The Diocese of Lichfield is the first in the country to be recognised as a dementia-friendly community by the Alzheimers Society.
A dementia-friendly community is classed as a place where people with dementia are understood, respected and supported and confident they can contribute to community life.
Although cities, towns and villages have earned the title, Lichfield diocese is the first community of interest to have gained it.
Work began in 2014 to create and embed dementia-friendly churches across the diocese, an area with a population of over two million which includes Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent, the Black Country and most of Shropshire.
Since then 60 churches in the diocese have been involved in Dementia Friendly Sunday Services which are adapted using music, pictures and prayers that are easier for people with dementia to connect with - creating over 1,200 Dementia Friends. A four-session Dementia-Friendly Churches course covering pastoral care, buildings, church services and community networks has involved 875 people from 48 churches.
As a result, several churches now run groups specifically welcoming people with dementia and their families or carers. A couple who came to one of these groups for the first time last month left saying how much they had enjoyed it:Were going to get out and join in, rather than hiding ourselves away.
The work has been encouraged by the appointment of part-time Dementia Enablers in local areas of the diocese, including Sarah Thorpe in northern Shropshire and Joy Dale in the Black Country.
Sarah said: Were really glad to work with the Alzheimers Societys dementia-friendly communities programme.This week is Dementia Awareness Week and its theme is united against dementia. When we work together, we can do more to keep people with dementia and their families woven in to our churches and our communities. For two or three years, we have been holding Dementia Friends Sunday services to raise awareness of dementia across the whole church family, increasing peoples understanding and encouraging them to turn that understanding into action. Now, this latest recognition by the Alzheimers Society allows us to work with churches to agree an annual action plan of the next three practical steps they are going to take to become more dementia-friendly churches at the heart of dementia-friendly communities.
We look forward each year to awarding these churches the logo confirming that they are working to become dementia friendly.
There are a whole range of actions that a church could decide to take, for example appointing a named Dementia Coordinator, or interviewing a carer in a church service.And there are lots of ways we can adapt our services to make them more dementia-friendly adding some pictures to the service sheets, using objects and movement instead of a torrent of words, using prayers and hymns that people might know well from when they were younger.Music can make such deep connections and the Lords Prayer also connects so deeply, even with people who are making few word-based connections.When intellectual and physical energies are diminishing, its vital that we connect into life-giving emotional and spiritual energy.
Kat Horner, Alzheimer Societys Dementia Friendly Communities Officer for the West Midlands, said: It has been fantastic to see the work Lichfield Diocese has undertaken over the past few years to raise awareness and support local people affected by dementia, and we are delighted to recognise the diocese as a Dementia Friendly Community. For so many people the church is an important part of their lives, and enabling people living with dementia to continue to be an active part of their community, and feel supported to do so is so important. We look forward to continuing to work with Lichfield Diocese and hope other church communities will be inspired by the work they have done.
The Revd Dr David Primrose, the dioceses Director of Transforming Communities, is organising a conference involving colleagues from over half of the Church of Englands dioceses sharing learning around dementia-friendly churches. He added: This week, here in Lichfield, Im in the middle of a four-session course with members from 11 of our churches, exploring together their dementia-friendly journey. Its powerful when peoples personal stories interact with experience-based learning. In the midst of struggling with vulnerability, we are discovering afresh how each person, at every stage of life, is held in the love of God.
Dementia Awareness Week runs from 14 to 20 May.
This video, from 2015, explains the thinking behind creating dementia-friendly churches in the diocese: