LUCIDITY
Preserving Clarity, Dignity, and Agency in the Face of Aging
Lucidity Library
Knowledge for families, caregivers, and those navigating dementia.
The Lucidity Library is a collection of insights, reflections, and research on dementia, aging, and the value of preserving personal narratives. Here you’ll find articles from our experts that explore the challenges of memory and identity, while offering guidance, knowledge, and perspective for families, caregivers, and professionals.
Just click on the image to access the article.
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Dementia Prevention Strategies: Why Narrative Matters Most Before Dementia Takes Hold
Memory is not just about the past, it’s also about shaping the future. Key to this is preserving one’s narrative identity in order to safeguard dignity and autonomy as cognitive decline progresses.
Turning Gray: Aging Gracefully through Storytelling
Aging gracefully requires creative storytelling, not just retelling old memories but crafting new narratives that blend the familiar with the unexpected. This practice helps stimulate brain plasticity, preserve identity, and protect cognitive health.
Understanding Dementia Behavior: How Empathy Can Transform Caregiver Stress
Empathy—when grounded in narrative understanding—can transform dementia caregiving by helping caregivers interpret confusing behaviors, reduce emotional strain, and preserve the dignity of those experiencing cognitive decline.
Why Talking about Death Improves Quality of Life and End-of-Life Care
Talking openly about death—framing it as either a life’s completion or a living tribute—can reduce fear, improve end-of-life care, and deepen our understanding of what makes life meaningful.
The Dementia Stigma: Why Resentment Is Better than Optimism
When reframed as a moral response to the threat of losing memory and identity, resentment can help counter dementia stigma, prompting early action and preserving dignity more effectively than blind optimism.
Dementia Prevention and Vulnerability: What Meaningful Work Can Teach Us about Strength through Weakness
Vulnerability isn’t a weakness but a gateway to growth. It can help cultivate human capabilities like imagination, play, and affiliation through meaningful work can protect against cognitive decline and enrich dementia care.
What Is a Good Death? It’s about Being Ready
A good death isn’t just pain-free, it’s about being ready: accepting mortality, recognizing when life has reached its natural close, and voicing end-of-life choices that reflect personal meaning rather than medical default.
Beyond the Breakthrough: Why Cognitive Health Needs More than a Jab
While breakthrough drugs like trontinemab may clear brain plaques, true dementia prevention requires a holistic approach. This is one that pairs medicine with storytelling, reflection, and relationships to preserve identity, meaning, and dignity.
When Dementia Breaks Empathy: The Tragic Situation of the Caregiver
Empathy in dementia care can collapse when recognition and reciprocity fade. This leaves caregivers trapped in tragic, no-win choices. However, early narrative planning offers a way to preserve dignity when empathy alone is no longer enough.
When Dementia Breaks Empathy: The Tragic Situation of the Caregiver
Myth can illuminate the emotional and existential dimensions of advance care planning. Metaphor and narrative are key features of myth which can help us confront mortality with clarity, enable legacy-building, and ease burdens on loved ones.
Our Team
Shaping the Future of Aging with Care and Clarity
Todd Mei
PhD
CEO & Founder
A former philosophy professor with 20+ years in hermeneutics, now pioneering digital storytelling that preserves voice and dignity through reflective interviewing at the edge of aging and meaning. His academic research focuses on hermeneutics, ethics, philosophy of technology, and meaningful work, with publications with Oxford University Press and Northwestern University Press.
Patricia Baker
PhD
Cultural Advisor
A former professor of Ancient History with 20+ years of expertise in medicine and culture, now bringing deep historical and anthropological insight to how humans understand the body, care, and the meaning of life and death. She has published widely on cultural thoughts about the body and its care from both physical and mental perspectives.
Andrea Bradfield
MBA, CCM, OTR
Palliative Care Advisor
Healthcare administrator with 15+ years of leadership in home health and hospice, overseeing strategy, compliance, operations, and profitability. Andrea has developed disease management and adaptive living programs and maintained profitability despite regulatory and reimbursement challenges. A licensed occupational therapist, her clinical background spans acute, rehab, and community-based care with a focus on functional recovery and quality of life.
Josh Fairchilds
Financial Advisor
Co-creator of Oboz Footwear, a brand that achieved a 93x return in just 10 years through the creation of iconic, industry-dominating products with lasting consumer appeal. As CFO and COO of a dynamic organization with diverse revenue streams and complex legal exposure, he has managed contracts exceeding $5 million and budgets over $10 million.
