Front and Center: Elevating Care Partners to Primary Clients

Purpose: In this clinical focus article, we advocate for an expansion of our services to include care partners of individuals with communication (e.g., aphasia) or cognitive-communication impairments (e.g., dementia) as “primary” clients. While many clinicians are already engaging in communication partner training and other related practices, this article highlights novel and enhanced approaches to further embrace and expand these efforts. This article is based on the authors' experience-based reflections and illustrations through clinical vignettes derived from a single real case or a mix of a few real cases. Conclusions: We demonstrate how speech-language pathologists (SLPs) can play a vital role in supporting care partners by addressing their unique needs, including restoring or redefining identity, finding new purpose, enhancing psychosocial well-being, reconciling relationships, and fostering meaningful interactions and closure during their loved one's end-of-life stage. Relevant challenges (e.g., consent, reimbursement) to serving care partners as our primary clients and possible solutions are explored.