Home > Inclusion > Dementia-Friendly Church

Framework: Embarking, Embedding, Extending

Performance in Lichfield Cathedral of 'The Disappearance of Eliza Grey', a dementia-focused play.

Embarking

Getting started, naming and facing dementia together and sharing understanding and experience

Our network offers resources and support here, including:

Dementia introduction/awareness – sharing key messages; and
Video and other resources – taking the conversation further.

Listening & Understanding

Are we ready to “learn from the expert”, the person with lived experience of dementia? We can ask what helps and what’s difficult.
Do we understand enough about dementia to be able to stay in step, to support and keep connections?

Embedding

Making dementia-friendliness an on-going part of what it means to be a transformative church presence in our local community, as we continue to stay in step through lived experience of advancing dementia

Our network offers resources and support here, including:

Dementia-Friendly Church Certificates, setting out three actions on dementia for the year ahead, signed by Bishop Michael Ipgrave, with over one hundred churches across the Diocese already participating;
Dementia-Friendly Church Local Network Meetings, giving trusted space to share ideas, experiences and encouragement across our churches;
Our Dementia-Friendly Churches Newsletter, sharing news and stories, resources and information so that no-one has to reinvent the wheel; and
A focus on dementia and spirituality, with an opportunity to explore and deepen our faith, as we stay connected with God and each other through dementia.

Lamenting & Celebrating

Is there space to acknowledge the cost and challenge of dementia – naming all that’s being let go of?
And is there also space to affirm continuing life each step of the way, noticing the light shining through, even when patterns change?

Speech bubbles saying: "Diagnosis is like a bereavement" and "It's not an end, there's a life to live."

Extending

Making dementia-friendly connections across our community

Our Network offers resources and support here, including:

Sharing experiences as we participate in local partnerships and shared action to increase our impact. Local dementia-friendly groups/initiatives give an opportunity to come together – perhaps working with the local surgery, schools, shops, home care providers, libraries, police and fire services, local residential care homes and/or other faith or community groups. We’re also glad to work with charities, such as Alzheimer’s Society, Dementia UK, Alzheimer’s Research UK, Dementia Carers Count, and Age UK.
Our Dementia-Friendly Churches Blog continues to share stories, encouraging, resourcing and empowering others to take next steps.
Other resources are freely made available on our website – and we’re glad to share these within and beyond the Diocese of Lichfield.

Partnering & Empowering

Within our local communities, who else is engaging with dementia and taking action on it? How can we work together?
And how can we give a voice to people affected by dementia? Also, how do we empower volunteers, encouraging them too?

Speech bubbles: "We can do so much more together" and "There's so much still to give - giving in a different way."

Page last updated: Wednesday 2nd August 2023 10:23 AM

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Nana’s Washday

3rd July 2024

Turning a church into a laundry, complete with thunder and lightning is perfectly normal for Julie and Louise as they support adults with complex needs and people affected by dementia.

Prayers through Dementia

10th May 2024

For Dementia Action Week 13–19 May 2024

Network Engagement and Impact

3rd May 2024

Across our Dementia-friendly Churches Network, what's working? What's helpful? What's important? A report from Staffordshire University helps us take stock.

The warmth of the atmosphere is what struck me first and foremost as I arrived at Time Together, run by Churches Together in Whitchurch at Bargates Hall beside St Alkmund’s Church. St Alkmund’s has had a dementia-friendly church Certificate since 2018.

Working Together - Dementia-Friendly Churches & Schools

17th October 2023

In 2022/3, our first ten schools across the Diocese of Lichfield signed up for Dementia-Friendly School framework and Certificate.

Dementia-friendly Welcome

8th September 2023

A good way to make your church’s welcome more dementia-friendly is to run a session for Welcomers. Why not try the format which has been used effectively at St Mary’s Church, Market Drayton?