Best practice in running intergenerational programmes

Thanks to Dr Julie Barrett for this week’s blog.

Around 100 people came together on 26^th January 2021 for the latest webinar organised by the Housing and Dementia Research Consortium (HDRC), the aims of which were to explore different intergenerational programmes available to people living with dementia in accommodation and care settings in the UK, and the successes, challenges, barriers and sustainability issues facing such programmes, as well as the impact on people living with dementia and the children/students that take part. It was also impossible to avoid talking about intergenerational care without mentioning the challenges of delivery during the Covid-19 pandemic. There were six presentations during the webinar:

• Intergenerational Care and Housing in 2021 – an overview of UK policy and practice – Stephen Burke (Director, United for all Ages)
• The Essential ‘A’s of Intergenerational Experiences: 4 Key Pillars To Guide Your Project – Louise Goulden (Together Project founder)
• The Challenges and Obstacles facing Intergenerational Projects – Pre and During Covid-19 – Mirain Llwyd Roberts (Bridging the Generations Coordinator, Gwynedd Council)
• Right Time, Right Place! – Keith Oliver and Jess Shaw (Time and Place online poetry project collaborators)
• Maximum Contact – Maximum Magic! Life in an Intergenerational Nursery– Sue Egersdorff (Ready Generations Founder)
• Debutots – Joining Generations with Imagination – Kirsten Reeves (Debutots Worcestershire)

Dementia and schools – not your obvious combination…

The launch of the Dementia UK cartoon clip to help children understand dementia got us thinking about the work we did a few years ago around the Intergenerational Schools Dementia Project. We thought we’d provide a quick recap of the project as the findings are just as relevant today as they were nearly six years ago – by the way, we can’t believe it was that long ago either!

Why do children need to know about dementia?

With a growing awareness of the challenges of dementia within our communities, there is a need to educate and prepare future generations to enable us to build stronger, more resilient communities and more understanding citizens of tomorrow. Schools are a key component within any community, but despite a full and comprehensive citizenship programme little attention has been given to exploring dementia within the curriculum.