At the heart of Memory Bridge’s mission is learning. Learning to see one another in new and life-giving ways. Learning how to find community and communion when we can no longer communicate as we once did. And learning from those who have gone before us, blazing new trails in the field of person-centered care.
Personal and professional development could be said to be linked in all fields—after all, personal and professional lives are never wholly separate—but this is especially true for caregivers, who bring their whole selves to each interaction.
“One of the things we are learning,” Michael Verde says, “is how much caregivers want to learn—to grow their understanding of this art called caregiving, to push their minds past the clichés and the platitudes of marketing brochures. To be lifelong learners and students of the human spirit.”
This is the mission of The Caregiver’s Library. Twice each month, Michael Verde will give a presentation on a book that illuminates some aspect of the caregiver’s experience and offers opportunities for growth. These hour-long webinars are designed to be accessible yet profound: each one a new foray into writings that will nourish the spirits of caregivers.
We invite you to join us, as we embark on this new adventure of growth and becoming.
Michael holds two master’s degrees: an MA in literary studies from the University of Iowa, and a MA in theology from the University of Durham, England, where he graduated at the top of his international class. At Lamar University, where he began his teaching career, he was named Teacher of the Year in his third year of teaching–the youngest teacher to ever receive that recognition at the university. He taught English for ten years before founding Memory Bridge. Currently, he is completing his PhD at Indiana University, focusing on empathetic communication and literature and religion.
Michael Verde founded Memory Bridge in 2003 for the purpose of ending the emotional isolation of people with dementia. To date, Memory Bridge’s multiple-award winning educational programs, hosted on three continents, have connected over 8,500 people with and without dementia in one-to-one relationships. In 2008, Michael produced the PBS Documentary There Is a Bridge.
Michael presents across the world on the subjects of literature, world religions, and communicating with people with dementia.