Care for people with dementia has been given an artistic twist by a senior lecturer at the University of Chichester.
Jill Hayes is the author of The Creative Arts in Dementia Care – Person-Centred Approaches and Ideas, designed to be a guide for health professionals and researchers, care providers, arts organisers, independent artists, as well as for families of people with dementia.
Jill, a senior lecturer in dance and counselling, decided to write the book after completing a research project in 2009 on a similar topic through the University.
Jill said: “The physical care of people with dementia is of vital importance, but so too is their emotional, social, mental and spiritual wellbeing. The creative arts are gaining increasing recognition not only as a tool for delivering effective person-centred dementia care, but also for attending to soul as well as body.
“I want to encourage those who care for people with dementia to develop their own creative skills, and this book provides a creative map of care with easy-to-follow examples and detailed case studies.
“People with dementia matter. They have feelings which need attention, and this can be given through the arts. The arts can be a way of communicating with people with dementia when words fail.”
The book, published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers, will be officially launched at an event on Friday 25th November 2010 at Felpham Memorial Hall, where an invited community of friends, social work, health care and arts for health practitioners will join with people with dementia to try out some of the techniques in the book. A highlight will be songs performed by Sarah Povey, whose reflections on her long career as a voice movement therapist with people with dementia have a central place in the book. For more details of the launch please contact: saj.povey@virgin.net or for more details on the book or to order, visit http://www.jkp.com/.
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