Arts and Minds:
Dementia Friendly Communities
Background
•



Living Well with Dementia: A National Strategy (2009)
Improved Awareness and Understanding
Earlier diagnosis
Higher quality of care
 Prime Minister David Cameron’s Challenge on Dementia (2012)
 “ the quiet crisis”
 Three main areas of focus:
1. Dementia Friendly Communities
2. Research into dementia
3. Improving quality of health and social care
Facts about Dementia
 750,000 people living with a dementia in the UK
 By 2025 there will be over one million
 The cost of dementia in the UK is £20 billion a
year and rising.
 2/3 of people with dementia live in their own
homes
 1/3 live in care homes
 1 in 4 people in hospital have dementia
 Plymouth : 3000 people with a dementia, set to
rise by 40% in the next 10 -15 years.
* Information from the Alzheimer’s Society
What are Dementia Friendly
Communities?
The need to develop Dementia Friendly Urban and Rural
Communities, which recognise the great diversity among
individuals with dementia and their carers, promotes their
inclusion in all areas of community life, respects their
decisions and lifestyle choice, anticipates and responds
flexibly to their dementia related needs and preferences. (Ian
Sherriff 2012)
Ian Kenneth Grant Sherriff M.A. D.M.S. C.Q.S.W. Dip Cll
Academic Partnership Lead for Dementia
School of Social Science and Social Work
University of Plymouth
Plymouth
Building Dementia Friendly
Communities: A priority for everyone
 Involvement with people with Dementia
 Challenge stigma and build understanding
 Accessible community activities
 Acknowledge potential
 Ensure an early diagnosis
 Practical support to enable engagement in community life
 Community based solutions
 Consistent and reliable transport options
 Easy to navigate environments
 Respectful and responsive businesses and services
Report : 2013: Alzheimer’s Society
The history of Community Outreach
and older people at PCMAG
Established in
2005 with
Renaissance
funding:
2 Officer Posts and
a van!
Creation of the Reminiscence
Service
- Over 250 care, residential and
nursing homes on the books
- Fortnightly sessions at Mount
Gould Hospital rehabilitation ward.
- Hospices, Stroke Groups, Day
centres, memory cafés, specialist
dementia units.
What is Reminiscence?


Reminiscence work is person-led and
not object-led. The objects are only
important in so far as they relate to
some aspect of remembered lifeexperience, and act as a trigger for some
form of positive engagement.
Reminiscence work advocates a multisensory and inclusive approach, defining
objects in the broadest meaning of
anything presented to the senses or the
mind.
Giant Reminiscence Events
Yearly event at the Museum and Art Gallery. Music, cake, objects and memories.
Library events, county shows, city festivals, older peoples’ events.
Remember Me : Strand one
 Two part project (2010-2011)
- Evaluation research and report into health and wellbeing
benefits of reminiscence
Analysis revealed three key benefits of reminiscence that:
 reminiscence enhanced their feelings of happiness.
 negative feelings towards the past decreased.
 confidence to share memories increased after the session.
Remember me: Strand two
 Training healthcare sector workers, students and
job seekers aged 50+ (funded by Jobcentre Plus) in
object handling and reminiscence for people with
dementia.
CPD Training for officers
 Arts4dementia best practice conference and arts facilitators
course
 Age Exchange Creative Reminiscence and Dementia course
 Stroke Association, Active Communication course
 Dementia Champion training, Alzheimer’s society.
The idea for Arts and Minds was
born…


PCC and the Western Locality of the NEW Devon Clinical
Commissioning group were successful in applying for funding from
Dep’t Health for Dementia Friendly City Work
New Arts and Heritage service starts to look outwards for new
funding and partnerships to deliver services.
Partnership, led by Arts and Heritage Service and
 Alzheimer’s Society, Plymouth
 Age UK
 Arts for Health Cornwall
 Plymouth Visual Arts Consortium
 P.D.D.A ( Plymouth Dementia Action Alliance)
 Stoke Damerel Secondary School
 Memory Service at Mount Gould Hospital (Diagnosis Centre)
Aims of Arts and Minds
• To develop a regular and sustainable programme of heritage
and arts based activities that make a wide reaching and positive
contribution to Plymouth’s aspiration to become a Dementia
Friendly City.
• To understand through action research how we can improve
the creative and cultural provision to people living with a
dementia and their carers in Plymouth.
• To raise awareness of dementia, tackle stereotypes and reduce
stigmatizing attitudes and behavior towards the illness.
The Arts and Dementia
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“To be creative is to draw on one's lived experiences and transform them into
something new. Creative expression is important for everyone, but it is even more
important for those with dementia for whom other avenues of self-expression can
be severely limited." - Anne Davis Basting and John Killick, The Arts and
Dementia Care Resource Guide, 2009

Improve cognition function, memory, creative thinking, enjoyment of life
and the external and internal stigmas of living with the disease.

Alzheimer’s Disease normally spares the creative parts of the brain related
to creativity, creative expression and emotions.
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Tackle social isolation. 47% surveyed felt they were no longer part of the
community, this figure lowers considerably the more advanced the
dementia. ( Building Dementia Friendly Communities Report)
Up to date research
 Reawakening the Mind, Evaluation of London Arts
Challenge 2012: Arts interventions to re-energise
and inspire people in the early stages of dementia
and their carers. Veronica Gould
London Arts Challenge 2012

Paris research to follow and portrait exhibition
What people want in Plymouth
Our research locally has identified :
• Improve our offer for older people with
dementia not yet in formal care.
• There is a lack of arts based opportunities for
older people compared with support services
like befriending.
• There are people with the early stages of
dementia identified by the memory service as
potential beneficiaries of this work
• There are larger numbers of isolated older
people living in the Plymouth suburbs ‘asset
rich, cash poor’ than the inner city.
• Activity needs to be regular
• Activities should also include opportunities for
the carers
• We need decent tea and biscuits!
Where we are now
 Secured funding from Adult Social Care for one
year pilot at the museum.
 A committed steering group
- Memory service nurses vital for referrals
- Alzheimer’s society support workers
- Over 20 volunteers signed up from a variety of
useful backgrounds
 Working closely with the Health Librarian to
deliver memory corners in community libraries
 All this based upon the bedrock of 10 years of in
house delivery.
Useful reading
 Reawakening the Mind, Evaluation of London Arts Challenge
2012: Arts interventions to re-energise and inspire people in
the early stages of dementia and their carers. Veronica
Gould
 Building Dementia Friendly Communities: a priority for
everyone. Alzheimer’s Society
 An Evidence Review of the Impact of Participatory Arts on
Older People, Mental Health Foundation
 Good Times; Art for Older People at Dulwich Picture
Gallery, 2010
 Creativity and Communication in persons with Dementia, a
practical guide. John Killick and Claire Craig, 2012
Contacts
 For further information about this project please
contact:
 Joanne.gray@plymouth.gov.uk
 Julia.beazer@plymouth.gov.uk
 01752 304774