I’d always known that having someone in to help was going to be difficult….

As soon as my daughters suggested it, I knew I’d have to get used to the idea first…..when the girls were little I took on several cleaning jobs at once, because the hours would fit in with school. I could also take them during school holidays. Never once did I imagine back then that I’d need a cleaner, but apparently I do 🤣

Probably 2 or 3 months after the suggested was put to me, I finally agreed. What I hadn’t realised quite so much, was how difficult it would be.

This is only the second time my lovely cleaning fairy, Tina, has been. The first time, I hung around the house typing, while she was here. But I became so anxious at the sound of someone in my house downstairs, then coming upstairs, that I decided I’d go for a walk…..my camera would take my mind off it. I got back as she’d finished.

It was only a few days after her first visit that I suddenly realised I hadn’t used the downstairs loo…….Tina had closed the door so I’d forgotten it was there 😳 The house was lovely and clean, but I felt things had been moved and because I couldn’t remember what, it made it even more discombobulating….Tina had simply been ‘helpful’ by putting things into piles, or tidying things together. 

Do you remember that game, “what’s missing on the tray”

Well I felt like I was playing that as I pottered around the house. The first time she was here, I must have had a horror look on my face as my kitchen surface had been cleared and she was wiping it down 😳

“It’s ok,” she said, “I’ll put everything back where I found it”

But of course, unless you take a photo, you’ll never know if you have.

I decided to suck it and see 🙄 after all, it was nice having a clean house again……As the days past I began to find other things….bottles, with child fastenings has been twisted and shut, so I couldn’t open them 🙈…such silly seeming things, but my daughter often has to unfasten them, then leave them loose….

I didn’t want to bombard her with things all at once, so the second time, I left the bottles out and asked if she could undo them for me and leave them loose….however, the second time, I’d forgotten she was called Tina. All I’d put on my calendar was ‘Tina 2.30’ 🤔….I spent days wondering who Tina was. I thought it must be a zoom and trawled through my emails, but no joy…it wasn’t until Gemma txt me reminding me she was coming that the penny suddenly dropped and the light bulb shone bright 😂

The second time I decided to potter in the garden while she was here. She’s here for 2 hours so I thought I could have a tidy up as it was the garden bin day the next day…it was so nice to be outside, revealing new growth from under the thick pile of leaves that lined my garden

Tiny shoots suddenly appearing, flowers that had been hidden…

After almost 2 hours, by chance I’d had enough and tidied everything away. I opened the back door and got the fright of my life as I’d forgotten Tina was even in the house. I don’t know who jumped most, me or Tina, seeing me startled 🤣

We chatted a few minutes and she told me she’d written “Cleaner 2.30’ on my calendar for her next visit, which was so thoughtful….but I wonder what hide and seek game I’ll play until then…….

Who would have thought, such an innocent addition to my routine, would cause such a problem…..🙄….I’m sure we’ll find a way to make it work…..

An icy trundle with Yaktrax…..

I havn’t been outside early doors since my battle with the ice in December, when I lost 🙄….my confidence had just dropped. Frosty mornings had never worried me before, in fact I loved going out when there was a white world to greet me, but then everything changed…🙈

Then one day Philly messaged or tweeted me, saying she’d recommend Yaktrax…..I had to look them up on ‘sells anything, anywhere’ amazon site and sure enough there they were. I ordered a small mens and thank goodness I did as the I’d have never got the womens to fit my size 6 shoes….

I ordered them and they arrived the next day, only they sat by my front door for days before Sarah eventually had time to come over. I couldn’t work out how to put them on 🤔…..turns out they had ‘Toe’ and ‘heel’ written on the rubber but because it was black writing on black I hadn’t seen the words 🙄 So then Sarah showed me how to stretch them onto my shoes – I’ve not got as much strength in my hands and arms as I use to, but after much tugging, I managed it 😇

I wore them first out when it wasn’t frosty for the first week or so, just to get used to them as they do feel very different to begin with 

Then one morning I opened my curtains to a bright moon shining in the sky

Once it started to become light I went to the back room and the sky was crisp and clear – there would be a frost on the ground today

I didn’t venture out when it was getting light as I hadn’t worn them when the paths were slippy and I needed them to prove to me they could cope. But just gone 9am, and still nice and frosty I started my trundle, hesitantly, step by step to begin with. I glanced down at my garden and saw the tiny primula flowers starting to appear..

