What is a dementia-friendly community?
A dementia-friendly community is a city, town or village where people living with dementia are supported to live the life they choose and engage in the activities that are important to them
A community’s progress in becoming dementia-friendly is driven by the activities of a dementia alliance. A dementia alliance is made up of people who are interested in helping to make their community or town more dementia-friendly. A dementia alliance must include people living with dementia.
A ‘recognised’ dementia alliance has completed an action plan detailing how it plans to make its community dementia-friendly, and this plan has been reviewed and approved by the dementia-friendly team.
Find out more about creating a dementia alliance here and by reading the ‘Creating Dementia Friendly Communities Toolkit.
No two dementia-friendly communities are alike however, they normally represent a town or regional area. They may include:
- Dementia-friendly organisations which are businesses that have submitted action plans listing ways in which they will make their services dementia-friendly
- Inclusive groups which are social, sporting, recreational or community groups that self-define as being welcoming of people living with dementia
- Volunteering and paid employment opportunities for people living with dementia
- Community events and activities such as becoming a Dementia Friend session. These events are listed on the community calendar.
To see if a dementia alliance operates in your local area, or to find if your community is an official dementia-friendly community, please take a look at the community map.