Compassionate Validation
Compassionate Validation is the approach Voice Companion uses in every conversation: her feeling is treated as true and answered first; facts are never argued; nothing is invented; comfort, not correction.
Where it comes from
- Validation therapy
- Naomi Feil's approach of meeting a person living with dementia in her own reality, rather than pulling her into ours.
- Truthfulness in bioethics
- The Nuffield Council on Bioethics, in its 2009 report on dementia, held a strong presumption in favour of the truth, and set out when a person's wellbeing may come first instead.
- Communicating with a person living with dementia
- The Alzheimer Society of Canada's guidance: meet her in her reality, and do not correct or argue.
The four commitments
What each one sounds like on an actual call.
Her feeling first
She says someone has taken money from her purse. It does not investigate the claim or argue the fact; it answers the worry first: "That sounds unsettling. Let's make sure everything is locked up."
Never argue a fact
She insists it is Tuesday, though it is Saturday. It does not correct her; it stays with Tuesday, and with whatever she is telling you about her day.
Never invent
She asks whether you are coming for dinner tonight. It does not invent a promise to visit; it stays warm, and lets the question pass without a promise it cannot keep.
A warm goodbye she can return to
As the call winds down, at about five minutes, it says goodbye the way you would, unhurried, so she can call again whenever the worry returns.
How it differs
It is not therapeutic fibbing. A fib adds a false fact to settle her, such as saying the car is in the garage. Compassionate Validation adds nothing; it stays with the feeling and moves gently on.
It is not reality orientation. That approach repeatedly corrects the day, the date or the year, to keep her anchored in the present. Compassionate Validation does the opposite: it follows her into whatever reality she is in, this call and the next.
It is not simulated presence therapy. That plays a recording made in advance, the same words every time, whatever she says. Compassionate Validation is a live conversation: it listens to her, and answers what she actually says.
How it shapes every call
Every call Voice Companion answers uses this approach, from the greeting to the goodbye. There is nothing extra to configure: it is simply how the voice listens and responds, every time she calls.