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Redefining Dementia
resources and helpful life experiences, the podcast will look to connect with the audience to provide helpful and meaningful takeaways.
Redefining Dementia
Donna Schoenherr: The Power of Dance in Dementia Care
When words fail, movement speaks.
This powerful idea lies at the heart of our conversation with Donna Schoenherr, award-winning dancer, choreographer, and founder of Ballet4Life® and Move into Wellbeing®, two London-based organizations bringing the joy of dance to people of all ages and abilities.
Inspired by her father’s 30-year journey with Parkinson’s, Donna has spent decades creating inclusive spaces where movement becomes a bridge to connection, confidence, and joy. In this episode, she shares moving stories—from a former principal dancer rediscovering her spark despite early dementia, to a once non-verbal gentleman gradually engaging in class after months of silence.
What sets Donna’s approach apart is its openness. She enters each class without assumptions, watching for the smallest cues that might open the door to engagement. Her work invites us to reimagine what’s possible—not through complex techniques, but through creativity, presence, and play.
We discuss:
- How Donna’s personal journey led to founding two pioneering dance organizations
- Why improvisation, mirroring, and sensory cues can be more powerful than structured routines
- How touch, music, and storytelling help restore connection for people with cognitive challenges
- Practical ways to bring movement and creative expression into everyday dementia care
- The growing momentum in dementia-inclusive arts programs across the UK
Donna’s story is a beautiful reminder that care doesn’t always begin with words—it can begin with rhythm, gesture, or a shared moment of movement.
Subscribe and join us every other Thursday as we continue redefining dementia, one conversation at a time.
Donna's Organizations:
About our Hosts:
https://www.personcentreduniverse.com/about/
Welcome to Season 2 of Redefining Dementia. I'm Jana Jones and I am thrilled to be joined by my co-hosts, daphne Noonan and Ashley King for another season of fresh conversations, new insights and valuable tips on navigating dementia care.
Speaker 2:Hi, I'm Daphne. This season, we're diving even deeper into topics that matter, from caregiver resilience to meaningful engagement. Plus, we'll have a fantastic lineup of experts to share their wisdom.
Speaker 3:And I'm Ashley At Person Centred Universe. We help you provide person-centered dementia care at home, work or in your community. Through this podcast, our goal is really to strive toward a better world for those affected by dementia by sharing resources and insights from experts around the world.
Speaker 1:We are also introducing a new format this season with rotating co-hosts. You'll hear from each of us as we take turns leading discussions with incredible guests, some familiar faces and some exciting new voices.
Speaker 2:So, before we begin, just a special note the information that we share in this podcast is for educational purposes only. If you or someone you know is experiencing symptoms of dementia, we'd encourage you to seek medical advice from a qualified healthcare professional.
Speaker 3:So don't forget to hit that subscribe button and join us every other Thursday as we explore the many dimensions of dementia care. One conversation at a time.
Speaker 1:Welcome back to Redefining Dementia, where we explore bold ideas, inspiring stories and new possibilities in the world of dementia care. In today's episode, daphne and I had the pleasure of speaking with Donna Schoenherr, an award-winning dancer, choreographer, photographer and visionary arts leader based in London, england. Donna has spent more than four decades bringing movement and meaning to people's lives. She is the founder of Ballet for Life and Move Into Well-Being, two incredible organizations that make dance accessible to people of all ages and abilities, including those living with Parkinson's, dementia and other mobility challenges.
Speaker 1:Donna's work is deeply personal, inspired in part by her own father's journey with Parkinson's, and grounded in the belief that dance is not just an art form but a profound tool for healing, joy and connection. In today's conversation, we explore topics like the impact of movement, music and creativity for people with dementia, why trying something new, like a dance class, can awaken confidence, memory and joy, and the importance of playfulness, inclusivity and meeting people where they are are. We hope this conversation will leave you feeling moved and inspired and reminded of the many ways connection can take shape, whether that's through a gentle stretch, a rhythm, a memory or simply being present together. Thank you for joining us and we hope you enjoy this conversation with donna schoenherr with Donna Schoenherr.
