As Arizona’s population ages, one truth becomes increasingly clear: older adults need more than care—they need connection, purpose, and JOY. That belief is at the heart of everything Oakwood Creative Care works to achieve, and is the very reason why we are so excited to officially announce our newest expansion: the Flagstaff Adult Day Club, now located at NAU’s Institute for Human Development!
The Social Model Adult Day Club in Flagstaff: What Is It?
Unlike medical or clinical models of care, Oakwood Creative Care operates under a social model—an approach that centers around the whole person, not just their diagnosis or limitations. Here, we see people as more than just their diagnosis or the challenges they face. Instead, we see the artist, musician, philosopher, and historian within.
This model recognizes that meaningful social connection is not a luxury—it’s essential to brain health, emotional wellbeing, and quality of life.
The social model offered by every one of Oakwood Creative Care’s Adult Day Clubs provides older adults with dementia or other brain health challenges with:
- Days structured around relationships, creativity, and engagement
- Participation and encouragement in art, music, cognitive exploration, movement, and conversation
- Dignity, autonomy, and individuality are honored
- Intentional fostering of JOY and creativity
Why Flagstaff? Why Now?
Northern Arizona families have long navigated aging with limited access to services that truly honor both older adults and the care partners who support them. The need for meaningful enrichment—paired with reliable, compassionate respite—continues to grow. Oakwood Creative Care’s expansion to Flagstaff is a bold response to that need, extending dignity, creativity, and support to more families across the region.
Placing the Adult Day Club on the NAU campus brings this vision fully to life. It creates powerful opportunities for intergenerational connection, shared learning, and community partnership, while reshaping how aging is experienced and understood. Here, older adults are not on the sidelines—they are seen, celebrated, and actively engaged as vibrant members of a connected community.
Support for the Whole Family
For care partners, the Flagstaff Adult Day Club offers something equally essential: time, relief, and peace of mind. The confidence that a loved one is safe, supported, and truly thriving allows families to step back into their own lives—to work, rest, and recharge—without guilt, worry, or compromise.
This new location is more than an expansion of services. It is a promise to Northern Arizona families and a powerful affirmation that aging can remain full of creativity, connection, and possibility—at every stage, and for every family.
Ready to Join the Club?
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This project is supported by the Administration for Community Living (ACL), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award totaling $13,261,685, with 75 percent funded by ACL/HHS and $3,285,728 with 25 percent funded by non-government source(s). The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement by, ACL/HHS, or the U.S. Government.
Creative Aging, at Every Stage & for Every Age
Oakwood Creative Care is bringing back the JOY in aging! We believe a diagnosis should not have to define your life. Instead, we have devoted our mission to reigniting hope for caregivers and older adults with Alzheimer’s, dementia, and other age-related challenges.
