Hello, I'm Rena
I am a geriatric social worker, a memory coach, and the founder of Memory Matters. I have spent more than thirty years working with older people, and in all that time I have not met anyone who could not do better than they believed.
As seen on
Why I do this work
For thirty years I have sat with people at the moment they first say it out loud. Something is wrong with my memory.
I heard it in an Alzheimer’s unit in Maryland, where I was the director. I heard it in a senior enrichment program in Israel, in the support groups I ran, and in rooms full of family caregivers I was there to train.
And I heard it far more often from people whose memory was working perfectly well. They were frightened. They were distracted. And nobody had ever taught them how memory actually works, or what to do when it slips.
That is the gap I built Memory Matters to close. I am not here to tell you that nothing changes as we age. I am here to teach you the techniques that make the difference, and to practice them with you until they are yours.
Before Memory Matters, and alongside it, this is where the work has taken me.
- Director of an Alzheimer's unit in an assisted living facility in Maryland
- Director of development at a senior enrichment program in Israel
- Trainer for family and professional dementia caregivers
- Therapist in a Snoezelen multi sensory therapy room
- Therapist in a Snoezelen multi sensory therapy room
- International lecturer on aging and brain health
- Founder of Memory Matters, teaching online since 2019
Qualifications
Master of Social Work
More than thirty years in practice
Certified by Dr. Daniel Amen, neuropsychiatrist
Including Memory Rescue and the BRIGHT MINDS approach
I am not a doctor and I do not pretend to be one. What I am is someone who has seen what is really happening when a capable person starts to worry about their memory, and who knows that very often the answer is a technique rather than a diagnosis. If I am ever concerned about what I see, I will say so, and I will point you to your doctor.
Progress, not perfection
I say this to every group I teach, and I mean it. You do not need a perfect memory. You need to do better than you did ten weeks ago, and to stop being afraid of your own mind. That is a goal everybody can reach.
It is not just that the memory gets better. It is that I can believe in myself and in my memory, because I have tools and techniques now.