about us

What we do

Protecting the rights of people who are in fragile times of life to have care that is dignified and respectful, individualized and non-institutionalized: women during pregnancy, delivery and birth, newborn persons during birth and early life, people with chronic illnesses, people living in poverty and elderly persons with memory problems.

-> Working with families during pregnancy, birth and postpartum to support them in welcoming their newborns and helping them observe and understand their communications and behavioral language.

-> Working with families with elderly loved ones who are experiencing memory loss and exhibiting behaviors that are difficult to manage, helping them to observe and understand their communications and behavioral language.

-> Supporting families, early childhood educators and professionals working with elders with dementia to follow essential Montessori values in their caregiving environments.

-> Offering a variety of retreats and courses for professionals using a Montessori pedagogical approach for fragile individuals throughout the lifespan, especially those being born into life and those in the elderly phase.

-> Offering online courses for families following Montessori’s outline of “education from birth as a help to life”.

-> Developing a publishing house for distribution of materials in several languages.

Conducting research projects that look at the outcomes of respectful individualized care based on Montessori values.

Mission Statement

Montessori For Life offers educational programs, presentations, retreats, and courses that empower birthing mothers, families, educators and healthcare professionals to offer respectful and individualized care based on continuous observation, following the example of Dr. Maria Montessori and Adele Costa Gnocchi (in regards to care of the newborn and the very young child) and Dr. Cameron Camp (in regards to care of the elderly person). Montessori For Life works internationally and will develop a Headquarters and Retreat Center in Decontra, Caramanico Terme, Italy and publish its own materials in several languages.

Retreat Center Decontra

Vision Statement

Individualized and respectful care offered to people in fragile times of life means addressing both their biological and psychological needs. Pregnant women, mothers with newborns, children under three, and elderly persons experiencing cognitive decline are all people who are living through fragile times who are

1) are in a sensitive transitional stage of life;

2) communicate in ways that require careful listening and observation;

3) desire to have a natural and non-medicalized life in every way possible and

4) desire to maintain control over their lives and be as autonomous as is possible.

The Cosmic Task

"It is important to recognize the essential nature of the transformations and the expressions of self that emerge in the first years of life - for the purposes of the human species. Today we understand that in order to save the planet, human life has a “cosmic task”- a term coined by Montessori - with our responsibility for the biosphere and the protection of all living species.

The sensitivity to such a task is not acquired all of a sudden in the adult phase, rather it is constructed step-by-step, beginning at birth. But this can only develop if we are indeed respecting the child's own nature and favoring all of his or her potential.

It is truly the smallest children who, without any awareness of it happening, perform the initial part of the 'cosmic task' of our species. It is a necessary step in the first two years of life, which celebrates the work of the hand, a distinguishing feature, along with language, of being human."

Grazia Honegger Fresco