We learned so much piloting Good Company sessions with our first Good Company Host Louise at her home in Hartfield. Over the course of three sessions, a group of carefully matched Guests got to know each other whilst doing activities including drawing, spending time in Louise’s forest school (and using the compost toilet!), doing pottery and flower arranging.
Understandably, relatives of the Guests wanted to join in with the first session to ensure they were settling in, but by the third session they were confident to leave them.
Over time our guests felt at ease in each others' company and began sharing their own experiences of living with dementia. They discussed the frustrations they feel when people don’t have an understanding of their condition and spoke candidly about the loss of independence they felt when they had to relinquish their driving licences, the annoyance of all the pills they have to take (and sometimes forget to take!) and the impact the disease has on those who care for them.
For two of the guests it was the first time they had ever acknowledged they were living with dementia.
“Mum and the other guests have developed a friendship. The Good Company sessions became more than activity days, and ended up providing Mum with peer support that she wouldn’t have found elsewhere. The three guests discussed their dementia and how they live with the symptoms, and they understood exactly where each other was coming from. When I heard this, I felt emotional as Mum doesn’t often open up about living with dementia.”
- Kealey, daughter of Pam,
a Good Company Guest