edX Online
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Sonya Barsness, M.S.

Adjunct Faculty at Georgetown University, Master of Science in Aging & Health

About me

Sonya Barsness Is Adjunct Faculty in the Aging & Health master’s degree program. Sonya is a gerontologist with 25 years of professional experience in the field of aging. Her passion and vocation is changing the culture of aging so that we can all age meaningfully, in community, wherever we live and with whatever physical and cognitive challenges we face.

She is the founder of Sonya Barsness Consulting (SBC), a multidimensional company that provides a variety of products and services to promote a different way of thinking about growing older and growing with dementia. SBC’s focus is on applied paradigm-shifting, beginning with the lived experience of people growing older and growing with dementia and bringing these perspectives to life so that education, research, policy, and practice truly reflect what is important to elders, people with dementia, and those who care for them.

She has served elders and their care partners in assisted living, nursing homes, and home- and community-based settings. Sonya is a nationally recognized educator on person-centered thinking related to aging, long-term care, and dementia. She is a co-developer of CMS’ Hand in Hand toolkit, a series of training modules for nurse aides on person-centered dementia care and the prevention of abuse. She is also the voice of Being Heard, a blog about revising the paradigm of aging (www.beingheard.blog). Sonya’s undergraduate degree is in Psychology with minors in Biology and Gerontology. Her master’s degree is in Gerontology with a concentration in Psychogeriatrics. Sonya teaches the Psychology of Aging.