As the founder of Skoog Dementia Support LLC, Teri Skoog is passionate about walking alongside individuals and families on their path of the dementia journey. She offers support through consultation, care management, direct companionship, and training. She holds a BA in Social Work and Aging Studies from the University of Iowa and has over 30 years’ experience in the field of eldercare. In addition to her professional credentials, Teri was a caregiver for her mom when she was diagnosed and later died from Diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and Vascular dementia. Teri’s personal and professional experience inspired her to walk in the community with empathetic care partners and companions who support their loved ones to age in place.

Teri is a DAWN® Dementia Care Specialist and a DAWN® Trainer. Throughout her interactions over the years’, Teri has incorporated many models of dementia care into her work, but she believes none of them have addressed the true understanding of those experiencing the condition with more dignity and insight than The DAWN® Method.

This Habilitative approach is an experiential rather than a biomedical model. It represents the purest form of person-centered, person-directed, care. The DAWN® Method shifts the attention of the individual experiencing dementia and their caregivers away from symptoms, disease management and what is lost and focuses attention instead on emotions, well-being and the skills that are retained. The Seven DAWN® tools are based on strengths and possibilities instead of suffering. The Habilitative, strength-based care approach recognizes that any behaviors associated with changes to thinking, memory and attention skills are normal reactions of the distress anyone would experience when undergoing a progressive decline and not a symptom of dementia. Strength-based care accepts altered realities, looks at ways to adjust the environment for safety while retaining autonomy and strives to meet the emotional and well-being needs of the individual.

Teri brings a new light to the dementia experience by helping you develop better ways to live with, work with and care for loved ones in a humane and dignified approach giving to you the gift of more confidence, a sense of calm and preparedness.