When I wrote about the VERA Framework last month and touched on validation, I realised that I’ve never dedicated a blog post to exploring what validation is and why it’s such an important tool in the box of support for…
Going back to school… and being reminded of VERA
For me learning is a continual, lifelong process, and with this in mind I was delighted to sign up to the Dementia UK Summer School that ran earlier this month. This is an annual opportunity to learn from Admiral Nurses,…
Prioritising information for dementia carers
Earlier this month saw the annual Carers Week, which included a campaign to pledge support by saying ‘I care’. As a nation we should all care – chances in are most people’s lifetimes they will either be a carer or know…
Learning from personal diagnosis stories
Over the 20+ years since my dad was diagnosed with dementia, I’ve often thought about what his diagnosis experience was like from his perspective. We never talked about it, and of course now we’ll never be able to. Our understanding…
Becoming the patient
I’ve been fortunate for most of my life to be pretty healthy. Even having my two children only resulted in one night in hospital for my first birth. So, my recent three nights in hospital came completely out of the…
