Teepa Snow is one of the leading educators on dementia and the care that accompanies it, in the US and Canada. As an occupational therapist with 40 years of clinical practice, she has founded a company and an approach to support and engage people experiencing changes in brain function. This Positive Approach®to Care emphasizes making use of the skills retained while providing support, and substituting our skill, for what is no longer available. This belief led to Teepa creating the GEMS® States model for brain change. The GEMS model compares people to gemstones and focuses on retained abilities in order for us to see what is beautiful, and still available, for the person with whom we share time and offer support and care.