News Release, May 31 2002
With dementia soon likely to affect a member of every family in the UK, the Mental Health Foundation is launching the first website to focus exclusively on the early stages of dementia.
The Dementia Advice and Support Service (DASS) UK Learning Network will be launched on Friday 14th June 2002, with two discussion forums: one on physiotherapy and one on speech therapy for people with dementia.
"The link between such therapies and the early stages of a dementia type illness may not be obvious to many people, but they can provide real benefits" said Jayne Lingard, DASS Consultant for the Mental Health Foundation. "As discussion topics they are prime examples of the main aims of the Learning Network - to encourage the sharing and exchange of information, experience and ideas. It will be a showcase of current and completed work on early stage dementia and identify the gaps in knowledge, policy and training resources."
The Learning Network is designed to be accessible and person-centred, with all contributors to the discussion forum being encouraged to keep their language as non-technical as possible. The website is a source of the most up-to-date information for anyone involved in the experience of early dementia, from practitioners to those with dementia, their family and friends. To help guide people to the most useful information for their needs it has sections for:
- people with dementia
- friends and family
- primary and secondary care practitioners
- people interested in volunteering for dementia organisations.
It also includes sections on:
- employment issues for people of working age who have dementia
- medicines in dementia
- finance and legal issues.
Jayne Lingard explains why early stage dementia is an area which needs such a focus: "It is a stage which is too often neglected, as the person may not seem to be in need of specialist services. But this is a crucial stage, when that person is still able to make decisions about their future, such as making choices about how they would like to be supported as their illness progresses and putting their finances in order. The offer of information and general support can also help them, as well as their family or friends, understand and come to terms with their diagnosis." The Mental Health Foundation is already funding Dementia Advice and Support
Services at six pilot sites around the UK, for people in the early stages of dementia, and hopes that these will influence service providers to set up similar services in other areas.
The first discussions on the Learning Network will be led by physiotherapist Hilary Cobb, who works in Nottingham, and speech and language therapist Karen Bryan, who is based at the University of Surrey.
Hilary believes that physiotherapists working in mental health teams have much to offer people in the early stages of dementia, including psychological benefits such as enhanced mood, relaxation and reduced anxiety, and physiological benefits such as improvements in quality of sleep, balance and also mobility - which helps to maintain independence.
Karen has much to say about the role of speech and language therapy in helping people with dementia to communicate and also in training professionals to achieve maximum communication with their clients. This benefits not only the person with dementia, but also professionals, family and friends, who rate communication difficulty as one of the biggest problems.
As well as being the launch date for the Learning Network, June 14th is also the day when the Mental Health Foundation hosts a major conference: Promoting Mental Health in Later Life: Meeting the Challenge. This will take place in London and will provide an opportunity for agencies, workers and older people to explore the wider context of promoting mental health in later life.
Return to news releases 2002
For further information and interview requests contact please contact the press office on 020 7803 1105 / 1128 or email the press office
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