Speaker 2:Hi, welcome, Donna. Hello, thank you for having me. Oh, so excited to have you here for a few reasons Obviously, with our shared mutual passion for all things in relation to supporting individuals with dementia, but also because you're joining us from one of my favourite places in the world, which is London, England, so I'm very excited to have you on the podcast. Thanks for being here. So I'm going to dive right in because we're excited to have a wonderful conversation about your work. So let's start by just saying you know you have such a rich background in dance and movement and the arts. Are you able to share with us just a little bit about your journey, just to kind of set the stage for the conversation? So what led you to that you know your work and what continues to inspire you about using movement in supporting well-being and connection for people who are living with dementia in particular?
Speaker 4:Thank you. I would love to address this and delve into it. So I did have a very diverse and rich background in dance as a dancer, as a professional dancer, from a very young age and at my school I was exposed to different ways of using dance to help people, other than people training to become dancers and other than children being put in the dance school by their parents for another skill to to utilize. So I think a seed was planted at a very young age by the director of the school in Rochester, new York, quite a very visionary approach to movement and dance. So I saw from the side people in classes who had different kinds of disabilities. I didn't understand it all then but I saw that something was happening for them with dance and movement and music. So if we fast forward later to, I had a full decade, a career, not a decade more than a decade of being a performer. I eventually had a very career-ending injury which pushed me over to the other side of the whole world of performing arts and theater arts in which I became a teacher, a guest teacher, a choreographer, an assistant to the director, that sort of role in many different situations and around the world, and also then, peripherally, I saw colleagues of mine using dance, or I learned about artists using dance, movement and music to help people with different cognitive disorders or physical disabilities or restrictions or whatever kind of label we put on all of these things people that may be marginalized or don't get access to things that others get, that they can hugely benefit from. So again, there was this presence always growing inside myself like I want to do something. I want to do something in my own way, shape and form.
Speaker 4:Meanwhile I also had a young child and I knew I also run Ballet for Life, which is a community dance organization. So I knew I wasn't quite able to do all those things properly. So I kind of step by step started to feel things out. How could I have a more holistic approach or a charitable organization on the side? And one big inspiration for me was an organization called Dance for Parkinson's Disease in New York City, brooklyn, which was an inspiration and an idea from former colleagues of mine with the Mark Morris Dance Company. So my family kept sending me information about this because, lo and behold, my beloved father had Parkinson's, so for 30 years. So kind of through my entire adult life I was going through things with him and taking him to classes and learning about so many different things that were happening out there that were related broadly to just me having dance classes for people. So then I researched that and then I started to gather people and I started to send teachers on the Dance for PD basic module course so they could learn, like a very pure formula, and then my goal was to have our own thing, a collaborative thing, with my teachers.
Speaker 4:Alongside all of that, I was contacted by a wonderful charity here called Arts for Dementia and they commissioned me to create a dance course for their programs, for their members, who are all people in different stages of dementia and different types of dementia. And this just seemed like a dream come true for me, because I didn't have to do anything but create the product, so to speak Not really a product, but create the program. So you know, they had a grant, we got payment to develop the program. I just had to deliver and I did this with a colleague from within Ballet for Life. So we had this most beautiful experience of, first of all, going on training sessions to learn more about dementia, what it is, what it meant, different types of dementia, what we should and shouldn't do and picking from there what was viable and helpful for what we were doing.
Speaker 4:And, as I had the joy to say to Jonna recently that we did deliver, that the funding ended and that was it, and I tried to do a little bit of that on my on my own but I couldn't.
Speaker 4:I couldn't finance it. But what inspired me was the vast amount of joy and inspiration and motivation that just these simple things, like a couple of exercises in a room with music to you know choreography, how it changed people instantaneously, and then the knock-on effect with their carers, their family members, because they were always allowed to have someone with them in the room, and then we would have conversations and I just thought this is it. You know, this just makes so much sense to me. So a very long-winded answer which will probably get edited, which it should be, but just to say that it's like a big, big growing tree that started from a long time ago, a little little seed. Now it's, it's like, come into fruition with my charity, movement to well being and then, with this experience, with arts for dementia, augmenting what I do now and then with this experience with Arts for Dementia augmenting what I do now.
Speaker 2:Well, it's amazing. Thank you for sharing that and I'm sure you have heard of. But if not, I'll mention the work of, because your family is situated in New York and you have the connection there, particularly Brooklyn. You have the connection there, particularly Brooklyn, and have you ever had an encounter to follow the work of Connie Tamaino, who is she's quite a well-known music therapist who has done I mean, she was a pioneer in the field of Parkinson's and music and, yeah, I know her name and I know a little bit of what she produced.
