Question 1

Music therapy

Accepted Answer

We're dedicated to being the leading provider of music therapy, with all our therapists qualified to Masters’ Degree level. Music therapy aims to alleviate feelings of distress and bring back fond memories to people living with dementia. Where music therapy is identified as being beneficial to the residents’ wellbeing as part of their support plan, they will be offered our one-to-one, and group music therapy sessions.

To find out more, visit our music therapy page.

Question 2

Support for family and friends

Accepted Answer

We provide free webinars for family members and friends who are supporting someone living with dementia. 99% of families who have attended stated that the webinar gave them a much better understanding of dementia and has improved their communication skills.

Also, for families and friends, we have released our supporting people living with dementia leaflet. This offers tips and advice for families on how they can support a relative living with dementia.

“Making the Right Decision” shares the story of Hillary and her husband Paul. The video was created to help families consider how they can be supported when a relative with dementia moves into a care home.

Question 3

Trained and caring colleagues

Accepted Answer

All our colleagues providing support for people living with dementia receive a full training programme which includes understanding dementia and responding to distress behaviours.

Question 4

Recognising the importance of life story and reminiscence

Accepted Answer

Our Key 2 Me tool helps to facilitate meaningful conversations between residents, the care team, family and friends. Using a variety of picture cards and prompts, it encourages reminiscence and sharing of memories. These conversations can help to spark joy, reduce loneliness, and strengthen connections within the care home community.

Memories are a crucial part of our sense of identity and understanding of who we are. When individuals share their stories, it helps them maintain their identity. For those living with dementia, learning about their life experiences and significant moments can offer valuable insights into their current reactions. This understanding allows us to find creative ways to engage with people living with dementia in ways that are meaningful and resonant for them.

Question 5

Providing comfort, enjoyment, and meaningful engagement

Accepted Answer

We understand the importance of helping a person feel busy, engaged and occupied. We have been working with the British Gymnastics Foundation to introduce the Love to Move programme across our care homes and retirement living communities. Love to Move is a chair-based, age and dementia-friendly gymnastics exercise programme. It's been specially designed to get older people's brain's functioning and body's moving better. The programme is proving particularly beneficial for people living with dementia.

Thanks to funding, we've been able to purchase HUGs and Robotic Pets for our care homes and retirement living schemes. The HUG has been designed and researched by Cardiff Metropolitan University to help comfort people living with dementia. The sensory product has a beating heart within its soft body and can play a person's favourite music to bring calm and comfort. Robotic pets can bring moments of calm and companionship for people living with dementia. Our residents love to sit with them on their lap, stroking them as the cat or dog responds back just as a real pet would.

We have also invested in interactive, motion-activated sensory projection systems (magic tables) and large Android tablets (Tiny Tablets). The technology comes equipped with quizzes, music, and themes that have been designed to prompt conversations, spark nostalgia, and maintain memories. To find out more watch how a Tiny Tablet is used in our MHA communities service.

We also make sure that your relative can stay in touch with the rest of the family through Famileo. Famileo is a digital/printable family newsletter. Residents’ families and friends can log in to Famileo on their smart devices or computers and share updates and messages, which colleagues at our homes then print out each week as a personalised Gazette.

Question 6

A dedicated dementia lead

Accepted Answer

At MHA, we believe in ensuring we have people with the right expertise and empathy. David Moore, our Dementia Lead, has over 25 years of experience working with people living with dementia and their families both in academia and operationally. His desire to enhance the support for people living with dementia comes from his own experiences of caring for a loved one with dementia.

How we support people living with dementia

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