On-Site Dementia Mental Health Programming for Nursing Homes, Skilled Living & Adult Daycares
Give your residents and participants something most facilities can’t: evidence-informed dementia mental health care delivered inside your community by therapists certified in dementia care. 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Medicaid and Medicare accepted.
Does Your Facility Have a Therapist?
Not a physical therapist. Not a psychiatrist who manages medications. A mental health professional who helps your residents cope with the grief, fear, and loss of dignity that come with dementia, and who helps families process watching a parent disappear.
Most facilities don’t have one.
Let that sink in.
Most facilities don’t have one.
But yours can!
Transformative Growth Counseling (TGC) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that brings cutting-edge dementia mental health programming directly into nursing homes, skilled living communities, memory care units, and adult daycares across Chicagoland. Our programs are designed and overseen by our founder, Dr. Jessica Swenson, a Certified Dementia Care Specialist and psychologist with 18 years of clinical experience, and delivered by a team of therapists certified in dementia care.
Our programs can help you become the facility families choose for their parents.
The Conversation Around Dementia Is Changing. Lead It
For years, the standard line was that nothing could be done but wait. Emerging research is changing that. Something CAN be done. Dementia’s development can be slowed…
A 2024 randomized clinical trial found that the right intensive, multi-domain lifestyle program can improve cognition and function in some people with cognitive impairment or early Alzheimer’s disease, pointing toward a comprehensive approach built on nutrition, movement, stress reduction, sleep, social connection, cognitive engagement, and medical risk-factor management.
With the power of grants and community support, we are able to customize, write and implement that plan, free of charge for your facility and no direct cost to your residents.
Dr. Swenson designs TGC’s dementia programming around the most up to date research, giving your staff and your families something genuinely forward-looking.
Does Your Facility Have a Therapist?
Dementia & Caregiver Support Groups, In Your Building
We come to you. Our therapists facilitate professionally led support groups for residents living with dementia and for their families. The groups are structured, clinical, and delivered inside your facility. No transportation. No added burden on your staff. No extra costs for families.
Individualized, Evidence-Informed Care Plans
Our team develops personalized, research-based dementia care plans for individual residents, adding clinical depth your current programming may be missing, and coordinating with your existing medical team.
Clinical Consultation & Staff Training
Want richer, more effective dementia programming? We consult with facilities and clinics to close gaps and build environments that are genuinely responsive to Alzheimer’s. This is your competitive differentiator, proof to families and referral sources that you do something the facility down the road doesn’t.
Mini Equine Visits: Comfort That a Dog Can’t Match
Everyone’s seen a therapy dog. Almost no one has seen a miniature horse walk through their facility’s doors. That novelty is exactly the point. It stops residents in their tracks, draws people out of their rooms, and creates a moment they remember long after it’s over.
But this is more than a feel-good visit. Research increasingly supports equines as a meaningful tool for both dementia and grief:
Dementia: Studies from The Ohio State University, UC Davis, and Stanford University have documented reduced behavioral and psychological symptoms, lowered agitation, and increased engagement and positive affect in people with dementia after equine interaction. In one Ohio State study, families noted that loved ones who couldn’t recall their day at a care center still vividly remembered their time with the horses.
Grief: A 2022 scoping review in Health & Social Care in the Community found that equine-assisted therapies were associated with improved emotional regulation, reduced feelings of hopelessness, and greater emotional resilience and life satisfaction. Horses are highly perceptive and non-judgmental. They meet people in their emotion without words, which makes them powerful for residents and family members processing loss.
How we bring the horses to your community: Our miniature equines, Oreo and Coco, Chicagoland’s most famous therapy minis, are available for:
- Grief sessions for residents and family members coping with loss
- Dementia support groups: included at no additional cost when TGC is already running your group, or booked separately to enrich an existing group your team runs
- General pet-therapy wellness visits that lift the whole community: residents, families, and staff alike
Memorable, photo-worthy, and genuinely therapeutic, a visit your residents and their families won’t forget.
Meet Oreo!
Location: Oswego
Meet Coco!
Location: Oswego
At No Cost to Your Residents, and Minimal Lift for You
We accept Medicaid and Medicare, and we actively secure grants for elderly populations and community mental health.
To date, 100% of our dementia programming has been funded so that no resident or family pays out of pocket. That’s a powerful selling point for your admissions team: exceptional mental health care, at no cost to the people you serve.
Built for Medicaid and Medicare Communities
We understand the realities of Medicaid- and Medicare-funded care, and we built our model to work within them. If you’ve wanted to offer real mental health programming but assumed it was out of reach financially, that’s exactly the problem we solve.
FAQ
There isn’t one. We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and our dementia programming is funded through a mix of grants we secure for elderly and community mental health, insurance billing where a resident has coverage, and community support. To date, every dementia program we have run has been fully funded, so no resident or family has paid out of pocket. Your facility does not get an invoice either.
No. There is no fee to your community for our on-site groups, care plans, or consultation. We bring our own therapists and materials and work around your schedule, so it adds real programming without adding a line to your budget.
Very little. Our therapists run the groups, write the care plans, and handle their own setup. Your team just helps us coordinate a space and let residents and families know when we are coming. That is about the extent of it.
No. We bill Medicaid and Medicare when a resident has that coverage, and we use grants and community support to cover everyone else, including residents with no insurance at all. Coverage status never decides who gets to join.
Yes. Our programming is designed and overseen by our founder, Dr. Jessica Swenson, a psychologist and Certified Dementia Care Specialist with 18 years of clinical experience. The therapists who deliver our groups and care plans are certified in dementia care.
A psychiatrist usually manages diagnoses and medication. We do something different. We give residents a mental health professional who helps them cope with the grief, fear, and loss of dignity that come with dementia, and we walk families through watching a loved one change. We coordinate with your existing medical team rather than replace it.
That is up to you. We can run ongoing weekly or monthly groups, build care plans for individual residents, or start with a single consultation and grow from there. We shape the schedule around your community, not the other way around.
Yes. Oreo and Coco are trained therapy minis who visit facilities regularly. They wear special shoes made for indoor floors, we carry a certificate of insurance we can send your team ahead of time, and we follow your building’s cleanliness and safety rules. We are glad to talk through allergies or space questions before any visit.
We serve nursing homes, skilled living communities, memory care units, and adult daycares across Kane, Kendall, DuPage, and Will Counties, and the greater Chicagoland area.
Call us at (630) 423-6010. We will talk through what your community needs, whether that is ongoing groups, individual care plans, a consultation, or an equine visit, and build a plan from there.
Set your facility apart. Let’s bring TGC to your community.
Whether you want ongoing on-site groups, a consultation to start designing your custom TGC programming, or an equine visit during your dementia support group, we’re ready.
Serving nursing homes, skilled living, and adult daycares across Kane, Kendall, DuPage, Will Counties and all of greater Chicagoland.