Community and Dementia: Creating Better Lives in Forth Valley

STORYTELLING SESSIONS

On 27 May 2021, Life Changes Trust are hosting a conference called ‘Community and Dementia: Creating Better Lives in Forth Valley’.  It’s an opportunity for local people to share what it feels like to live in Forth Valley, when you live with dementia, care for a loved one with dementia, or work with people with dementia and/or unpaid carers.  It is also an opportunity for local groups, organisations and decision-makers to respond.

Life Changes Trust are inviting you to say what matters to you, as someone with dementia or as an unpaid carer, by attending a special session run by the Village Storytelling Centre and held before the conference.   What you and others tell us will be at the heart of the conference.

The storyteller uses stories and imaginary characters to make it easier for people to talk about dementia in a way that doesn’t feel too personal.  It is an opportunity for your voice and your thoughts to be heard, exactly as you want them to be.  Whatever you want to say is added to that of others taking part and, together, you create a hypothetical character – a person with dementia or an unpaid carer.  The ‘characters’ represent what it is like to live in Forth Valley with the experiences you have given the characters.

The storytellers analyse the conversations that have created these ‘characters’.  We draw out priorities which will be shared at the conference for discussion and responses.  The priorities will be presented with some quotes (anonymised) taken from the sessions.  You can see an example of this, delivered by Shona Cowie from the Village Storytelling Centre at the Edinburgh & Lothians event in November 2020.

There is a session for people with dementia, another for unpaid carers and a third for workers and volunteers providing support to people with dementia and unpaid carers.

Posted on behalf of Life Changes Trust

Carers Week 2015

Carers Week 8th – 14th June 2015

Carers Week is an annual campaign to raise awareness of caring, highlight the challenges carers face and recognise the contribution they make to families and communities throughout the UK.

This year ‘s campaign will focus on Building Carer Friendly Communities – Communities which support carers to look after their loved ones well, while recognising that they are individuals with needs of their own. Continue reading “Carers Week 8th – 14th June 2015”