Then on and up round the farm, pockets of a white world on the ground

On the farm wall, the moss and lichen were covered in beautiful white crystals of frost..

A sparrow was out looking for its first feed of the day in the bright cold sunshine

A blackbird, doing the same, looked up at me from the frozen ground

I wasn’t quite ready to take on Mirage Lane – the scene of the slip on ice – now just yet. So I turned left and headed passed the houses and along to the back lane. A cyclist was heading towards the mirage lane – hope bikes have non slip tyres 😳

The back lane is also noriously slippy in frosty weather, but it wasn’t until I reached this icy stretch that I realised my Yaktrax had worked. I stepped slowly on the slippery path, but my feet held firm, they’d worked, in fact they were brilliant! 

I started to stare down at other walkers footwear to see if they had them….and a runner, training his dog to run alongside, came down Risby lane

He had something similar on his feet! Where have I been all this time, not to know of their existence ?🙄….so simple yet gave me back my confidence to venture out early doors…

I carried on walking towards home, the church looking splendid in the morning sunshine. The frost now starting to melt

One final stop before heading home for a cuppa……on the branch of one of the churchyard trees

Thank you Philly for pointing me in the right direction….early morning trundles will happen once more……

P.s. – don’t do as I did though 🙈….I wore them into town, having forgotten to remove them. As soon as I walked into a shop, my Yaktrax embedded themselves in the mat by the door and nearly sent me flying as my body kept moving and my feet were firmly stuck 🤣🙄🙈

When a well loved occasion lost its sparkle…….

Just before todays blog, apologies for the late release of my first blog of the new year yesterday. it wasn’t until a friend emailed that I checked. I’d actually set it to be published 11.55pm instead of am. Takes a bit of time to get back into the routine of ’how’, but hopefully they’re all changed now. so back to todays……

I can only compare it as seeing someone smile without the sparkle in their eyes – a false smile; a smile that’s sometimes hard to muster, where the mouth succeeds but the eyes give away the true feeling….

My dear playmate, George Rook, also wrote a blog expressing his struggle with Christmas 

https://georgerook51.wordpress.com/2021/12/25/a-christmas-dialectic/

Was it Covid? Me breaking my wrist ? What was it that delivered Christmas without a sparkle? The fact that many traditions were missing this year due to the ’C’ word……?

Don’t get me wrong, I had a lovely Christmas Day with Gemma, Stuart, Billy and Merlin. Billy, as usual found his present on Christmas eve…

there are many boxes for him to choose from, but he always guesses which one is his 😻 then promptly tears open the paper and sits in it 😸

And Merlin was adorable company – his very first Christmas…

It was a grey day but dry and very muddy underfoot, but we had two lovely walks. It wasn’t Christmas Day that I enjoyed though, it was simply being there with them. People rarely see me sad because as soon as I set eyes on them, my eyes light up with joy. The sparkle of being with people I love is as strong as ever, but the sparkle that christmas has always had, for some reason, has faded.

I can’t wait for everything to get back to normal. Guilt is a very sad emotion – the guilt of not enjoying, the guilt of wanting to be alone, the guilt of saying ‘no thank you’ to invites.

I bang on for the rest of the year saying how we shouldn’t feel guilty for having dementia, but then for that brief period feel engulfed by it.

People turn off their social media, so even Twitter was quiet….

So many of us have said we cant wait for normality to resume. Different food, different routine, no buses – I prefer same food, same routine….well at least now, we should be entering into normality once more…

One visit over the holiday period, that I couldn’t say no to, was from Sylvias husband David.

It was lovely to see him and it made me feel good that I’d kept my promise to Sylvia, to keep in touch with David, but it was still very hard. The chatter which loses me, the lost thread of conversations. One to one I find easier than groups, but its still difficult.

You try not to show the confusion, my smile still remains as I am pleased to see him, but…..there’s always that ‘but’….it’s exhausting! Luckily, Stuart had offered to go for a walk with David in the afternoon, along with Merlin, which gave me chance to sit quietly and let the jumble unravel in my head. But the same happened again on his return – the confusion, the ‘trying to stay with it’. Thankfully David knows me well enough not to be offended when I say it’s time to leave. I was also on morphine back then, so the tea time dose would have finished me off anyway 🙄 He was having supper with Gemma and Stuart, so he would have their company and Stuarts brilliant cooking as all the restaurants were suddenly closed due to staff having Covid 🙈

I feel bad when I can only manage an hour or 2 of peoples company, especially those who I love and like to chat, but an hour of company works far better for me and them, than 3 or 4 hours when most of the time I’d be a zombie,  as its an hour rich in conversation, rather than ‘endured’.