Speaker 4:I haven't ever had a direct time with her, studied her methodology or had anyone that worked with her work with us, but I know she's a big, big respected figure in this field as well, yeah, and I think where she actually works is sort of in the same area where you're from.
Speaker 2:So just a good, good resource for us to as well. Jana, just to think about sharing some of her work as well.
Speaker 1:Yes, thank you. So, Donna, you and I had a chance to connect prior to recording today and I know you shared a bit about your work with me regarding different personal experiences that you've had with different clients of yours, and you've really been able to see firsthand how movement, music and the arts can engage the brain in very deep and meaningful ways, and I would love it if you could share a moment, or a couple of moments, if you prefer, that profoundly impacted you, whether that was with someone living with dementia or in your broader work.
Speaker 4:Yes, thank you. I loved this topic and I was really trying to think, you know, like which is my favorite one? Because these things are very pivotal to me, because I think I'm quite there is a really deep level that I operate from, even though you know, we all live our life very peripherally and all that. But I think these big impactful moments they form why I do and what I do and how I do things. So I've the most recent one, because this is just developed in the last month I thought I would like to highlight.
Speaker 4:We had a woman she's a former principal dancer of what was then called London Festival Ballet, which is now English National Ballet, had a very rich and full career. She now has early stage dementia and her husband found out about our charity and brought her to classes and introduced us and explained her situation and I just immediately hit it off with her and I did a lot of old-fashioned ballet etiquette things to her as as a respected, you know, senior artist and you know I curtsied to her and I said, do you know so-and-so and? And she just lit up automatically, just started to, you know, something was coming alive again that had been dormant, it felt to me. So it ended up. The move into well-being atmosphere was too overwhelming to her. It didn't work well. We directed her to our online library, which she and her husband dipped in and out of. But they came to a social event I had recently and I was chatting with them and I just said, would you ever come back to a ballet class if it was just like a nice gentle one? And she got this twinkle in her eye and she said I would like to try that. So anyway, longer story shorter, she recently, in the last weeks, has been coming to my 50 plus ballet class and it's just been such a joyful thing to witness, because it's a big thing Her husband's bringing her.
Speaker 4:She was hiding in the bathroom the first week, kept saying she wasn't ready, and then I and so I kind of played along and I was like is Madame ready to enter your place is awaiting you at the bar, and then she would come out. And then now three, four sessions later she's already changing. I can see even her physicality, her stance, her confidence, her awareness, and her husband has substantiated that. We just decided to go really slowly, because just even to come back into a ballet studio after being a professional, even if you have nothing, you're dealing with any ailment and you come in, it could be very emotional and very overwhelming, as I know myself. So we were just trying to take it step by step.
Speaker 4:She didn't have any ballet slippers and I just happened to have three pairs of. You know, people loan things to each other. You know you have kids. Go with they outgrew this, take this. Well, people had given me three different pairs of ballet slippers recently, so I laundered them all by hand and I brought them in and I said I've got some ballet slippers for you. And so we did a fitting and she tried them on and she was like these are perfect. So now she has her little ballet slippers and she comes and what I can? I can just see transformation. I can see that there's also self-motivation. I can see her brain is ticking differently If I may have the opportunity to say such a thing, because I'm not a doctor or a neurologist or scientist, but I see the way. I can see her thinking pattern is different. She's learning the patterns and memorizing them better and I see she has a sense of something to look forward to, which I think is epic, and her husband feels that as well. Um, so that's.
Speaker 1:I think that's just my biggest and most profound one, and that's just recent, so I'm in the throes of it oh, that's a beautiful story and it makes me my mind go to down a different, a few different paths, one of which is one of our first episodes of this season, was with a gentleman named Dr Mike Studer and he's a physical therapist and he really spoke about the importance of trying new, novel things when you have dementia and for all of us regarding brain health. So it's amazing to hear from someone like you who has seen that in practice and who has is seeing someone benefit from movement and music and dance in ways like that. And I think Daphne and I can both relate to when you said that we all have these witness, these pivotal moments that shape your work and what you do and the direction that you want to go and really draws out the meaning in the work that we do. So I really appreciate you sharing that, definitely.
