Real stories

Caring for my Nan with dementia inspired me to change my career

I’d always had a close relationship with my Nan Doris. She had a strong personality and was fiercely independent and opinionated. 

After she was diagnosed with dementia, I wanted to maintain our close connection and I became her carer. 

As well as practical help, such as shopping and cleaning, I supported her emotionally. 

Sometimes, I’d simply sit and hold her hand, or she’d tell me about her childhood and we’d watch a film – The Slipper and the Rose was her favourite. 

Life as a carer

But as her dementia progressed and her needs grew, caring for her became more difficult. I was balancing her care, with my family life and a busy career as a primary school teacher. 

Paid carers came in to help, but her speech deteriorated and I was the only one who could understand most of what she said, so I was often called to help. 

Although she was my absolute world, it came to the point where her needs outgrew what I could offer. 

Making the decision for her to go into a care home was one of the hardest things ever.

New career in care

As much as I loved teaching, I wanted to try something new. At my school, we had a Drawing and Talking practitioner who worked with the children and I saw the amazing impact it had. 

It’s not an art therapy – it’s a gentle and safe attachment-based intervention, meaning that it helps people express their emotions. 

I decided to do the practitioner training, and after this I first worked with children. 

But, inspired by Nan, I decided to work with people living with dementia. 

I started working in care homes and day centres, and it grew from there.

Building connections

Drawing and Talking can help people with dementia become more emotionally regulated and feel less frustrated and anxious. 

It benefits not just the person living with dementia but those around them, by sparking conversations and connections. 

It can help a group of people with dementia form ties and help carers learn something new about the people they care for. 

One example is a lady who drew one line on her paper. She told this story of being on the stage with Judi Dench at the Royal Shakespeare Company. 

I’ve got no idea if that was true, but it doesn’t matter – it got us talking. 

Helping people with dementia

Retraining has changed my life. It makes my heart happy. 

It’s led to new opportunities, as I’m now helping to spread the word about the benefits of Drawing and Talking for people with dementia.

When you are caring for someone with dementia, you worry about losing that person. 

This gives you a chance to maintain a connection. You can’t stop dementia progressing, but you can hold on to your bond.