Certified Dementia Support Group Facilitator® CDSGF®

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CDSGF Certified Dementia Support Group Facilitator certification is open to health care professionals and clergy who facilitate support groups in assisted living communities, nursing homes, home care agencies, hospice agencies, CCRC's, adult day care, independent living communities. This is a 3-hour online course "Revitalizing Your Support Group" PowerPoint presentation, handouts, and test. This certification requires that you complete the ADDC seminar.

Here are the steps to achieve CDSGF® certification:

1

Complete the CDSGF application at https://test-environment.nccdp.org/certificate/certificate_step1/CDSGF if you do not have any other certifications at NCCDP.
If you already have another certification at NCCDP, log in to your account and click on the APPLY FOR ANOTHER CERTIFICATION button.

Complete the online CDSGF application and submit a payment of $160.00. Wait for approval. Upon approval, an email will be sent to you to continue on in the education process.

Once approved to move forward with the education component, you will have 30 days to complete both the ADDC seminar live in person or live online.

After 30 days you will need to reapply for the CDSGF certification.

2

Register and attend the 8 hour Alzheimer's Disease and Dementia Care seminar in person.

Register and complete the Alzheimer’s disease and Dementia Care live 8-hour seminar either in person on live online training.

Click here to find a seminar.

Generally, the seminar is $195.00 but each trainer sets the payment.

If you have already taken the ADDC course you do not have to take it again.

3

Complete the Revitalizing Your Support Group PowerPoint, Handout & test.

Complete the online PowerPoint presentation called Revitalizing Your Support Group.

Download read a handout.

Complete and pass the test.

There is no fee associated with this portion of the education component.

4

Enter your Trainer Name, CADDCT Number, and Seminar Date for the Alzheimer's Disease and Dementia Care (ADDC) Seminar into your CDSGF account page.

LOGIN TO YOUR ACCOUNT PAGE

ADD TRAINER NAME, TRAINER #, and SEMINAR DATE in the VERIFICATION OF DEMENTIA TRAINING fields and click on the submit button.

You will receive an email with a link to the EVALUATION FORM. Complete the evaluation and your certification will be emailed to you.

 

YOU WILL NEVER BE INSTRUCTED TO WIRE MONEY RELATED TO THIS CLOSING WITHOUT A PHONE CALL FROM THIS OFFICE FIRST.  DO NOT ACCEPT EMAILED INSTRUCTIONS FROM ANYONE WITHOUT VOICE VERIFICATION.
YOU WILL NEVER BE INSTRUCTED TO WIRE MONEY RELATED TO THIS CLOSING WITHOUT A PHONE CALL FROM THIS OFFICE FIRST.
DO NOT ACCEPT EMAILED INSTRUCTIONS FROM ANYONE WITHOUT VOICE VERIFICATION.

 

IMPORTANT: Please note that once you have received approval for your CDSGF application you will have 30 days to submit review the PowerPoint presentation, take the online test, take the online or live ADDC seminar, and submit your certificate of completion for the ADDC seminar.

IMPORTANT LINKS:

 

Definitions:

Support Group:

"Group of people with common experiences and concerns who provide emotional and moral support for one another."

Source: Merriam Webster Dictionary

Group:

"Number of individuals assembled together or having some unifying relationship."
Source: Merriam Webster Dictionary

Facilitator:

"Someone who helps to bring about an outcome (such as learning, productivity, or communication) by providing indirect or unobtrusive assistance, guidance, or supervision."
Source: Merriam Webster Dictionary

"A facilitator is a person or organization that helps another one to do or to achieve a particular thing."
Source: Collins Dictionary

"A person responsible for leading or coordinating the work of a group, as one who leads a group discussion."
Source: Dictionary.com

"A facilitator is someone who engages in the activity of facilitation. They help a group of people understand their common objectives and assists them to plan how to achieve these objectives; in doing so, the facilitator remains "neutral" meaning he/she does not take a particular position in the discussion.
Source: Wikipedia

Skills Set:

Many skills are required to be a good facilitator. The basic skills of a facilitator are about following good meeting practices: timekeeping, following an agreed-upon agenda, and keeping a clear record. The higher-order skills involve watching the group and its individuals in light of group dynamics. In addition, facilitators also need a variety of listening skills including the ability to paraphrase; stack a conversation; draw people out; balance participation; and make space for more reticent group members (Kaner, et al., 1996). It is critical to the facilitator's role to have the knowledge and skill to be able to intervene in a way that adds to the group's creativity rather than taking away from it.

A successful facilitator embodies respect for others and a watchful awareness of the many layers of reality in a human group.
In the event that a consensus cannot be reached then the facilitator would assist the group in understanding the differences that divide it.
Facilitators also require a good understanding of processes - how to enable group decision-making, structuring agendas for appropriate results, problem-solving, etc. Groups depend on Facilitators to help guide them and focus their discussion.
Source: Wikipedia

Group Dynamics:

"Group dynamics is a system of behaviors and psychological processes occurring within a social group (intragroup dynamics), or between social groups (intergroup dynamics). The study of group dynamics can be useful in understanding decision-making behavior, tracking the spread of diseases in society, creating effective therapy techniques, and following the emergence and popularity of new ideas and technologies.[1] Group dynamics are at the core of understanding racism, sexism, and other forms of social prejudice and discrimination. These applications of the field are studied in psychology, sociology, anthropology, political science, epidemiology, education, social work, business, and communication studies.
The three main factors affecting a team's cohesion (working together well) are environmental, personal and leadership"
Source: Wikipedia

 

"While certification promotes and maintains quality, it does not license, confer a right or privilege upon or otherwise define the qualifications of anyone in the healthcare field."