essentiALZ™ Certification Program | Alzheimer's Association

Do you provide care for someone with dementia or Alzheimer's?

The Alzheimer’s Association^® essentiALZ™ certification program is a convenient way for individuals to be recognized for learning quality dementia care practices.

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About essentiALZ

Benefits of essentiALZ

Training topic areas

Requirements/pricing

About essentiALZ

The essentiALZ program combines select HealthCare Interactive^® CARES^® online dementia care training with Alzheimer’s Association^® online certification exams. The essentiALZ program was developed to recognize the knowledge of any caregiver who fulfills the certification requirements, regardless of whether they are paid or unpaid for their care of people with dementia.

Both family members and professional care providers can benefit from this program.

View the essentiALZ brochure.

Benefits of essentiALZ

Learn techniques for caring for people with dementia by completing approved prerequisite dementia care courses prior to taking the essentiALZ certification exam.
Be recognized as someone who has a basic understanding of symptoms of Alzheimer’s and other dementias by successfully passing the Alzheimer’s Association essentiALZ exams.
Demonstrate knowledge of evidence-based dementia care practices, which are promoted in the nationally recognized Alzheimer’s Association Dementia Care Practice Recommendations and supported by more than 30 leading health and senior care organizations.

Training topic areas

EssentiALZ offers two levels of certification for individuals— essentiALZ and essentiALZ advanced. Topics covered in the exams are as follows:

Alzheimer’s and Dementia
Understanding Behavior
Communication
Person-centered Care

Alzheimer’s and Dementia
Understanding Behavior
Communication
Person-centered Care
Making a Connection

Eating Well
Recognizing Pain
Minimizing Falls
Rethinking Wandering
Minimizing Restraints

Requirements/pricing

Individuals 18 years and older can qualify to take essentiALZ online certification exams upon successful completion of select CARES online dementia care training courses. Purchase and completion of the CARES ® Dementia BASICS™ and CARES^® Dementia Advanced Care™ online training provides immediate access to the appropriate essentiALZ exam at no additional cost.

Currently, the approved prerequisite dementia care online training courses are:

essentiALZ: Approved prerequisite is the online CARES Dementia Basics (4 hours of training) jointly developed by the Alzheimer’s Association and HealthCare Interactive. Starts at $24.95 per individual. EssentiALZ exam and certification provided at no additional cost.

essentiALZ advanced: Approved prerequisite training for the essentiALZ advanced certification is CARES® Dementia Basics and Advanced Training (10 hours), starting at $49.95 per individual.

For more information, email essentialz@alz.org.