Jane Verity
Jane Verity is the Founder and President of Dementia Care Australia and a world leader in pioneering the emotional care of people with dementia. Over the last 20 years, Jane has led the field in forging culture change within residential and community care. She has the vision and courage to challenge the status quo and create a world of dementia care that ignites the spark.
Originally from Denmark, Jane is an occupational and family therapist, a master practitioner in Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) and has earned the highest international accreditation as a professional speaker. Jane speaks passionately from the heart and creates lasting shifts in mindset and attitude. She has authored two internationally published books and contributes regularly to national and international dementia journals.
For the last 20 years, Jane has developed the international award winning Spark of Life Approach.
During this period, she studied with Tom Kitwood, the creator of Person Centred Care, and was the first person to bring Person Centred Care to Australia. She is also an educator for the Eden Alternative and is the current Eden Alternative mentor for the entire Scandinavian community.
‘Jane Verity [has] a tremendous knowledge of person centred dementia care. Frankly, I think she is one of the best I have ever seen. She…is a wizard at making things happen.’
Dr Bill Thomas – Founder Eden Alternative USA
The Spark of Life Approach is a natural partner to the Eden Alternative and Person Centred Care and works in perfect harmony with their principles and styles of application. With its practical ‘how to' style, the Spark of Life goes one step further by filling a gap in these models of care and showing at a detailed, personal level how you can renew the spark in people with dementia and enable them to grow and blossom. Spark of Life has been described as the practical, step-by-step guide to implementing person centred care.
Jane has a deep interest in empowering people who are caring for a person with dementia at home and is acutely aware of their circumstances. Caring for her own mother with dementia brought to the approach a unique understanding and intimate knowledge that is only gained through personal experience. The Spark of Life Approach has been successfully adapted for home carers.
Books and Articles
Jane has authored two books and her articles appear in dementia journals both nationally and internationally. Her first Danish title, Demens - Lær at genantænde Livsgnisten (Dementia - Learn to rekindle the Spark of Life) was published by Forlaget Munksgaard Danmark A/S in 2005. Her co-authored book The Journal of Dementia Care was published by Delmar Learning US in 2007, and re-printed in 2009.
Jane regularly contributes articles on how to rekindle the spark in people with dementia to a number of internationally recognised magazines, including Dementia Care Journal in the U.K and INsite Australia and New Zealand.
Presentations
Over the past 14 years, Jane has presented the Spark of Life Approach to Aged Care Facilities, Aged Care organisations, Alzheimer’s Associations and family carers in USA, NZ, Spain, UK, Denmark, Sweden, Iceland, Faeroe Islands, New Zealand and Australia with an average of 64 presentations a year.
Scandinavian Involvement
Since 1997, Jane has presented each year in Denmark and other Scandinavian Countries for Tertiary Education Institutes, Alzheimer’s Associations, Aged Care organisations, Local Councils, and individual aged care facilities and day centres. By introducing the Spark of Life and other leading trends into the Scandinavian communities, Jane has had a profound impact on the aged care industry in this region. She introduced Person Centred Care, DCM, and Eden Alternative to Denmark and Scandinavia.
Jane also strategically planned how to spread Eden in Scandinavia to quality assure the message was kept true to its essence; this resulted in Eden adopting the same innovative process across Europe.
United States Involvement
Jane is a highly sought after speaker at conferences and she has presented from Alaska in the North East to South Carolina in the South East.
In the State of Wisconsin, she participated in a federally funded pilot project aimed at improving the social and emotional care of people with dementia. The Spark of Life Club Program was introduced into three Aged Care Facilities across the region who were struggling with difficult behaviours that resulted in restraints or medication.
The Spark of Life Club Program was formally evaluated and subsequently endorsed as Recommended Best Practice both by the Wisconsin Adult Day Services Association (WADSA) and in a collaborative study between the Wisconsin Bureau of Aging and Disability Resources and the Wisconsin Office of Quality Assurance.
