Colorful butterfly with red, black, and blue wing patterns on a white background.
Two people drawing a picture of a pumpkin with a green and an orange marker, surrounded by drawings of fruits, vegetables, and flowers on a table.
Pattern of garden elements including butterflies, bees, birds, ladybugs, snails, roses, sprigs of lavender and peas, small garden sheds, watering cans, and wooden stakes, repeated across a white background.
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Creating Conversations

For people with dementia, loneliness and feelings of isolation can be one of the most common and painful effects.   

Following the extensive work of Artlink Central, it was found there was great need for materials to help overcome the barriers of communication to enhance wellbeing and reduce feelings of anxiety, isolation and loneliness for people living with dementia.

The Idea

Discussing our findings the inspiration originated from a group of Artlink Central participants, artists and staff.  They felt there was an opportunity to design a communication and activity kit that could increase social engagement, personal fulfilment, enjoyment and wellbeing, and the sharing of recollections and personal history in a relaxed and natural way.     The project was born.

Design and Testing

Once the decision was made to design a product the appropriate team assembled and it took over a year and several redesigns prior to testing phases.  The kit was then sent out and tested in over 20 care homes and day care organisations as well as NHS wards and mental health units with close involvement and monitoring.   Feedback from session participants and healthcare specialists led to design tweaks that have reshaped and enriched all elements of the kit, to arrive at the version which today is used by people living with dementia and their carers across the UK.

The kit was also tested and evaluated by the Dementia Research and Gerontology Department, University of Stirling which included a further 21 people with dementia, 9 healthcare professionals and 7 volunteers who took part in 10 observation sessions across the two venues highlighting very positive results. 

The Kit is launched

We launched the very first Creating Conversations Kit in June 2016. The gardening and outdoors themed kit has proven to be an indispensable tool for breaking barriers of communication and enhancing the lives of people living with dementia, their families and friends.