This resource was born out of a personal experience: my own family’s experience with dementia. My father passed away in 2018 and was diagnosed with dementia 10 years ago. He was a solicitor in Birmingham and worked to develop sharp brain connections. His ten-year journey, the last of his life, was a journey from head to heart. As a family (we had a long delayed pregnancy due to COVID-19!), we shared our own experience and how we, our family, friends, and our expanding team of caregivers when my father’s dementia progressed. We share a video resource that reflects on what has helped us.
Across our network of dementia-friendly churches, we want to share the lived experience of dementia. Patterns change as dementia progresses, so it is part of our commitment to keep pace, support and learn from both people diagnosed with dementia and their “caregiver” partners, family and friends. Department.
Recommendation from John Swinton
Reverend John Swinton is a Registered Mental Health Nurse and Professor of Practical Theology and Pastoral Care at the University of Aberdeen. He is the author of Dementia: Living in the Memories of God. With the following endorsement, he has set his Head to Heart for the situation, affirming that it is not about his one family journey, but about traveling together and sharing experiences. To do.
“Living with dementia is not easy. It is a mixture of happiness and joy, sadness and sorrow, impossible and new possibilities. It is difficult, but there is always hope. The idea of seeing dementia as a journey is Maybe it’s closer to the reality of people’s lives.As someone with dementia, I said, “The journey is a little trickier than the trail!”
“A journey is something you embark on, spontaneously or otherwise, as you move from one place to another. Travel is unpredictable, unique, people-centered and always open to surprises. Along the way you will meet people and situations, some of which will help others.Each encounter, every step, changes the direction and feel of the journey. Depending on the situation, it can even change the meaning of the journey. Destinations, like the road ahead, can be quite unclear. It’s closer to a refugee’s winter trip!
“However, the important thing about traveling is not that it is nowhere to nothing, it is that you are always going somewhere. The destination is important. We see the need to think about exactly where we are going.Sometimes we think that the end of dementia is simply death.But we are wrong.The end of dementia is to live well in the present and the future.
“Living well with dementia can be difficult. We need guides and people around us to help us live well in difficult situations.
“These video materials provide us with tools for the journey. Stories told and wisdom shared in a candid, honest, and compassionate way can help us all and reduce the fear of dementia.” can overcome and journey together.A hopeful future is indeed marked by suffering but refuses to be defined by it.There is always space for hope.
Pastor John Swinton FBA, FRSE, FISSR, RMN, RNMD
Professor of Practical Theology and Pastoral Care
University of Aberdeen
head to heart – movie
You can choose to view the entire video, which is about 30 minutes long, or individual sections (perhaps 3 minute clips). One short section is enough to start a discussion. You can access both ways from the same link.
How to use “Head to Heart”
- St Mary’s Church in Ellesmere is planning a dementia awareness event on Saturday morning, featuring Head to Heart and serving tea, coffee and biscuits.
- Rev David Warbrick used Head to Heart in a service at All Saints Church in Kings Heath, Birmingham. He explains: order of services used. Create a large Venn diagram and place the circles of cards on it to represent who you think you are, if you like. His three overlapping circles in a Venn diagram show people with dementia, people caring for people with dementia, and the churches and communities around them.
- Why not start the conversation with Head to Heart at this year’s Dementia Action Week, May 15-21? You can bring people together in your church or community to see some or all of it together or in a cup.
- Reverend Alan Combs, Methodist pastor and supervisor of the Vale of Stour circuit, uses Head to Heart on his team. he said: It provides a path to shared moments of finding the positive in challenges for everyone involved. Head-to-heart movements that focus on our shared emotions rather than fact-seeking questions that may be difficult to remember are the foundations of our interactions with those we love and those we serve. I want to share this resource with my team to improve our worship and ministry. Thank you for helping me fill my glass halfway…”
If you would like to discuss anything about this blog post, now or at any stage, please contact Sarah Thorpe at 0798 224 8949 or sarah.thorpe@lichfield.anglican.org.
