In the United States, people with dementia are cared for by 16,000,000 unpaid caregivers (Alz. Association, 2019). Dementia caregivers have increased morbidity and poorer health than non-caregivers. Negative biopsychosocial impacts related to caregiving undermine the capacity to provide care, and lead to increased institutional placement, increasing burden on public systems (de Vugt, Verhey, 2013). Caregivers (CGs) of persons with dementia (PWDs) have relatively high levels of caregiver burden, depression, and anxiety. This talk will discuss the efficacy of a novel care model in which participants were assigned care coordinators who provided education, support, guidance and access to existing resources. At the entry into the dementia care coordination program, CGs were surveyed about personal characteristics, characteristics of the PWD they care for, mental health symptoms, and their perceptions about caregiving. Linear regressions were conducted to assess associations between protective factors (i.e., preparedness for caregiving, dementia knowledge) and CGs’ levels of depression, anxiety, and caregiver burden, controlling for CG age, CG education, and PWD level of functional independence in activities of daily living (ADLs). Results of this cross-sectional study indicate that CGs’ preparedness for caregiving is associated with CG burden and that younger GGs had higher levels of depression and anxiety.  These findings suggest that CG age may impact CG mental health and provide opportunities for intervention including targeting mood in younger CGs and increasing CG preparedness to potentially decrease CG burden.  Additionally, emotional preparation for providing care to PWDs may be more important for reducing CGs’ burden than teaching specific knowledge about what to expect in dementia, and CGs of PWDs with lower functional abilities may benefit from targeted supports to reduce burden.