Dementia Friends Champion Training

Raising awareness

I’m officially a Dementia Friends Champion – I attended the training day last Tuesday. It was a very long but enjoyable day. 18 people attended for a variety of reasons. Some have dementia in their life, others have the desire to make their workplace or community more dementia friendly. It was nice to see such a cross-section of the community from all over Yorkshire wanting to make a difference.
The facilitator, Christine, was very slick in her delivery. We all went through the dementia friends training as many there had yet to become Dementia Friends, but it was good to see another take on the delivery of the key messages. I’d already seen an expert in action in the form of Helen Gilbert at work, so to see someone who was less of a superstar made it more achievable for me 🙂 The 1 hour given to deliver the information session is very tight so it’s good that we’re provided with a booklet to keep us on track!

The aim is for 1,000,000 Dementia Friends by March this year – well the good news came last Saturday that we’ve now surpassed that target – magic! How difficult is it to give up an hour of your time in a life time to become a Dementia Friend……..to become aware of what it’s like to have dementia………to enable you to become more aware of dementia in your local community……………?
So there’s as many reasons for becoming a Champion as there are people. My reason was to be able to have this option for when I’m bored during my retirement……………..well, the ‘bored’ bit is a non starter, but it will enable me to raise awareness to a larger audience.

Why not become a Dementia Friend – it really only takes an hour out of a lifetime and you might learn something about those living with dementia.

https://www.dementiafriends.org.uk

 

Everyone of every age should attend a Dementia Friends session
Everyone of every age should attend a Dementia Friends session

 

 

 

About wendy7713

On the 31st July 2014 I was diagnosed with Young Onset Dementia. I may not have much of a short term memory anymore but that date is one I’ll never forget. I’m 58 years young, live happily alone in Yorkshire, have 2 daughters and I’m currently still in full time employment in the NHS. However, I’m now in the process of taking early retirement to give me a chance of enjoying life while I’m still me. I've started this blog to allow me, in the first instance, to write all my thoughts before they’re lost. If anyone chooses to follow my ramblings it will serve as a way of raising awareness on the lack of research into Alzheimer's. It will hopefully convey the helplessness of those diagnosed with dementia, as there is no cure – the end is inevitable. However, I’m also hoping I can convey that, although we've been diagnosed, people like me still have a substantial contribution to make; we still have a sense of humour; we sill have feelings. I’m hoping to show the reality of trying to cope on a day to day basis with the ever-changing environment that dementia throws at those diagnosed with the condition. What I want is not sympathy. What I want is simply to raise awareness.

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