Mental Health Awareness Month: Reborns with Reasons

A letter from Jaime, Founder of Reborns with Reasons 

My name is Jaime Beebe and I am the founder of Reborns with Reasons, a community outreach program. I founded Reborns With Reasons in the summer of 2017 and it continues to grow by leaps and bounds almost five years later.

Reborns with Reasons is a volunteer doll therapy program where I utilize my reborn dolls and their therapeutic benefits as therapy tools for those with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. I work to provide friendship, companionship and love to our senior community while providing them a “baby” to hold, which often sparks memories from years past that can get lost deep inside the Alzheimer’s mind.

A helpful, non-pharmaceutical way to calm and soothe agitated folks with Alzheimer's or dementia is to give them a soft, lifelike baby doll to cuddle. Sometimes these dolls are referred to as therapy dolls. These therapy dolls can even be effective in calming someone with significant behavioral challenges or severe agitation. Therapy dolls are often weighted to feel like real babies which can provide immediate comfort, similar to the effects of a weighted blanket. Studies suggest that doll therapy can reinforce feelings of attachment and emotional wellbeing in some patients with dementia.

I personally visit with many people that can't remember what they had for breakfast just hours ago, but yet they NEVER forget how to hold a baby. The nurturing instinct is strong. This instinct is a big part of the reason that doll therapy is so effective.

Doll therapy allows people living with dementia to lower their distress levels and raise their quality of life. It's familiar. It's comforting.

Recently I brought a Paradise Galleries Little Firecracker baby doll, hand-sculpted by world renowned artist, Jannie De Lange to visit one of my clients. One look at this adorable boy with brown eyes and soft dark curls and Miss Doris was in love!

Doris immediately reached for this baby boy which is no easy task as she has limited use of her arm due to a stroke. Since I hadn’t officially named this baby yet, I asked Doris to help choose a name. As she cuddled the baby in her arms, she thought hard for a moment. “Let’s name him Jesse.” she said. What a perfect name!

Doris then asked me if Jesse has started talking yet. I explained to her that Jesse was still only a baby and that he doesn’t talk just yet. I asked her what she thought his first word may be and I was amazed at her response. “Praise the Lord. His first word will be praise the Lord.”