You Aren't Walking Alone
On October 6th, Faith Lutheran is hosting a Dementia Care Companion meeting from 2:30-4:30 or 6:30-8:30 pm with Deacon Steve Arnold. Steve is a recently retired elder care chaplain with 16 years of experience working with dementia residents. He will be facilitating these sessions for caregivers.
Approximately 7% of the population of the United States has been diagnosed with some form of dementia, and the number is increasing every year as the population ages.
In Forest Lake, many of our senior living centers also have a memory unit with staff and nurses to provide care for residents with dementia. Also, many times the caretakers for people with dementia are family members living at home.
Nearly 13 million people in the United States are informal caregivers for people with dementia. In 2025, they provided more than 19 billion hours of care. “The care is done with incredible love,” said Arnold, “but it is exhausting. Caregiving is a lonely experience that only people who are doing it can understand. This group is a way to support one another.”
Psychologist Barbara Hanson Dennis writes, “Fellow caregivers can be an absolute goldmine—not only for ideas, but for venting when things are tough. It takes a fellow caregiver to fully understand what you are going through.”
Arnold is offering time to caregivers of those with dementia to provide mutual support in the difficult journey of caring for someone with dementia or having a loved one who lives in a memory unit.
The groups will be called Dementia Care Companions and will serve as a guided conversation for caregivers to express the challenges, joys, and heartaches they’ve experienced. The group is not for those with dementia, but rather it is for those who care for them.
Arnold spent most of his career in youth ministry. Ironically, he did his doctoral work with an emphasis in gerontology. “I got into this field because of youth ministry,” said Arnold. “I realized I was sending kids home to work with parents and grandparents as the primary youth ministers at home. I wanted to know how to relate better with them. I really got into [aging and dementia care] because of that work.”
Despite his retirement, Arnold has a passion to bring people together around a common purpose. “I want caregivers, whether the loved one is still living at home or in a memory unit, to know that they aren’t walking alone,” said Arnold. “We can’t change things, and the [dementia] isn’t going away. It’s so important to walk with others who’ve walked this path themselves.”
The first meetings are on Tuesday, October 7th, which is also the Faith Lutheran community meal. The group will meet in the Faith Lutheran Fireside Library for both sessions. Sessions will continue monthly, but in November the groups will meet on November 10th because the first Tuesday of the month is Election Day.
Those interested are invited to register through the church office ( or 651-464-3323) by September 22. There will be a maximum of 12 per group. Members of Faith and members of the community are invited to participate.
Pastor John Klawiter is the senior pastor of Faith Lutheran Church, an ELCA congregation in Forest Lake. For more information, email him at
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