Dementia affects families and friends too.  Wives, husbands, partners, brothers and sisters and children are all affected to some degree when a member of the family is told they have dementia.

 Most people don’t have a clue about dementia  - until it happens to them or to someone close. If you have someone with dementia in your life, I may be able to help you to accept and learn about the changes this will bring through specialist counselling and cognitive behaviour therapy.

Most people are terrified of dementia.  It seems to strike at the very essence of who we are, and we generally avoid even thinking about the possibility of encountering dementia – never mind thinking about how to manage!

Let’s start by using my preferred term of BRAIN-CHANGE instead of the word dementia. Dementia is of course a major cause of adverse brain change, but there is so much misinformation, stigma, and fear around the word ‘dementia’ – it‘s  a lot more helpful talk about brain change than try to change the stereotype.

We all experience brain change throughout our lives.  Each time we think and learn and store information – our brains change.   Most of the time, this process is automatic and we barely notice, but actually we have a lot more control of our brains than we think we have.  

By applying this understanding and actively changing the thinking and behaving part of our brain we can change the way we feel in remarkable ways – even when other parts of our brains are deteriorating.  During counselling we can explore what underlies the feelings of fear and depression; develop skills and find tools to manage, what can feel like impossible situations, and build feelings of resourcefulness and calm.

Someone once said that having counselling or therapy is a bit like carrying a heavy backpack – counselling doesn’t make the backpack any lighter, but it improves the ability to carry it!  I like that idea.