Sonya Barsness

Sonya Barsness, a revisionary gerontologist with over 30 years of experience, is dedicated to transforming how society understands and supports aging and dementia through a person-centered approach grounded in choice, dignity, and shared humanity.

Barsness is the founder of Sonya Barsness Consulting, SBC, a multidimensional company that provides a variety of products and services that support senior living, nursing homes, health systems and community-based organizations in practicing person-centered values with the people who live and work in them. SBC also provides education and coaching to people living with dementia and to people in senior living to live fully.

Barsness's services are based on strengths-based principles in positive psychology that focus on the totality of who people are as human beings, not merely their "deficits" due to cognitive or physical changes.

She is a nationally recognized educator on person-centered thinking related to aging, long-term care and dementia. She is an engaging, passionate speaker with experience addressing both professional and public audiences, in person and via webinar.

Barsness is the voice of the blog Being Heard, which focuses on revising the paradigm of aging and dementia. She is adjunct faculty at Virginia Commonwealth University's Department of Gerontology, where she teaches graduate courses in dementia and the psychology of aging.

Barsness has worked across the spectrum of aging and dementia services in long-term care, policy, research and the community. She offers a unique perspective on dementia and aging that reflects a broad range of professional experiences and, most importantly, the privilege of learning from people living with dementia about what it is like to experience dementia.