Mark Jenkins is an innovator at the intersection of narrative, human connection, and cultural change. Born in the Australian outback and now writing from his cabin beside the wild Magnetawan River in Ontario, his journey to becoming an advocate for revolutionizing dementia care took an unexpected path.
Mark's Story
As the creator of TeamEverest—an immersive leadership experience used by hundreds of organizations worldwide—Mark pioneered using story as a vehicle for change. This narrative expertise became the foundation for his most personal work: developing "Accompaniment," an approach that complements essential caregiving by fostering deeper connection through cognitive decline.
Mark abandoned the corporate world to fully immerse himself in caregiving, discovering how this journey would reshape him as much as it supported his mother Betty during their seven-year journey through dementia and cancer. While professional caregivers provided crucial support for daily needs, Mark recognized something equally essential was missing—the relational dimension that maintains personhood when memory falters.
His work stands at what he calls "the frontlines of the battle for the North American soul"—challenging a culture that has reduced personhood to productivity while outsourcing care for our most vulnerable. Through Accompaniment, Mark offers not a replacement for necessary caregiving, but a complementary approach that recognizes how we must learn to walk alongside our loved ones, not just manage their decline.
The Accompaniment Series offers practical guidance for the millions of families navigating cognitive decline, showing how skilled caregiving combined with genuine accompaniment creates possibilities that neither approach can achieve alone. Mark leads workshops on relational care approaches and speaks about how walking alongside someone through their most vulnerable passages often becomes one of life's most direct paths to becoming fully human.
[Contact Mark for speaking engagements or workshops]