Yowei Shaw

So together they can observe and trace the steps that led to them, to try to solve the mystery of why they're stuck, why the entire family might be.

When Claudia talked about her process, it really does sound like she's an emotional detective.

She visits the homes of her clients.

She'll interview the caregiver at great length, gathering all of their negative feelings.

the expectations they're trapped by, the situations that make them upset, and the ripples of that upset.

And then she'll gather their positive feelings, their hopes, their dreams, the moments they feel most connected.

She'll pull their medical records.

She'll find out how much support they have, the things they're good at, the things they're bad at, just an unbelievably detailed profile of the person and their context.

And then she does that again with the person with Alzheimer's, then the wife, then the child.

Meanwhile, Claudia is observing and recording all interactions on video to analyze later to look for patterns.

Then with the caregiver, she'll throw the most salient factors on a whiteboard, kind of like a corkboard in a police precinct, but more touchy-feely.

No dead bodies.

This is the family's map.

It shows all the invisible forces shaping the situation.

Claudia showed me one of these maps.

It's broken up into different sections.

There's one for the caregiver, let's call her Sally.

Another for Sally's dad, who has dementia.

One for Sally's mom, who has trouble getting around.

In each of these sections, there are a bunch of different shapes filled with text.