We believe that in work with people who have dementia, communication is the key to everything. And of course communication is not all about words. As well as talking, communicating can be sitting in silence, holding hands, making marks on paper, walking together, smiling and laughing, looking at pictures, arranging objects or moving to music. Whenever we truly communicate with another individual we are making real our commitment to their uniqueness and value as a person, and this works both ways. By connecting in a genuine way we also receive affirmation at an emotional and spiritual level which can renew our energy and passion, and remind us about what is really important.
Our understanding of the central place of communication in supporting persons with dementia has recently been deepened by lessons from the new field of positive psychology. Positive psychology is about learning about how individuals, families and whole communities can thrive, about “what makes life worth living”, in the words of its founder psychologist Martin Seligman.
Whilst this may not seem to have obvious relevance to the situation of those living with dementia, we are excited by how much potential it has to offer. For example, we need to find out more about how experiencing positive emotions like joy, contentment and interest might be able to offer benefits beyond just feeling good. The capacity to be ‘in the moment’ in a profound way seems crucial to being able to get into the shoes of the person with dementia and to make the most of the shared present. And there is a great need to focus on the strengths of the individual in order to support wellbeing and help people to connect, for example by exercising gratitude, appreciating beauty or being playful and humorous.
We are running a one-day course which will explore some of these ideas and offer suggestions which can be used in the course of work with persons with dementia. It will take place on ….
