In your community

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Find your local Alliance
Start an Alliance

In Australia, almost half a million people now live with dementia. Without a medical breakthrough, this number is expected to increase to more than 1 million by 2058.

People living with dementia are entitled to stay active in their communities. They have a right to take part in the activities and services they enjoy. But maintaining these connections isn’t always easy.

With the support of their communities, people living with dementia can continue to live the life they choose. They can engage in the activities that are important to them. 

Start or join a dementia alliance and help drive change.

What is a dementia alliance?

A dementia alliance is a group of people who are working together to make their community more dementia-friendly.

A dementia alliance can include:

  • people living with dementia
  • families and carers
  • businesses
  • aged care and other service providers
  • community groups
  • local councils.

Each dementia alliance is unique, reflecting the community and the interests and preferences of the people involved. It’s always important to include the voices of people living with dementia in your alliance. Their experiences and input will help shape meaningful change within your community.

Find out if your local area has a dementia alliance here.

If you can’t find a dementia alliance nearby, you can begin a new alliance. We can help you connect with like-minded people within your community.

Starting a dementia alliance

Step 1.

Sign in to your Dementia Friends account. If you do not have an account, you can sign up here. Add your contact details to our online community directory by clicking the ‘My dementia alliances’ tile. This will enable local Dementia Friends to connect with you.

You can also get support from your Dementia-Friendly Communities State Program Officer by emailing dementiafriendly@dementia.org.au

Step 2.

Talk with people living with dementia in your community about the kinds of local changes that will make a difference in your area. You could organise a public meeting or send out a community survey.

Once you know the issues, you can invite interested individuals and organisations to meet. Together, you can discuss possible solutions and begin planning your next steps.

Step 3.

Create and submit an action plan for your dementia alliance. This will outline the steps you are taking to make your local community dementia-friendly. This might include:

  • raising dementia awareness within the community
  • enabling community groups to become more inclusive
  • creating social activities for people living with dementia and their family carers
  • supporting local businesses and organisations to become more dementia-friendly
  • Download the Creating dementia-friendly communities toolkit. This explains how to put your action plan together. Your Dementia-Friendly Communities State Program Officer can support you with this process.

Step 4.

Dementia Australia will review your action plan. Once approved, your dementia alliance will be formally recognised as ‘working towards becoming dementia-friendly.’

You will receive a formal certificate of recognition. You will also be sent a ‘Dementia-Friendly’ symbol for use by the dementia alliance.