A good day focusses on activities to be shared rather tasks to be done.
When we think about successfully sharing an activity with someone living with dementia, what do we think about? It might be things like (Dementia Australia):
- Maintaining residual skills
- Compensating for lost activities
- Promoting self-esteem and empowerment for the individual
- Keeping the mind stimulated
- Providing an opportunity for enjoyment, pleasure and social contact
- Being sensitive to the person’s cultural background and their individual like, dislikes, and history
This month's big idea is a simple one, but a powerful one. Activities of daily living are just that, they are activities too. We can approach our work to support the self-care of people living with dementia as a shared activity rather than just a series of tasks to be done. This can open our eyes to a very meaningful and positive way to approach our time together.
This month we invite you to join us for a presentation that looks at supporting some to bath as an example of this approach. This 40-minute presentation comes from our Dementia STARs programme. You can find out more about Dementia STARs here.