Dementia Support Line
Online champion: Dementia Friends is adapting and growing
Louise Rigglesford, a Dementia Friends Champion in West Sussex, shares how she’s taken her Dementia Friends sessions online.
Dementia Friends is a really effective scheme – a great way to dispel some of the common myths about dementia. The key messages are very useful and we use them as a basis when planning any of our dementia-friendly sessions at Chichester Festival Theatre, where I’m Senior Community and Outreach Manager.
Since becoming a Dementia Friends Champion, I have led 32 sessions and created 314 Dementia Friends.
Prior to lockdown, the face-to-face sessions I led have been to a mixture of theatre staff – both public facing and back of house teams – partner organisations and members of the public.
Each session is varied, but participants are generally engaged and ask questions throughout. I don’t think I’ve ever had anyone not want to become a Dementia Friend at the end of a session!
Compassion and patience
Prior to working at Chichester Festival Theatre, I had done some work with Spare Tyre Theatre Company on a performance project for people living with dementia. This was my first experience in working directly with people with a diagnosis within care homes, and shortly after my grandmother received a diagnosis as well.
Once I began my current role, I was keen to further our work in this area so I became a Dementia Friends Champion to ensure that all of our staff and freelancers approach people living with dementia with the same level of compassion and patience.
Our regular dementia-friendly activity includes a weekly singing group, practical sessions within care homes using materials from our archive as creative stimulus, and work with local charity Dementia Support, who run a dementia hub in nearby Tangmere.
We are interested in developing sensory sessions for individuals in care settings to cater for people in the more advanced stages of dementia, particularly for those who are largely non-mobile or non-verbal.
Our plans to progress this area of work have been put on hold a little during lockdown, but we hope to pick this up in the future. We are also excited to host our first dementia-friendly performance of South Pacific next summer.
Going online
Earlier this year, I took part in additional training around delivering Dementia Friends online and my most recent two sessions have been led using Zoom. The first of these was with employees from one of our corporate sponsors, and the second was a public session as part of our recent Ageless Week celebrations.
As with a lot of organisations, we have adapted a lot of our work to be delivered remotely and it has been fantastic to be able to continue offering Dementia Friends information sessions.
The adaptations that were suggested by the Dementia Friends team were very clear, and I have really enjoyed the challenge of delivering sessions remotely.
I would absolutely encourage anyone thinking of becoming a champion to do so. Dementia Friends has really helped us towards becoming a more welcoming environment for people living with dementia.
Dementia Friends
Become a Dementia Friend to learn more about what it is like to live with dementia and turn that understanding into action.
Jim Clapperton
says
Alzheimer's Society
saysHi Jim,
Thank you for your comment. It’s great to hear that you’re keen to start running Dementia Friends Sessions again!
The Dementia Friends Champion role in England actually came to an end on 31st July 2022 and we have launched a new volunteering role, Dementia Friends Ambassador.
Although we have passed that date we may be able to hold it open for a little while for Dementia Friends Champions who are keen to become Dementia Friends Ambassadors.
You can view the Dementia Friends Ambassador role description here: https://www.dementiafriends.org.uk/page/dementia-friend-ambassador-programme#.Yuos1XbMKUn
If having read about the new role, you feel that you would like to register, could I ask that you email [email protected] as soon as possible and ask them for the link to the registration form.
Below are a few key questions we’ve had and the answers to them.
Why we are making the changes?
Since Dementia Friends’ launch in 2013, you and your fellow Champions have influenced big societal changes, reduced the fear and stigma of dementia and helped people to understand how to support those affected.
Dementia Friends, like much of Alzheimer’s Society’s work, is funded by public donations and following the financial impact of the pandemic, we need to focus on sustainability, increasing our funds, volunteer capacity and reach.
The new elements of the Dementia Friends Ambassador role are designed to help raise our profile in local communities, promoting us as a charity of choice to donate to but also as the first port of call for anyone needing support, information and guidance.
Our vision is to be there for people affected by dementia, at the heart of every community, but we can't do this alone. You are the expert in your community, and we need your help to be present and visible, so we can be there for more people affected by dementia.
What sort of time commitment is involved and do I have to fundraise?
While we ask that people deliver on average 6 Dementia Friends Sessions and 6 other activities a year, these new elements don’t need to be time-consuming nor direct fundraising. For example, sharing a post about Elf Day on social media or telling a group about a local Alzheimer’s Society event at the end of a Dementia Friends session will take just a few minutes, but the impact can be far-reaching.
Your volunteer role manager will be able to support you in shaping this volunteer role based on your interests and availability, and help to find Sessions for you to deliver locally.
We hope this helps, Jim. Please do email [email protected] if you have any further questions.
Alzheimer's Society Dementia Friends team