Caring for people living with dementia is not easy, and can create frustrations for all involved. We want to Empower families to live as well as they can with dementia. Improving connections, increasing understanding, encouraging curiosity and focusing on self care can make a huge difference. The team provides communication courses and one to one dementia focused therapeutic support for family carers in Greater Manchester. Dr Phil McEvoy developed our first course, ‘Empowered Conversations’, in 2014 to improve communication and relationships between people living with dementia and their families. The course helps people to listen, learn and stay connected. It encourages people to get curious and try different ways to communicate. We have a follow on course, Moving Beyond Words, for when words become trickier to understand and use. We work with the wonderful Dr Maggie Ellis to offer a third course, Adaptive Interactions, around connecting with family members who have advanced dementia. We raise grant funding so that courses are free for families living in Greater Manchester. We run courses for professionals as well, starting with a 2 hour introduction to dementia and communication workshop. The one to one support offers regular and flexible sessions for carers on the phone or via zoom. Sessions offer time to unload, reflect, consider different approaches, accept and think about self care. This approach is based on the New York University Caregiver Intervention, research showed this delayed the move into full time care by 557 days. We have a carers voice monthly group who are passionate about sharing their stories to bring about positive change for others. We also run a monthly bereavement group for v carers we have worked with
