Living with dementia can be an extremely challenging experience, and during the pandemic, the impact of the disease has increased. There is a huge need for specialist 1-1 sessions to support people living with dementia to recover from the isolation of the last year and to regain skills and confidence to enable them to live well and to thrive. Our project will deliver 6 creative 1-1 sessions for 16 members of the community in a Covid-safe way at the participant’s home or Care Home. We will adapt the sessions for participants according to their needs. Participants might want to write poetry, or sing songs together, or make puppets for a puppetry performance. In our pilot programme, one of our artists Andre worked with community member Marie*, his musical background matched well with her interests in music, her favourite artists and songs, and together they created and rehearsed their very own set list.

What we'll deliver:

• A series of 1 to 1 Creative sessions with a trained and experienced artist, chosen to match each persons’ interests.
• Creative sessions will be designed for the individual, and will be accessible according to their needs.
• The Creative sessions will be available to anyone in Kent who is living with or affected by dementia.
• Participants can take part in the sessions with a friend or loved one, or on their own.

Why it's a great idea:

We have already delivered sessions like this, with hugely positive feedback from those involved. Research shows that “arts activities can improve wellbeing and quality of life for people living with dementia.” (Windle et al, 2018) Feedback from previous participants and partner organisations for 1 to 1 sessions: “B stresses on every visit, how much she enjoys these sessions and I feel it is something she hugely benefits from.” “The service is incredible, sessions well prepared, thought provoking, enabling, enjoyed and needed.” “You’ve been extremely patient, a lot of people would have given up, the patience has been exceptional.” We have had requests for more sessions and really want to meet this need! We know they are valuable and important for those involved, the only thing we need is the funding to make it happen.

Steps to get it done:

• Matching our first four beneficiaries to their artist
• Wellbeing baseline assessment
• Sessions Commence
• Write songs or poems (or any other creative activity)
• Record and collate the songs/poems created
• Wellbeing measures taken at end of six weeks of sessions
• Match our next four beneficiaries to their artist

*Names have been changed to protect the safety and privacy of the participants.