a big difference:

- Match their pace. If they're moving slowly, slow down with them. Rushing creates anxiety — mirroring creates safety.

- Use their name early. It's one of the last things we forget, and hearing it from someone we love can be deeply grounding.

- Sit at eye level. Standing over someone changes the dynamic more than we realize. Getting on their level says "I'm here with you" without a single word.

You don't need a certification to start communicating with more empathy. You just need the willingness to try.

vfvalidation.org