Calm Guidance for Difficult Moments

It might start with your loved one refusing to eat, becoming agitated during bathing, or insisting they need to "go home" even though they are home. These moments are distressing for everyone involved. Your loved one is experiencing genuine confusion or frustration, and you are trying to help while managing your own emotional response.

In these moments, the last thing you need is to scroll through a textbook or search the internet for advice. You need clear, immediate guidance — what to do right now, what to say, what to avoid. OurTurn's Crisis Hub was designed for exactly these situations.

The Crisis Hub is accessible from your caregiver dashboard with a single tap. It opens to a de-escalation wizard that walks you through the current situation step by step. You describe what is happening, and the app provides specific, practical guidance tailored to that scenario. The language is calm and direct — this is not a lecture, it is a helping hand in a difficult moment.

The de-escalation wizard is the heart of the Crisis Hub. It presents common challenging scenarios and guides you through a response. Each scenario includes what the person might be feeling, what approach tends to help, what to say (and what not to say), and when to step back and give space.

OurTurn also includes a library of scenario cards covering the most common challenging situations in dementia care. Each card provides a concise overview of a specific scenario — sundowning, repetitive questions, refusal of care, aggression, sleep disturbances, and more. You can browse these cards proactively, before a situation arises, so you feel prepared when it does.

The scenario cards are written by drawing on established dementia care approaches and caregiver experience. They use plain, supportive language and focus on practical actions rather than theory. Each card includes a "what to try first" section, a "what to avoid" section, and guidance on when to seek additional help.

Both the wizard and the cards are available offline on the caregiver mobile app, because difficult moments do not wait for a good internet connection.

Some challenging behaviours happen repeatedly. Your loved one might become agitated every evening (sundowning), refuse medication at the same time each day, or become distressed whenever a particular caregiver leaves. For these recurring patterns, OurTurn provides Behaviour Playbooks — longer, more detailed guides that help you understand the pattern and develop a consistent approach.

Playbooks go deeper than the quick-reference scenario cards. They explore the possible underlying causes of a behaviour, suggest environmental adjustments that might help, provide communication strategies, and offer alternative approaches to try when the first attempt does not work. They are designed to be read when you have a quiet moment — perhaps in the evening after your loved one is settled — so you can plan your approach for next time.

The AI Care Coach can also help you develop personalised strategies for recurring challenges. You can describe a specific situation and receive tailored suggestions that take into account your loved one's preferences, routines, and history. Over time, this combination of playbooks and AI guidance helps you build a toolkit of responses that works for your unique situation.

Playbooks and crisis resources are available on both the web dashboard and the caregiver mobile app, ensuring you have access regardless of which device is at hand.

Sometimes a situation escalates beyond what you can manage alone. OurTurn ensures that emergency resources are always within reach. The app detects your country automatically and provides the correct emergency numbers — 999 in the UK, 112 in the EU, 911 in the US, and more.

Beyond emergency numbers, OurTurn connects you with local and national support organisations. Dementia helplines, caregiver crisis support lines, and mental health resources are all accessible from within the Crisis Hub. These are not generic links — they are curated, relevant resources that connect you with people who understand dementia caregiving.

The Crisis Hub also integrates with OurTurn's AI safety pipeline. If you are using the AI Care Coach and express severe distress, the system immediately provides crisis resources rather than generating an AI response. This ensures that critical moments receive appropriate, immediate support rather than well-meaning but insufficient AI text.

For caregivers who are experiencing their own mental health crisis — and this happens more often than most people realise — the Wellbeing section includes an SOS button that provides immediate access to crisis support resources. You are not alone in this, and it is okay to ask for help.