Provides information and support to individuals, families and communities confronting changes and challenges brought on by dementia.

The Alzheimer’s/Related Dementias Family Support program works closely with other JF&CS services, enabling individuals living with dementia and those who care about them to find what they need as dementia progresses.

JF&CS Memory Café

JF&CS, with volunteers from the Waltham Student Group of Brandeis University, hosts the first intergenerational Memory Café in Massachusetts. The Café is a relaxed monthly gathering with time to socialize and a facilitated experience led by a guest artist or educator. We welcome family, friends, and professionals, along with individuals living with dementia due to any medical condition, at any stage of disease progression. No one is asked if they have a diagnosis. We focus on strengths and joy. Learn more about our café.

JF&CS leads the JF&CS Memory Café Percolator, a free resource to help other organizations start and sustain their own memory café. View the directory of Memory Cafés in Massachusetts. Watch our TEDx Talk about Memory Cafés: Making space for dementia and joy

JF&CS also collaborates with the Dementia Friendly Massachusetts Initiative. This is a statewide effort to support communities in becoming safer for, more respectful of, and inclusive of individuals living with dementia and the people close to them. This process can mean anything from starting a Memory Café, to offering Dementia Friends information sessions, to bringing together community members to identify needs and make an action plan.

Dementia Friends Massachusetts

To increase public awareness of dementia and reduce stigma, JF&CS leads the international public awareness program Dementia Friends for Massachusetts. Dementia Friends is changing the way people think, act, and talk about dementia. JF&CS trains volunteer Champions who use Dementia Friends materials to offer hour-long information sessions in their community. The program is available in many languages and tailored for communities throughout Massachusetts. Check out the resources and recordings from our Dementia Symposium Let’s Talk about Dementia and Culture 2024 to see how to get involved. [See the recordings and resources from our past symposia, Let’s Talk about Dementia and Culture, in 2020 and 2022.] Visit www.dementiafriendsma.org.

Balancing Act Support and Education Group

The Balancing Act Support and Education group for adult children of parents with dementia offers support, wisdom, information, and encouragement. Topics may include navigating the changes in the parent/child relationship, collaborating with siblings and other family members, tools and support for making critical decisions, and balancing care with your work life and other caregiving commitments. These meetings are facilitated by JF&CS social workers with expertise in dementia.

Information, Referrals, and Consultation

JF&CS experts who understand dementia provide information, reliable referrals, and consultations to help with a wide variety of issues including:

For more information, call 781-647-JFCS (5327) or email your questions via our contact us page.