Thank you to all who joined the Dementia Friends session at St Aelred’s parish in Harrogate, including people from the adjoining parish of St Robert’s.
England were playing Belgium so I don’t think there were any football fans there but there are 11 more official ‘Dementia Friends’ in our Diocese, joining the 150 people who’ve already become a Dementia Friend in our Diocese via Growing Old Grace-fully sessions…. plus the thousands more through other people and organisations.
The number of people living with dementia is forecast to keep growing so we need more dementia friendly parishes. To be a dementia friendly parish is to engage in the process that will find ways to include people with dementia, so that they are helped to experience life in all its fullness. Holding a Dementia Friends session, which lasts about 45 minutes, is a really good introduction to opening up the discussion and exploring how to be more dementia-friendly. The format of the session is interactive and upbeat and we have added a little to the standard programme to make it more relevant to a parish audience. I bring everything I need to the session and will also provide a Bulletin Notice. Please email me if you think your parish might be willing to host a Dementia Friends session.
Rachel Walker, Project Co-ordinator