Action Against Alzheimer's - Become a licensed nutritional therapist

In March 2015, Amanda Williams, Managing Director at Cytoplan read Professor Bredesen’s 2014 paper “Reversal of Cognitive Decline: A novel therapeutic program” and saw him speak at a conference in London. Amanda described it as the most exciting paper she had ever read and was determined to help bring his work to the UK. Cytoplan is collaborating with Professor Bredesen and championing his work in a number of ways – one of which is through the Action Against Alzheimer’s programme that we have developed.

The aims of the AAA programme are

To educate the wider public on what can be done to take action against Alzheimer’s using the principles of functional medicine and a multi-intervention approach
To engage at-risk and interested individuals to take action before signs of diagnosable disease
To establish and support a nationwide network of nutritional therapists engaged in the AAA programme
To fulfil the aims of our charitable foundation of improving the health of the nation
To help support and build the businesses of our nutritional therapists

Overview

The AAA Programme is being run by self-employed nutritional therapists, licensed and supported by Cytoplan. The programme involves nutritional therapists delivering:

AAA introductory talks to members of the public (in groups) to provide education and with the aim of enrolling participants into the full programme

AAA workshop sessions – a series of 8 workshops that are recommended to be held at weekly intervals. The workshops are designed to help people optimise cognitive health by engaging with each aspect of the programme including: nutrition, gut health, stress, sleep; exercise & brain training. A homestudy module – the Self Care Journey – runs alongside the workshops and is designed to support the change process

Optional individual nutritional therapy consultations for those attending the AAA workshops

Cytoplan has developed a 1-day briefing/training for nutritional therapists and one of the requirements of becoming licensed is attendance at this day. The day includes details of the structure and content of the workshops.

Difference between the Bredesen Protocol™ and Action Against Alzheimer’s Programme

The Bredesen Protocol™ is a programme that is used by Doctors in a clinical setting. The programme diagnostics rely on input from numerous blood and other tests (including scans) for input into a software algorithm from which patient programmes are produced. All programmes are overseen by Professor Bredesen. This programme carries a high patient cost and is designed for Alzheimer’s therapeutics – although the same programme is being used in the USA for people wanting individualised prevention programmes.

We are offering the Action Against Alzheimer’s Programme – an education programme – which utilises the components of The Bredesen Protocol™ to help the general public understand what they can do to optimise their cognitive function. This programme allows for nutritional therapists to offer more individualised help and tailor made programmes, with a focus on nutrition.

The Action Against Alzheimer’s programme is not training nutritional therapists to work with people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. It is an education programme aimed primarily at people before they have developed AD. However there may be carers of patients with Alzheimer’s who wish to attend the workshops.

Support you will receive from us – Cytoplan will:

Provide help and support with your marketing e.g. downloadable template materials for you to use in your area
Continue to generate ongoing awareness of the programme
Supply copies of our AAA booklet for attendees of your workshops
Supply toolkits and materials for talks and workshops. These materials provide a framework for you to deliver the programme and include:
- PowerPoints, speakers notes, handouts, activities etc
- Help and support when needed

Our expectations from you:

Provide details of nutritional qualification, insurance and CNHC registration
Ideally minimum 2 years in practice
Complete briefing day
Aim to run 1 – 2 AAA programme workshop courses per year, each of the programmes includes 8 workshop sessions (so 8 – 16 workshops per year)
Provide online updates on patient progress e.g. MYMOP scores (this will be anonymous using numbers not names)
Provide information on attendance numbers for talks and workshops. Also feedback from attendees who will have completed a feedback form from both the talk and each workshop session
Be willing to engage in ongoing development and continuous improvement of the programme
You will only use this programme as provided to you – any modifications or changes will need to be approved before use

Licence

On completion of the briefing day there will be an individual appraisal of competence to run this programme. This will take place at a later date but we would ask that all appraisals are carried out within 6 months of completing the training. Once a candidate has satisfied us that he/she is competent to present our material we will grant a licence which will be renewed annually.

Details of the Appraisal Procedure

Before we issue a licence and provide access to the material, we will need to appraise your technical competence and presentation skills. Although we will provide comprehensive speaker notes you will need to be able to answer questions and have a good level of understanding of all aspects of the programme and the pathology of Alzheimer’s disease.