This resource is born of personal experience. My dad died in 2018 and he was diagnosed with dementia ten years earlier. He’d been a solicitor in Birmingham and spent his working life making incisive, head-level connections. The journey of the last decade of his life was a journey from head to heart.
Lichfield Cathedral has recently joined 94 other churches in our Diocese that our recognised with a Dementia-Friendly Church Certificate
What would it take for every single church in our diocese to be able to say confidently, “Dementia awareness is part of church life”.
“When you know one person living with dementia… you know one person living with dementia”!
Giving space for lamenting and celebrating
Reviewing the dementia-friendly churches network in 2021, here's an overview, at head and heart level.
People affected by dementia live through unchosen challenges. Within our Diocese of Lichfield dementia-friendly churches network, we are focusing this autumn on three pictures that help us to see the bigger picture, noticing God’s presence as dementia progresses.
How does our experience of dementia affect our faith?
St David, the patron saint of Wales, recognised that small steps can make a massive difference.
How does our Diocese of Lichfield Dementia-Friendly Churches network fit in with our “Shaping for Mission†programme across our 28 deaneries and our Diocese of Lichfield?
At a recent dementia-friendly churches local network meeting, we shared personal experiences of dementia. What had been the impact for us? What had motivated us to continue to take action on dementia now?
Warm Welcome dementia is a group run by the churches in Newport for anyone living with dementia and memory problems. The group has been awarded a High Sheriff of Shropshire Award, given to groups or individuals who have contributed to their local community.
Dementia-friendly Churches Enabler, Sarah Thorpe brings news from the eastern tip of the diocese
Celebration and lamentation in the dementia-friends community before Christmas
Bishop Michael Ipgrave, the Bishop of Lichfield, affirmed that he is “proud to be part of Diocese that takes Dementia-Friendly Church seriouslyâ€, when he spoke at our Dementia-Friendly Churches Zoom Training Day in October 2020.
Developing our Dementia-Friendly Churches Network
An occupational therapist recently asked me a really good question that got me thinking
No service plan should be expected to survive contact with the congregation...
Residential care homes involve a community of residents and relatives, and staff – and Care home communities have been particularly impacted by Covid-19 restrictions.
There are care homes across the diocese and some of these have been particularly hard hit by the Coronavirus...
Challenge and change, conversations and connections
In summer 2018, I led a Dementia-Friendly Churches Training Day in Guernsey. It’s wonderful to hear from St Saviour’s Church there about the next steps they’ve taken
More talk, more tables please!
Making sense of an upside-down world
Brave and foolish or a wasted time?
An open letter to those with a sacred vocation
Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself
Enlightening session at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital
'Eliza Grey' play - helping your church and community to become more dementia-friendly
"All it takes to see we're still us"