Speaker 4:I think it gives us the reason to go on and to do what we do, doesn't it? It's like a symbol or a message. I could add one other, a shorter story, if you'd like, to that topic. So, uh, we have a another couple that come to the move into well-being charity class and he has, um, he has alzheimer's and he and his wife is incredibly supportive and caring and kind and never she never lets on that anything is awkward or embarrassing to her, any situation. So they started coming and he was like a statue for many, many weeks, like, really like a stone man that just sat there.
Speaker 4:And then, little by little, like there were some times we had certain music, a song that the teacher choreographed to like maybe it was like a rock and roll or jazz, or he started tapping the feet, started clapping the hands, and now X amount of months forward he's participating about 75 percent in the class material, smiling, making, like he can't speak right now he, he makes sort of body language, uh, discussions and sentences and and and facial expressions. So and I've kind of learned to, I've learned a little bit of his language. So sometimes we have a little joke with each other and and and I and I know he gets, he gets it, he just can't, he can't put it in the, you know, into the. He can't verbalize. But so that's, that's been a very beautiful recent transformation that we've been able to facilitate and and support and applaud.
Speaker 2:So I think the other aspect of our work that we are very passionate about, um, we always tend to look at through a narrative lens, like you know, the life story, and so it's all. It's evident that you're you are very much immersing yourself as well, and that you know the narrative aspect of caring for the people who come to you that's neat for me to hear that, because you know when you're doing all these things you don't know.
Speaker 2:You know I just do it, I don't know what the yeah, that's fascinating I love the bit about the rituals, like you know, for the, the first lady in the story. Like that you were incorporating those you know rituals of the kind of I think you said old school.
Speaker 4:I don't know if you use the word old school, but like yes yes, yes yeah, I think there's those triggers like um, I would say not that Parkinson's is dementia, but there's Parkinson's dementia and there are. In my opinion, my humble opinion, there are some parallels and I remember when my father like I, we had things we called triggers, happy triggers, that whether it was, you know, a photograph or a song he loved or a article of clothing or, you know, a sports apparatus that that we knew, we felt quite confident, would trigger a response in a positive way, or at least in a response, an awakening, yeah powerful.
Speaker 2:So you've spoken I know you and Jana had a wonderful conversation and you've spoken in your work about resilience quite a bit and the element of surprise, so how people often respond to work that you're doing or as you're working with folks in ways that are not expected. So why do you think it's important to approach movement and the arts with openness? And, again, of course, especially when working with people who may be facing cognitive or physical challenges?
Speaker 4:I think, emphatically this is an extremely vital standpoint to have.
Speaker 4:I think it's removing any preconceived notion, any judgment, any judgmental criterion where you see someone and think there's no way they're going to do this, they don't get this, they have this, they have that, they won't do this, they won't do that, and I see it the opposite, I see it as a blank canvas.
Speaker 4:Give an opportunity, give an opening. It just may speak to that person, it may not, and I'm sure you know so well, sometimes it doesn't and you never get there. But I just think if the approach is just try, try this, try that, see the observant, be aware, be supportive, and just see if there's a little subtle sign that then allows the opening, lousy opening, and then I think it grows from there. But I just think, just never come into the situation with with the opportunities being restricted. And, as I told Jenna, from one of the things about learning about how to work with people with dementia, there were all these restrictions and and my teacher and I, as the weeks went, we we let them all go because we thought these are not applicable for us right now.
Speaker 4:So we opened up all these other doors of things they said don't do. Obviously we didn't do anything to, you know, put anyone in any danger or fear or anything or challenge beyond what was able to be handled. But there were things that were just. We felt this is we've got to just let let someone try a mirror. Use of the mirror was one of were things that were just. We felt this is, we've got to just let someone try a mirror. Use of the mirror was one of the things we were told. Do not use the mirror. It will be very upsetting and can cause huge anxiety and panic. And eventually our group loved the mirror. They fell in love with the mirror. They wanted to use the mirror, they wanted to do things in the mirror.
Speaker 4:And so I think it's also like a trust in oneself to go. Okay, I can go off of the track here, I can go out of the box, off my class plan Cause I see these people loved that. So instead of going I'm not supposed to use percussive music because it could do this I go. They liked it. So let's do more of it until I get a signal that they go. That's enough. Now it's making me sad or upset or it's reminding me of something, or they clam up or they, their body language changes. So I think it's it's also probably a little bit of inner confidence to just allow that and just not be afraid. And you might fail, one might fail, but then it it's also okay, I think.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it does, and it's very much. I mean, the centerpiece of person-centered care right is meeting someone where they are. So that's really what you're doing, in that you're adapting and being flexible and meeting, and I think that's amazing. Yeah, it made me. I was just thinking about we should totally introduce you to a dear friend and colleague of ours. His name is well, he's a retired professor from St Thomas University here in Canada and his name is Dr Gary Irwin Kenyon in Canada and his name is Dr Gary Irwin Kenyon and he he has been, he's a very wonderful individual but he's he's practiced Tai Chi for many years and so he offers, he does a course through us, like where he he's.