My decorations were down the day after christmas, my routine walks a blessing. However the sparkle, the magic of Christmas was sadly missing 😔….maybe it’ll return next year…or maybe its gone forever…..

One armed living……..

As I was sat here typing with one hand it suddenly occurred to me to write about the difficulties of only having one arm in use….i feel for those whose life exists with only one arm, the coping strategies they have must be amazing.

Take typing….where is my other hand when I need a capital letter? My right forefinger taking over that job and my other fingers stretching to reach the letter….also my right hand finding unfamiliar keys, normally the domain of my right hand…taking a screen shot is hilarious…my left arm trying to press the on off slide at the side of my screen while my right hand presses the home 🙈 everything takes 10 times longer 🙄

No matter how long something takes its fine as long as I get there eventually….but it can be very frustrating when things don’t work. Something you take for granted – unscrewing a bottle of tonic 😳 (I drink tonic to help with leg cramps not to go with the gin 😂) try as many ways as I could and I just needed 2 hands – one to turn, one to hold tight – luckily my friend Cathryn from the research team brought me a Christmas basket of flowers from her and her team, which was so kind and thoughtful as I didn’t need to cut stems, fill vase etc.

So Cathryn unscrewed one for me, then I asked Sarah to unscrew a few when she came later.

This morning I needed to refill my medication box 😳….try getting tablets out of their little foil strips with one hand 🙄 it’s so fiddly but I did find a way, so once I was on a roll, I sat there for 2 hours filling a months worth 😇

Having the loo with one hand – possible but hilarious…..note to self – go before you’re desperate 🤣

I couldn’t have a shower for 2 days as I mustnt get my left arm wet. But on the 3^rd day, a parcel arrived as Sarah had found me, what looked like, in all honesty, a giant condom 🤣…which covers your arm and stops water getting in.

Now it might not be the same wash I normally have, and I might get in a pickle for most of the duration, but at least I can feel the warm water going over me and that was soo lovely.

I’ve mastered the art of making my flask of tea and pouring a cuppa almost to perfection. There were a few early practices when everything went everywhere but I think ive cracked that one

Making my porridge, I’m almost there, but cutting my banana to go in it is a hit and miss affair 😂 As for my tea, soup and muffin is at number 1 at the mo…..

Getting dressed has to be one of the hardest tasks, especially getting my coat on 🙈….all of my clothes have zips – now just try doing up a zip, especially a coat zip with one hand – go on try, don’t just be reading this 🤣…..how hard is that? Eventually, after many contortions this way and that, I have managed it, but the odd occasion when I havnt and there’s no one around to ask…well…my coat just flaps around me pretending its summer 🤣….

I mustnt stop doing any of these things for fear of deskilling myself, a constant fear when anything remotely like this happens. Its keeping my brain working in different ways. So easy to give in and let others ’do’ everything, but so bad for us. So ive had to convince myself, its just dementia testing me yet again, after all, I’m always telling others, “there’s always a way”

Transition from Keswick to home……

I adore Keswick, I adore my village….so you wouldn’t think there’d be a problem when I come home from paradise, but dementia always has other ideas. …..when I get to Keswick, I fall into Keswick routine. I immediately fall into having breakfast because that’s what I do at Keswick. However that’s also because it’s the only place I go as well. It helps enormously.

People often email me asking why their partners with dementia no longer want to go away. It’s very simple….it can be very disorientating and difficult. 

Nothing is the same, the routine is different and the surrounding are different making it very discombobulating….and its my belief that’s the reason people often deteriorate quicker when moved to a care home.

However, for me, when I visit Keswick, I have the same room with the same view and everything in the same place. Even if my room is taken, as long as I have the same view, I’m ok as the rooms are very similar. 

Catherine always makes sure my television is covered by a coloured pillow case and keeps me stocked up with Yorkshire tea.

So you see, I have a Keswick routine and a home routine. I think that’s why I found it so hard to go to Pooley Bridge last week, somewhere new. It felt confusing and void of emotion.

