With the UK summertime in full swing and COVID restrictions having eased, many people are meeting up with friends and family who they haven’t seen for a long time. For most people these will be joyous, emotional reunions that are…
Tag: emotions
Regrets, I’ve had a few…
Listening to the radio recently, Frank Sinatra’s ‘My Way’ came on. These two lines really stood out for me: “Regrets, I’ve had a few. But then again, too few to mention.” They got me thinking, as I so often do…
Demanding better for people with dementia
Ordinarily, September is dominated for me by World Alzheimer’s Month (or World Dementia Month as I prefer to call it), which in practice means 30 days of sharing all of the great content, ideas and initiatives that lots of fantastic…
A shrinking world
For the last five months I’ve written about different aspects of the coronavirus pandemic. For August, I want to think about the consequences of the required reduction in social interaction on people with dementia during lockdown. Is it all…
Family carers and the coronavirus pandemic
For the last three months I’ve written about different aspects of the coronavirus pandemic. For June, I want to think about how family carers have been affected by lockdown and the ongoing coronavirus crisis. The pandemic has raised so many…
Coronavirus and being isolated from a loved one
Last month I wrote about the coronavirus pandemic and answered two questions families supporting a loved one are grappling with: How do we hand-wash more and how do we self-isolate? For families who aren’t in the same household, however, they…
Experiences of loss
With over 200 blogs on D4Dementia now, some of them approaching 7 years old next month, I’ve decided to spend my 2019 year of blogging by re-visiting some of the topics I’ve covered previously, throwing fresh light on why they…
Finding love again
With over 200 blogs on D4Dementia now, some of them approaching 7 years old in May this year, I’ve decided to spend my 2019 year of blogging by re-visiting some of the topics I’ve covered previously, throwing fresh light on…
What to do for ‘the best’
Last year I wrote a popular blog post entitled ‘Five things I wish I’d known before my dad’s dementia’. Point two was entitled ‘What to do for the best’ and said: “The great problem when my dad was living with…
Home sweet home
I seem to have found myself quoting a particular statistic so much in the last few weeks that it is now imprinted in my mind: Alzheimer’s Society: Fix Dementia Care Homecare report I include this stat in my dementia training…
Why are you a carer?
On the face of it this is a really simple question, yet it is one that can generate so much discussion. It’s something I’ve been asked a lot in the last few years in the context of, “Why did you…
How dementia and personality interact
We talk A LOT in dementia care about how dementia changes a person. Often it’s distilled down into very negative language, and bracketed as ‘challenging behaviour’ (a phrase I dislike immensely). Yet, the spectrum of change is immense, very personal…
Life story work – The gift that keeps on giving
One of the loveliest aspects of becoming a parent has been taking our daughter on various trips to meet her extended family. On one such trip we were given a gift, not of a teddy or a baby outfit, but…