Occupational Therapy News OTNews March 2020 | Page 42

FEATURE DEMENTIA CARE
Building
compassionate
communities
Dementia specialists Rosemary Hurtley and
Julia Pitkin describe how an initiative in Surrey is
helping to build compassionate communities
A
42 OTnews March 2020
life-changing course is being delivered into a local
community to help people to confidently learn how to
communicate with people living with dementia, with
specialist person-centred empathy training.
The iCARER course is about creating a compassionate
neighbourhood for people living with dementia, to ensure they feel
understood and included in the community, and was designed for
residents and local carers of people living with dementia, businesses,
churches, shop staff, health and social care staff, volunteers or friends
interested in supporting someone with dementia.
A local community can provide backup and a ‘safe’ environment
when emotions may be running high. The initiative aims to help
people to deal with ‘difficult public-facing moments’ that anyone
could face when out-and-about in any community setting. It shows
the wider public how to communicate with empathy and prevent or
reduce the impact of challenging moments in public places, creating a
compassionate community.
There are four key messages within iCARER:
• dementia is a physical and an emotional trauma: the person
experiencing dementia cannot help what is happening to them;
• acknowledge feelings: it’s not what you say, but how you make
them feel that matters;
• learn the person’s language: individuals experiencing dementia
have a unique language, gestures and associations; and
• demonstrate empathy: what a person needs most is empathy to
restore confidence and make life better for everyone.
Understanding the experience of people with dementia, who face
difficult challenges in daily life while living in their local communities, can
provide a series of challenges.
Helping the general public to understand what is behind the
behaviour and the need for people to demonstrate empathy is important
to them and to the person with dementia, so we can communicate:
‘You are important to me’; ‘I am listening’; and ‘I want to understand’.
This is part of a SMART Cranleigh initiative, in response to a local
Public Health Community Needs Assessment in 2017.
SMART (Shared Mission to build Active Relationships by working
Together) is about connecting people for a compassionate community
and a citizen-driven community initiative, bringing together people and