 Would think the worst transition would be from home to Keswick but its actually the other way round. I imagine it’s because I’m so excited to get to Keswick th I don’t notice the slow stage of ‘getting used to it”. But when I get home, it’s so important for me to be able to perform certain tasks in a certain order. So I unpack, put the washing on, then have a cuppa tea. It’s the following morning, after a sleep, that seems to be the difficult time. I wake and have to work out where I am. Then after showering, I’m looking for my suitcase with clothes in it, only to then realise I don’t live out of a suitcase anymore.🙄 it’s little things like that, I find confusing. 

The quicker, I go for my village walk and take photographs, the more I feel at home and back to ‘home routine’. 

So you see, the next time you think of taking someone with dementia away for a holiday or short break, we may not have the same excitement as you do. We may be filled with horror at the thought of leaving behind what we know, where we feel safe. Also, if we’re gone for more than a few days, we may just be getting into a new routine, when we’re suddenly heading back home, then home may be confusing too.

We’re not being awkward or selfish, we just have dementia in our brains muddling everything up…..neither is it a case of we ‘can’t go away’. Think of the small things that may help. We simply need a routine established quickly, with something very similar to what we already know and think carefully about the place you want to go. Does it have memories you can relive? Does it have an emotional connection? I used to love going to new places, but I would find it difficult now, not impossible but certainly not on my own…..

7 years ago today, my life changed……

I usually automatically remember this anniversary but this year it was going to pass me by unnoticed until I got a txt from my daughter…..

It’s also my other best friends birthday – happy birthday Julie! And thankfully I didn’t forget that thanks to reminders.

You see, today July 31st 7 years ago I received that devastating diagnosis of dementia. If I’d have believed the medics, my life was over. But unbeknown to me then, that devastating diagnosis opened up a new world, obviously not one I would have chosen, but still a wonderful world with lots of new wonderful friends I call my playmates; with people like Innovations in Dementia who enable and encourage us. To all of them I say, thank you 🙏

But what fun I’ve had in 7years…..yes, every day is a struggle, every day dementia reminds me of its presence, yes it’s a bummer of a diagnosis BUT if all you see are the negatives what a waste of the life there is still waiting to be lived!

Here’s just some of my highlights I found as I flicked through my photographs this morning….the detail has long vanished from my mind, but the emotions the images stir are still there…

Meeting Hollywood star Julianne Moore at the premier of Still Alice in 2015

In 2016 I moved to my wonderful village with all its beauty, all its characters and all its love – I couldn’t believe the date when I saw that as I thought I’d only been here a couple of years 😂

In 2017 I went up in a glider – a birthday present from my lovely daughters and Stuart

AND later that year walked on fire for charity

2018 was another special year as that was the year my book was published in hardback, meaning I’d already had a year of the lovely friendship of my partner in writing, Anna Wharton….

2019 the paperback version of my book was released

AND I became Dr Dr thanks to Hull and Bradford Universities

AND I did my tandem parachute jump for charity..

2020 will become known as the year we all hibernated due to Covid, BUT that enforced hibernation allowed me to write my second book with Anna and is due out next January….more on that in the autumn…..

Which bring us to this year, 2021…..when my latest adventure was my tandem paraglide

So you see, good can come out of bad, but it won’t happen automatically, you have to go out and search for adventures, search for life. There are so many things I can’t do now that I can no longer list them, but I never dwell on them. I have no control over what I can’t do. Instead I focus on having adventures today and if today is a bad day…..tomorrow may be better….

Moral of the tale – never give up on yourself, no matter what people say to you, let them do that if they so wish. Believe in yourself and you can do anything you want……..

The latest challenge dementia has thrown my way……

I think I wrote about ‘not feeling hunger’ quite some time back. I’ve got used to that and it doesn’t bother me. I have my routine that means I eat, unless that routine is broken and then I might be running on empty until the routine kicks in the following day. But I’ve always been on the edge of whether I feel thirsty…..but again routine has kept me drinking my flasks of tea….I have two big flasks, one in the morning and one in the afternoon and I drink it because I love holding a cuppa tea, even on a hot summers day…..well, I think I do 😳 ….but shouldn’t the brain be telling me I’m thirsty ?

It wasn’t really until my paraglide day that I realised dementia had taken away my ability to feel thirsty….that day I did the 10 mile walk around Derwentwater to scatter Sylvias ashes…and then had somehow climbed up Cat Bells before doing my paraglide and walking home 😳….

Yes I was exhausted when I got back but then realised I’d done all that on one cuppa tea in the morning and another when I had a 30 minute break in my room before heading back to Cat Bells. I’d had my breakfast, so did have food inside me, but simply hadn’t noticed I hadn’t drunk much all day from 9am to 7pm when I got back 🤷‍♀️…..

