CSD Alumni Rebecca Wellner’s Mission to Reimagine Dementia Care

For CSD alumna Rebecca Wellner (MS ’19), a career supporting individuals living with dementia began with a simple but powerful realization: behind every diagnosis are people seeking connection, understanding, and a place to belong.

Wellner is the founder of A Sweeter Course, a nonprofit working to create inclusive community spaces where people living with dementia, their care partners, and community members. Inspired in part by cafés that include people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, Wellner’s organization is developing virtual events while building toward its longer-term goal of establishing a physical gathering place

An Idea Takes Shape

Wellner’s idea for A Sweeter Course began during the COVID-19 pandemic, when she was working in a skilled nursing facility in Jamaica, Queens. She wanted to offer more support to caregivers and began thinking about how she could raise money through her love for baking. However, the more she connected with caregivers online and later through home health, she found that there was an even bigger challenge to address: isolation.

“Individuals living with dementia and their families face a lot of hurdles, and too often, the way society responds by pulling away can create an additional layer of difficulty,” says Wellner. 

Through education, storytelling, and community-building initiatives, A Sweeter Course aims to help change that narrative by creating opportunities for meaningful participation, mutual understanding, and connection.

“Even when facing the grief and fear that can accompany a dementia diagnosis, people can still find so much joy and can continue to connect,” says Wellner.

The Role of Communication in Dementia Care

Wellner’s commitment to inclusion also shapes her work as a speech-language pathologist working with adults living with neurodegenerative disease. She believes SLPs have an essential role in dementia care that extends beyond working directly with individuals to supporting the people who care for them.

“We are uniquely positioned to train care partners in effective communication strategies,” she explains. “SLPs can help families adapt to changes in communication and discover new ways to stay connected, while acknowledging the grief that can accompany those changes. People living with dementia can continue learning, even in later stages of Alzheimer’s disease, if clinicians use appropriate strategies.”

Lessons from NYU Steinhardt

Wellner’s commitment to this work grew from both personal experience and professional discovery. Having grown up close to her grandparents and volunteering in assisted living communities as a teenager, Wellner was drawn to working with older adults from the beginning. Her research helped her recognize that she wanted to provide direct support, leading her to explore speech-language pathology and eventually pursue her master’s degree at NYU.

At Steinhardt, Professor and Department Chair Sonja Molfenter particularly influenced her clinical development through her teaching on dysphagia, or swallowing disorders. Now working in home health, Wellner draws on that training when supporting people in community settings.

Advice for Future Clinicians

For current CSD students and recent graduates interested in dementia care, Wellner offers a simple recommendation: spend time with people living with dementia outside clinical settings. 

“Volunteer at a senior center or assisted living community, attend events through Reimagining Dementia, and maintain your relationships with people in your circle who might be caregivers to people living with dementia,” says Wellner. “Just hanging out with people, not in a clinical capacity, can provide valuable opportunities to learn.”

Through A Sweeter Course and her clinical work, Wellner hopes to encourage deeper connection and understanding. 

“The biggest lesson I’ve learned is about nuance and recognizing that joy and sadness can coexist,” says Wellness. “With A Sweeter Course, we want to envision a world where people living with dementia and their families are not defined by a diagnosis, but welcomed into the shared experiences that make a community.”