Speaker 2:You know Tai Chi. But when you're talking about sort of like that openness, it made me immediately think of Gary and his approach to you know, actually. But when you're talking about sort of like that openness, it made me immediately think of Gary and his approach to you know, working with people in in long-term care settings and being open to the fact that, like you say that you know, watch for the, the slightest symptoms, the things that they, that they're, something is happening and those things are there right, like if you watch.
Speaker 4:I think this just reminded me via you sharing that with me. Thank you for that. I should point out the use of creative work, creativity in the dance and movement class. So not just sending exercises but having improvisational tasks and tasks where we pair up, pair people up with each other, and tasks where they also vocalize if they can, so there's a sense of playfulness.
Speaker 4:You know when your kids out on the schoolyard or in someone's backyard and you're just being silly and running around and chasing each other, or hide and seek, or guess what I'm thinking, or so using that coming, using creativity, to bring out playfulness, which I think then also then can speak to different people in different ways on different levels, and not to be afraid to again, because improv it's, it is what it says, it's not. You don't follow a structure. You know, do this, do that. You have to kind of go with the flow and be open.
Speaker 2:So yeah, and that word playfulness like it makes me think there's probably many people who come to work in your studio and in your programs. As someone with a cognitive diagnosis of whether it's a form of dementia or a different, you know, cognitive sort of impairments, there's often this stigma associated with it, and so just hearing you say that, I think it sounds like an environment that's quite free of judgment, right yes thank you, it definitely is.
Speaker 4:I'm I'm very particular about that, yeah, because I think it's such a waste of energy and time right to have these, to waste time on getting over having judged someone who has something that's different. You know it. Just just get on with things, because it could be anyone, it could be us 10 years, you know.
Speaker 1:I think your point about playfulness and openness and not being afraid to try new things for fear of failure is a really important message for people who maybe are quite new to the diagnosis of dementia, for individuals living with dementia themselves as well as their care partners, because obviously when someone receives that diagnosis it's just immediate fear and, you know, wondering how the future is going to unfold. But I really love your point about all of those things and interjecting that, those moments of playfulness and openness when you can, I think is really so important. Which really draws me to my next question, which is more of a practical question, I suppose, for our listeners in the community. So for care partners, families, communities or people living in community living with dementia who want to bring more movement and creativity into their daily lives, what are some simple, meaningful ways that they can do that?
Speaker 4:yes, so I was thinking a lot about this because I wanted I wanted it to be really understandable and accessible and not hoity-toity you know you have to do this and that I thought the best thing to say is like, first of all, something simple, things like, if possible, for someone to go out to their local park with their family member, their care, however, their lives are structured and something simple like sitting on the bench and noticing things around them. If the person doesn't have verbal capability, use gestures, you know, like the tree and the birds, and a bit of silliness again, a bit of playfulness, a bit of taking someone out of a situation and seeing if it can help just open something up a bit. So I was thinking about, yeah, like going to a park. I was thinking about the use of music. I'm thinking about when the person maybe was at the peak of happiness in their lives and what kind of music style might've been around then or what type of music they might've been listening to, or not even from their, their past, but even something from the present. And playing some music and just having a kind of quiet time just to listen to some music and see if the body does anything. At home. You don't, you know, you don't have to have any dance training, you just have to make sure that people are safe, they're not going to fall off a chair, hit their arm or and then just see if, if there's any reaction no reaction or if there's a negative reaction, to adjust from there.
Speaker 4:I was thinking also arts and crafts, that old like get a bunch of junk out on the table glue and tape and pieces of magazine and start making little things, which I'm sure you do, all that kind of thing. I was just thinking of different ways I would do this. There are a lot of online resources. It would depend on how at ease people are with using those, but there are free resources that you can find using those. But there are free resources that you can find. There are different other podcasts, different videos of simple exercises. There's a beautiful exercise that anyone could do. It's called mirroring and you sit against each other and you know it's like the old marcel marcel mind thing we used to do as kids. You know we, where you know the one person's doing that and the other person's trying to follow and clapping, and just different use of the body and the other person's trying to do it.
