Validation began as the personal practice of a brilliant individual, Naomi Feil. Feil, as a 4-year-old refugee from Nazi Germany, grew up in the Montefiore Home for the Aged in Cleveland Ohio, where her father was the administrator and her mother, the head of the Social Service Department. The older adults were her direct neighbors and friends. This gave Naomi unique empathy and insight into the world of disoriented elders which became the foundation stones for the Validation method. 

In 1982, with the help of a few supporters, she created the Validation Training Institute (VTI) as a vehicle for spreading information on the method, as well as training practitioners and trainers. 

Over the past 37 years, VTI has created and delivered constantly evolving training programs, published four books in 12 languages, created films and built an international network of partnerships. Validation, once a maverick concept, is comfortably in-synch with contemporary thinking as Feil’s concepts have inspired a generation of ‘person-centered’ eldercare.