Blog #5
The Dementia Café experience
A Dementia Café is defined as 'a place where you can discuss your dementia diagnosis or someone else's and what it means for you and the future'. Social care professionals and other health professionals often attend, and they can provide you with answers and advice about dementia. There’ll also be other people you can make friends with, who are currently, or have been, in similar circumstances, and learn from their experiences.
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Dementia Café
Dementia cafés provide a wide range of activities that benefit individuals living with dementia. They host activities that encourage self-expression, engagement, and emotional connections with others and spark positive memories. So come along to the Hungerford Dementia Café to meet others in a similar situation. We look forward to welcoming you there!
Hungerford Dementia CaféDementia cafés provide a wide range of activities that benefit individuals living with dementia. They host activities that encourage self-expression, engagement, and emotional connections with others and spark positive memories. So come along to the Hungerford Dementia Café to meet others in a similar situation. We look forward to welcoming you there!
The start of the next chapter
In 2021 a report on people’s attitudes to dementia (carried out by Alzheimer’s Research UK) showed that "49% of people of all ages said that dementia was the health condition they feared the most”. But it is important to understand that a dementia diagnosis is not the end of a person’s life, in fact it needs to be seen as the start of the next chapter, where we focus on what enjoyable activities they can do, and ensure they continue to do these as much as they can, for as long as possible.
Can you 'live well with dementia'?
It is certainly possible to 'live well with dementia', but it is all too easy post-diagnosis to just sit in your armchair at home and shut yourself away. Getting out more (not less) and being more sociable than you were before the diagnosis is much more beneficial. Social interaction is good for the brain as well as being excellent for everyone’s well-being (for both the person with dementia and their family carer). Having honest, supportive conversations with people who completely understand what you are dealing with, can often lighten the load and help you realise you are certainly not alone in what you are experiencing.
Dementia Care is improving
A great many Dementia & Memory Cafés are popping up everywhere now. As dementia care improves, we have learnt how useful they are in connecting people and enabling them to share their own experiences. Peer support is so important, and having a small network of like-minded people around you is a great way to start creating your very own dementia support team.
What is the difference between a Dementia Café and a Memory Café?
Quite a lot actually, they are definitely not the same thing! A Memory Café is defined as 'a comfortable, supportive environment where people with dementia and their family carers can socialise, build support networks, and enjoy dementia-friendly activities together'. Whereas, a Dementia Café is defined as 'a place where you can discuss your dementia diagnosis or someone else’s and what it means for you and the future. Social care professionals and other health professionals also often attend, and they can provide you with answers and advice about dementia. There’ll also be other people you can make friends with who are currently, or have been in similar circumstances and learn from their experiences. Dementia Cafés provide a wide range of activities that benefit individuals living with dementia. Dementia Cafés host activities that encourage self-expression, engagement, and emotional connections with others and spark positive memories'. So come along to the Hungerford Dementia Café to meet others in a similar situation. We look forward to welcoming you there!