It wasn’t actually until last week that I clicked with what was going on.

I went to Gemmas in the morning and Sarahs straight after to do her garden in her new house.  This meant I missed my routine of having a flask of tea during the morning. By pure chance me and Sarah tried one of the Chinese Tea balls that Suki Chan had sent me. I’d bought Sarah a see through tea pot just for the occasion and we christened it at her new house

It was several hours of hard work outside in the sun and I think Sarah said I’m going to have a drink, do you want one? I automatically said no and waited until I got home many hours later. Sarah didn’t question it because neither of us realised what was going on.

It’s so strange, the weird things dementia can do to you but it was then, when I got home and thought back,  it all fell into place and I realised I simply don’t feel thirsty any more.

I can’t even conjure up that sense of being hungry or feeling thirsty – it’s gone, vanished…😔 when was the last time I felt thirsty ? 🤷‍♀️

So now it’s coming up with something that reminds me to drink even though I don’t feel like drinking, 🙄 but to be aware of it, is the first stage…now I just have to remember…🤪

From village, to town and now small city……

I’m slowly building up my travels ready for Keswick…from my village, to towns and now it was time for a small city, York. 

I’d almost forgotten York was a bus ride away, it had never occurred to me to travel there. I suppose the reason being, its in the next county and we’ve been restricted to our own county for so long 🤔 But then a friend on the village bus said she’d been to York and that put the possibility back in my head – if she can do it, I can do it….

I was convinced it was going to be busy, overwhelming, so I decided to take an early morning walk in the village beforehand to calm my nerves….it was my first 6am trundle for a while due to the weather and it was gloriously peaceful

The birds were out in force all making the most of the peace

The squirrel caught red headed with breakfast in his mouth as he climbed the tree to munch away quietly

The ponies in the paddock still half asleep and still huddled together in the early morning sunlight

And just before I reached home, a Robin stopped and posed for the camera – the perfect start to what might be a stressful day

I caught the village bus into town and waited the few minutes for the York bus to arrive. I’d never been on a quiet York bus before, always full of happy shoppers or tourists ready to see the ancient sights of the city of York, but not today. Today there was no queue for the bu. I was relieved but it felt strange. Just a handful of passengers and me with the pick of the seats on the upper deck, all the better to see the views of the journey…

I didn’t expect to have the chance to see the fields of gold over the Wolds this year; my annual treat for a couple of months each year. So it took my breathe away as we climbed into the Wolds with the familiar sight of the windmills and glorious golden fields side by side

From the top of the Wolds and being on the upper deck I could see for miles

This once constant familiar journey, revealing itself mile by mile once more. Through Market Weighton and Pocklington, familiarising myself once more with the landscape. There seemed to be lots of changes, or was that just me forgetting 🤔 or were houses now sitting where fields once were…..probably.

I’d forgotten how long the journey was. The most I’d done before now was 40 minutes; this was double and I found it very tiring; my eyelids closing with the constant travel as few passengers got on and off. I also hadn’t built into my plan, the need for the loo 😳…..my tired brain desperately trying to conjure up an image of where I would find a toilet in York 🙈

As we approached the city I became aware of announcements and suddenly realised the bus was talking – it was announcing each stop and as I looked above me there was also a scrolling sign stating the destination. For some reason I’d been oblivious to its voice until now

That’s a real change and one for the better. Nothing worse on a bus than not knowing where you are or where to get off – well done East Rider…

I also saw Scooters for hire at the side of the street, another happy addition and looked fun to have a go on

As I got off I could see Marks and Spencer ahead of me and headed there hoping their public loos would be open. Thankfully they were, otherwise I’m not sure where I would have headed for! Note to self – remember to think of loos on long journeys….

The escalator took me by surprise. Not been on one for ages and suddenly had to grip harder than I remember. Not used to large shops with several floors. Finding the escalator that went the right way took me round in circles. 

Heading out onto once so familiar streets, it felt odd.Over a year since I’ve been to this city that was once my home and today the hustle and bustle was missing; people were missing. I was glad in one way, but sad in another. The atmosphere of this happy tourist place seemed to be lying dormant. 

