Dementia uncovered

Poetry celebrates the connections between people living with dementia and their local community

Poetry helps people living with dementia to share their stories and opinions, giving valuable insights into what it means to live with dementia and opening up communication with their local community.

We have been working with Karen Hayes, an expert in developing poetry based on the words of people with dementia. Karen has been creating poems with residents of Trevarna nursing home in St Austell, their carers and families and young people from Penrice School. The poems reflect their involvement in the Creative Spaces project and in particular the impact that their contact with communities and the outdoors has had on their life and experience of dementia.

Many people with dementia experience social isolation, largely as a result of negative stereotypes. This work is designed to help reduce their isolation and connect them with their local places and communities. The poems are being used to improve understanding of dementia for those in early diagnosis, carers working in homes and in healthcare settings, young people as well as the wider public. They are helping to communicate the importance of supporting people with dementia through visits, social activities and involving them in community initiatives.

A page from Wendy Brewin's poetry book, each page responding through collage to the words of the individual poems.

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