The newly released Caregiving in the U.S. 2025 report from AARP and the National Alliance for Caregiving paints a clear and sobering picture: 63 million Americans—nearly 1 in 4 adults—are now providing care to someone with a serious health condition or disability. This represents a 45% increase since 2015 and reflects a caregiving landscape that is larger, more diverse, and more complex than at any time in our nation’s history. 

In senior care, we often talk about empathy. About walking in someone else’s shoes. About trying to understand the lived experience of those we serve. But how do you train for that? How do you move beyond information and into transformation?

Dementia Live® Featured in USAging’s Innovation Hub

The team here at AGE-u-cate recently ran a poll on this very question. Of the following options, including online learning, experiential training, peer-to-peer mentoring, and "other". The clear winner was experiential training, coming in at 77%, followed by peer-to-peer mentoring at 23%. 

Learning by doing is not a new concept. Educators have long pointed to the exponentially powerful effects of this education model. American psychologist, professor and educational theorist David Kolb published his learning styles model in 1984, from which he developed his learning style inventory.

Aging Services providers are scrambling to find new and dynamic ways to replenish their depleted workforce.  Creative messaging and incentives are being deployed to entice prospects, but these efforts are for naught if turnover continues at the pace this industry has experienced.  A laser focus on employee retention is imperative.

AGE-u-cate thrives on relationships, whether that be with aging services providers or industry partners.