I could see the Minster peaking through these ancient cobbled streets and decided to head there, surely there’ll be tourists there

But no, just me and my camera and a handful of people milling the streets. The Minsters imposing entrance looming large and proud saying “look I’m still here” as I snapped once more

Usually its hard to find a spot where the crowds aren’t but today I could wander where I wanted and made my way away from the Minster

And down to the Museum gardens, the place usually full of people having picnics on the lawns and simply admiring the ancient past

But today just a couple of people in the distance, the crowds yet to return. It felt like I had the beautiful spring flower displays to myself

The time now ticking away and just time for me to see the river. I wonder how many times I ran down one side and up the opposite when I lived here…?

The pleasure boats desperately needing tourists back to fill their seats

A final trundle back through town towards my final destination. So many empty boarded up shops made for a sorry sight; the damage done by Covid clear to see for businesses. 

The final bridge over the river, a little busier here.

I wanted to see if the whirlpool was still stirring at the foot of the bridge, the constant in my visits to York and it was. As so much in our lives has changed over the last year, that one constant of nature still swirls by this bridge and that put a comforting smile on my face….

The tourists will be back, life will go on, we just need to build ourselves up slowly….and I made my way back home from one lovely small but perfectly formed city, back to the safety of my village

Another milestone aim ticked off……✅

Tips for coming out of lockdown for those sensitive to noise…

Me and a few playmates, George, Dory and Agnes, have been working with some brilliant audiologists to create a guide for people who are sensitive to noise to help come out of lockdown.

If you’ve read some of my previous blogs you’ve seen how difficult it’s me for me, so I jumped at the chance to be involved in this. George, Dory and Agnes also have hyperacusis.

It all began when the 4 of us spoke to an audiology conference, indicating how they have the expertise to help those of us with dementia with noise sensitivity – hyperacusis.

I’m very lucky that I have my own supportive and wonderful audiologist and her advice contributed to what I had to say. Some Audiologists are without doubt experts in hyperacusis but few understand the part it plays in dementia, so to have them listen was a true bonus and has led to this poster being created

If you read it, although it’s aimed at people with dementia, it can apply to anyone fearing the  noise of coming out of lockdown. Many people have been in silent bubbles so many people will find it helpful advice. Also children with autism, those with learning disabilities – the possibilities are endless……

You can read more on our DEEP website below

Coming out of lockdown – coping with noise sensitivity.

“We believed we could…and we did!”

Dementia Enquirers……to show what we can do…

So it’s the start of Dementia Awareness Week. I’ve never been particularly keen on this as for those of us affected by dementia it’s with us every day of the year and never goes away. So to spotlight it one week a year seems a tad patronising to me, but hey ho, it gets people talking again I suppose. 

Innovations in Dementia were given funds from The National Lottery Community fund to set up Dementia Enquirers, a new approach to research that is led and controlled by people living with dementia.The lovely cartoonist Tony Husband came up with our image

The reason for the image, is that ‘leading’ the research doesn’t necessarily mean being behind the wheel. Every component of a car helps you get from A to B. Someone maybe the headlights, coming up with the direction, the ideas we take, others the wheels making sure it happens, down to the nuts and bolts holding it all together – every component vital. Even the professional lead researchers delegate work to be done by others and we were no different.

The difference in our research was that WE chose the subjects that WE thought were important. WE decided how to go about it. WE invited others through our door to support and help.

“We believed we could…and we did!” 

The projects are:  

• Thred, Liverpool: How can urban and rural transport systems help people diagnosed with dementia live independently for longer?

• Minds and Voices, York: The pros and cons and particular needs of those living alone with dementia and those living with a care partner

• Beth Johnson Foundation, Stoke on Trent: Does class, ethnicity or intellect affect the dementia pathway?

• Riversiders in Shrewsbury (with Minds and Voices, York): an enquiry into the what DEEP and Admiral Nurses know about each other

• Our Voice Matters, Hartlepool: An enquiry into the benefits of groups for people with dementia

• DEEPNess, Isle of Lewis: The necessary components of a dementia-responsive teaching video

• EDUCATE, Stockport: The EDUCATE Echo project

We came together last week via zoom to celebrate the launch of our reports – the findings from all our hard work over the last couple of years. We had the challenges of Covid, but we overcame them and continued adapting as we always do.

Now obviously I’m biased because our group in York, Minds and Voices was one of these groups and you can read our interesting findings and advice for professionals as a result on the link below 

Click to access minds-and-voices-in-york_report.pdf

But obviously ALL the groups looked into some really interesting subjects and the rest can be found here:

Individual Projects

As we said at the beginning:

We believed we could…and we did!”