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People yearn for community, no matter what age or stage of life. And later in life, particularly when living with dementia or supporting someone with dementia, community can be hard to find. Old friends drift away or pass away, and opportunities to make new friends just seem to be limited.

This blog is based on a field note from the Vancouver site’s neighbourhood walk, which formed the basis of our place-based audit, aimed at helping us understand how the neighbourhood of Kitsilano on the city’s west side is experienced by people with dementia and their care partners.

Social events for care partners and people living with dementia are often intended to provide respite, connection, and a sense of normality. Attending a local care partners’ curry night offered an opportunity to observe how such events unfold in practice and what they reveal about the realities of living with dementia and providing care.

Celebrations can serve as powerful moments of communality and shared meaning. Traditions such as familiar music or foodstuffs can draw on long-held memories or can anchor a person’s sense of identity, reminding people of who they are, the life they have lived and of course continue to live.

As we head into the short days and long nights of winter, the Greenwich team looks back on a day trip to Broadstairs, a “quintessential English seaside town,” that Gill was kindly invited to attend along with a group from one of the social groups we have been working with. Seaside resorts like Broadstairs played…

Why diaries? Diaries preserve personal experiences from everyday life. How did I feel on a particular day? What did I do? What was on my mind? What happened to me? Most of these notes are very private, meant only for oneself. They are meant to help us gain clarity about ourselves, especially later, for the…

Andrew Clark, University of Greenwich, talks to Carmen Atterano of the Greenwich Carers Centre about how her work helps support people living with dementia and their carers to access resources and services, as well as remaining a part of the local community.

Gill Eaglestone, Research Fellow at the Institute of Lifecourse Development, University of Greenwich, talks to Angelika Welzel Dementia Action Co-ordinator for the Royal Borough of Greenwich.

Reminscence, dementia and a springtime river walk in the Scottish countryside.

Timeline diaries incorporated with walking interviews highlight how those reflections can reveal hidden needs, desires, achievements and challenges faced by people with dementia in everyday situations, which connects to spatial design, social interactions, or communication methods.