Anna Muñoz Farré
BEng, MSc
AI & Dementia Care Advisor
A biomedical engineer and the co-founder and CEO of Punto Health, where she is leveraging AI and clinical data to transform dementia care through personalized digital support. A strong advocate for gender equity in STEM, she was named Upcoming Woman in STEM by the Catalan Government in 2022.
Joseph Smart
Digital Health Advisor
A director in one of the largest organizations in the world. He has a strong track record of embedding technological innovations that save money and serve patient populations. Joseph is a consistent champion of innovation and adaptation in the service of patients and has commissioned contracts exceeding £50 million, managed budgets over £10 million, and led teams of more than 100 people.
Hear from Those We’ve Guided
Our video examples highlight how Lucidity’s guided storytelling experiences help individuals preserve their life stories, values, and personal legacy before memory loss or illness makes it harder to share. Each narrative interview shows how reflection can provide families with peace of mind, support caregivers in making decisions, and create a lasting record of dignity and identity.
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ABOUT LUCIDITY
As we grow older, many of us face the fear of losing our memory, our clarity, or our ability to speak for ourselves. Families often struggle with difficult decisions about care, values, and quality of life — and too often, a person’s true wishes are left unheard or uncertain.
Lucidity exists to change that. We offer guided video interviews that capture your personal stories, values, and outlook on life before memory loss or illness can take them away. Our method, called Narrative Dignity™, draws on hermeneutics and storytelling to help you express what matters most — not just facts, but meaning, priorities, and the sense of self you want your loved ones and caregivers to remember.
These recordings become a trusted reference point for families, caregivers, and professionals in view of end-of-life decisions. They provide peace of mind, reduce conflict, and ensure that decisions about care and end-of-life reflect the individual’s voice, not guesswork.
By combining compassionate guidance with accessible technology, Lucidity helps preserve dignity, strengthen family bonds, and offer clarity when it is needed most.
The Silent Wave of Dementia
By 2050, more than 150 million people worldwide are expected to live with dementia. In the U.S. alone, nearly 1 in 3 adults over 65 already experiences some form of cognitive decline. This is not just about memory loss — it’s about identity, dignity, and the ability to make decisions about one’s own life.
The impact extends far beyond the individual. Families often face painful choices about care and quality of life without clear guidance. Studies show that over 70% of adults fear becoming a burden to their loved ones, and yet less than 30% have completed an advance directive to communicate their wishes. This gap leaves families uncertain, overwhelmed, and struggling to honor what matters most.
At the same time, the global market for geriatric care services exceeds $1 trillion, reflecting the growing demand for support as societies age. Yet most solutions remain focused on medical treatment or logistics, not on preserving the person’s voice, values, and story.
This is the heart of the problem: how do we ensure that dignity, autonomy, and peace of mind are not lost to dementia?
Lucidity Academy
Lucidity Academy is our training hub for the Narrative Dignity™ method — a structured approach to guiding conversations that preserve meaning, identity, and values. Based on over 20 years of research, our method draws on hermeneutics, speech act theory, the capabilities approach, and virtue ethics.
Through courses, resources, and workshops, we equip professionals, caregivers, and facilitators with the skills to help individuals tell their stories in ways that foster clarity, dignity, and peace of mind.
Here, learning goes beyond technique. It’s about cultivating the art of listening, interpreting, and honoring the voices that matter most.
"Our mission is to help individuals articulate guiding principles of clarity, dignity, and agency through storytelling and reflection, creating benchmarks that shape end-of-life decisions and spare loved ones from uncertainty."
Todd Mei
CEO & Founder
Narrative Dignity™ Method
From Story to Meaning, From Meaning to Dignity
A guided process that helps individuals reflect on and share their life stories in a way that preserves identity, values, and voice. Drawing from philosophy, storytelling, and language theory, it goes beyond simple memories to uncover deeper meaning — what matters most, how experiences shape us, and how we want to be remembered.
By capturing these insights, Narrative Dignity provides families and caregivers with a clear, lasting guide for honoring dignity and making decisions with confidence and compassion.
Guided Experiences
At Lucidity, we offer tiered guided experiences designed to meet people where they are.
Each experience is built around our Narrative Dignity™ method, a unique approach that goes beyond capturing memories to uncover the meaning, values, and identity behind them.
From a one-time session that preserves the essence of your story, to more in-depth journeys that provide a lasting record for families and caregivers, our tiers provide flexibility while ensuring every voice is honored. What makes Lucidity special is the combination of compassionate guidance, structured reflection, and professional storytelling, creating a resource that brings peace of mind and clarity when it’s needed most.
