Serving northwest Phoenix, Glendale, Surprise, Sun City, Sun City West, Litchfield Park, Peoria, and neighboring communities

Engaging Activities that Inspire Joy!

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Reigniting Joy for Participants!
Peace of Mind and More Time for Care Partners!

Why Thoughtful Engagement® – Social Connectedness

Quality of life can be elusive for a person who cannot or chooses not to readily participate in day-to-day activities, whether a solo ager, one who has lost a loved one, or one who has a disease, disability, or special need. When social opportunities shrink, loneliness can often times follow, and the risks for deteriorating health conditions and increased care demands heighten.

Our research and experience tells us no matter what social and physical changes happen during one’s lifetime everyone deserves continued joy to sustain their sense of dignity, independence, and quality of life. This is where Thoughtful Engagement® comes into play.


Crystal-Headshots-500x750-1

Crystal Littlejohn
MHSA, CMC, CSA

Founder and
Certified
Care Manager

Geriatric Resources

What is Thoughtful Engagement® – Joy-Producing Social Enrichment

Thoughtful Engagement’s personalized, one-on-one, joy-producing activity program is designed to provide social enrichment, personal connection, and ample amounts of fun regardless of health condition. In its uniqueness, the Program: 

  • Goes beyond traditional companionship activities to marry individual interests with joy-producing outcomes.
  • Explores activities based on what one can do and where one wants to do them, always playing to one’s strengths.
  • Can be delivered wherever one calls “home” which can be a private residence, senior community, group home, rehabilitation center, or long-term care facility. 
  • Is exclusively a social program where the search for and delivery of enrichment opportunities remain on-going without distraction.

The Thoughtful Engagement Specialist® – Your “Joy” Facilitator

The Thoughtful Engagement® Specialist is a positive, personable, compassionate, caring, curious, and patient person who becomes the participant’s activity explorer, creator, and joy-producing partner.

Through a deep social history exploration, the Specialist interviews the participant, and other care partners if important, to help illuminate the interests and activities that have brought joy to them throughout a lifetime. The Specialist then creativity devises an Engagement Plan where the activities and life-joys beautifully align, and the engagement experiences come to life with intention.

FORMER PARTICIPANTS UNCOVERED NEEDS JOY ACHIEVED
She loves gardening. Succulent garden materials were brought to her room, where she calls home, so she could create her garden. It morphed into ongoing community showings.
He loves birding (especially identifying them). A downloaded “Bird Call and Identification” phone application generated enthusiasm to regularly go outside and listen to simulated bird calls so he could identify them.
He is a lover and driver of Chevy sports cars, also a tinkerer. A visit to a 2024 Chevy dealership unveiled the new Corvettes, to his delight, and the Bolt electric car, the first he’d ever seen.
He is a lover of music, and former DJ. A visit to a vintage record store was a multi-sensory, industry evolution experience for him.
She loved teaching at an elementary school. A personal tour of a local elementary school brought her back to another memorable and honorable home

The Benefits of Thoughtful Engagement® – They are Universal


Our Thoughtful Engagement® program nurtures, inspires, and continuously explores the activities that bring joy at every point along life’s journey.

For Participants…

  • A sustained sense of dignity, optimized independence, and a grander quality of life are achieved.
  • A joy-producing partner stands-in to engage in experiences that they love when they are no longer able to do them or are unfamiliar with doing them alone.
  • An abundance of joyful outcomes come to be celebrated.

For Care Partners…

  • A peace of mind and a welcomed opening to schedules, typically committed to a participant’s care, are achieved.
  • On-going updates of a participant’s well-being are provided through another valuable touchpoint.
  • Open communication is facilitated and extraordinary service is committed to and delivered upon as part of a brand promise.
  • Joys are celebrated together as “family.”

Do you have any questions, or would you like more information?

Please call (623) 776-3098,
email info@geriatricresourcesaz.com,
or send a message by completing this form:

A caring staff member will get back to you within one business day.

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Additional Success Stories – Do They Resonate with You?

We think you’ll appreciate learning more about the magic the Thoughtful Engagement® Program has brought to so many. If it feels timely to explore what magic might await you, please contact us for more information.

Becoming social again

Now she’s happy to go out to a museum or the zoo. But that was not the case before. Ever since she had to retire due to moderate frontotemporal dementia, Maureen was withdrawn. Not herself. So her niece called Thoughtful Engagement.

Read More

“What happens to him when I’m gone?”

Diane’s son, Joe, was diagnosed in his twenties with paranoid schizophrenia. At fifty he was living in a group home. He was generally stable but spent most of his time smoking and alone. Diane, now in her seventies, was experiencing health challenges. She worried about what would happen to Joe when she was gone.

Read More

Easing anxiety—one photo at a time

Chelsea was worried about her dad, Mark. He used to be so outgoing. But lately he refused to leave the house. It wasn’t COVID or dementia. He was simply too anxious. His dog, Maggie, held the key.

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Adjusting to widowhood

When Peggy’s husband died, she found it very difficult to go out in the world without him. She even quit going to church because it was too painful when people asked how she was doing. Her daughter, Debbie, lived far away and was extremely concerned because her mother had now lost not only her husband, but also her spiritual and social community.

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Rockin’ and rollin’ out of depression

Roberto was a confirmed bachelor and beloved uncle to his many nieces and nephews. Always the life of the party at family barbeques, he had begun to withdraw. He no longer hung out with his buddies, and he was even losing weight. The family wasn’t sure what to do.

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With a little help from Vincent

James, a long distance son, was worried about his mother’s isolation and lack of mental stimulation following a series of minor strokes. Ruth had been a tenured professor of Art History, but had retreated since her husband’s death. She was becoming so withdrawn, it was difficult for James to have conversations with her on the phone.

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“I don’t need a sitter!”

Sarah, a caregiving wife with health issues had a husband, Tom, who was prone to falling. She needed to go to her medical appointments, but her husband kept firing the caregivers she hired to stay with him.

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Finding strength in memories

Reiko had always been a happy, talkative person. But four months after moving into an assisted living community, the staff confirmed that Reiko spent most of her time in her room. Her daughter, Sue, was concerned. This wasn’t like her mother. Sue also felt guilty because she had encouraged the move.

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Horses give caregiving wife a break

Dave’s wife, Cindy, never got a moment to herself. Her energetic husband, Dave, had moderate dementia and demanded her attention all the time. He had even begun wandering. She was worried she couldn’t keep him at home much longer.

Read More

Thoughtful Engagement® is a national network of Specialists trained to develop personalized, one-on-one, creative activities that reignite joy in the lives of its participants. Geriatric Resources is the exclusive provider of Thoughtful Engagement activities in northwest Phoenix.