Speaker 4:I think like I guess what I'm trying to say is like it doesn't have to be expensive and packaged and polished. It could just be say someone loved a certain writer and they read all of their books and their good days of full mental capacity. Maybe get those books out. Read a passage of the book, just sit, maybe have some music on in the background. Read passage a book, maybe make a movement to it.
Speaker 4:If that person doesn't feel too intimidated or embarrassed to do something like try to touch in on things that that just might have relevance, that could be brought in without complication and expense. Um, so I was just thinking nature, music, art. I wrote down utilize online facilities, free and simple, direct experiences that are directly for that individual. That would be based on their life. Like, my father was an award-winning photographer, so anytime I wanted to try to reach him with his then very advanced Parkinson's, I would talk about photography, I'd get out a camera, I'd show him some photos I took, I'd show him a photo album and he would respond. After just being in a vegetative state, he would just perk up and maybe I couldn't understand everything he said, but it fed into something and there was some enjoyment and communication. So it was thinking something.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I don't know an animal, a pet, a favorite pet, a favorite food, just that kind of trying to get into that person's psyche a bit in a nice way like that. But I was just thinking the least complicated things. So I think sometimes we think I don't know. You know, everything is so overly prescribed now and there's so much t's and c's and health and safety, but sometimes I think just those simple things again, like playfulness and music and touch, a hug, I mean hugging someone holding someone's hand. Sometimes at class, I, always with people I know it's wise to do and safe to do, I, when they come in I just put my hand on their shoulder and I say how are you today? Just that little moment of connection, because they might have thought, not felt human touch for weeks or a week, you know. So that's another one, I think oh, so amazing.
Speaker 2:I'm gonna send you a quote. It's one of my favorite quotes. I will not do it justice, but it's a lady who, whose name is Laura Gilbert, I think was her name and she speaks about in the context of, you know, person-centered care. And what she's saying in the quote is the gist of it is we isn't the we who work in settings, health care settings Like we want it to be rocket science, because we're really good at rocket science, like we try, you know it's. We want the perfect answer or the perfect scientific, you know, way to approach something, but really it's just about simple things. I'll find the quote and send it to you. It's, it's very powerful because it's really just about, yeah, human connection and simple, meaningful things, that and meeting people where they are right, like you're. That's what I think that's coming.
Speaker 4:And I think, bottom line, that's what we all want when it gets down to it, you know, when we're going through difficult times and ourselves and our families in the world, I think that is something we all crave and long for. Is that that simplicity of human interaction, connectedness, support, non-judgmental inclusivity? You know?
Speaker 2:Yeah, those are some really wonderful, wonderful examples, very practical, as you say, and again, just encouraging people to think about their life and what is their day-to-day and like maybe putting a different spin on things. If you always walk through the park on your way to the train station, just sit on the bench and take a few minutes and breathe and watch the surroundings and something like that can be. It's a creative moment, right definitely.
Speaker 4:I think it's probably also all about the people around in the circle around the person that has the different stages of dementia, how aware and how supportive and how confident they are, is I I've met quite a few in these circles that they're struggling because they have no clue how to handle situations. So I just try to, we try to guide them into the right direction to get help, to go to a counseling group, a support group, to get online, to call a helpline, like I'm sure your work is all the time you're doing those things, enabling someone to be able to then learn how to take care of someone living with dementia, because that's also it's like was like with Parkinson's with my mother. We had to help her and all of us learn how to take care of someone with Parkinson's.
Speaker 2:All of us learn how to take care of someone with Parkinson's, yeah, and with particularly folks like your family and others who have a loved one with a, you know, a diagnosis of some type of cognitive impairment. You're sort of helicoptered into the situation, right, and you're learning on the fly. So it's also so meaningful about your work that you know you're obviously supporting the individuals who are living through a journey of whatever they know if they have a diagnosis of dementia, but also that safe place and the care for the care partners as well.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I think it's really important. In fact, I want to investigate that more, because we used to put out brochures and books that I would order.
Speaker 4:I want to do that again, like again it's maybe one out of 50 people will grab something that is a catalyst to a better change in their lifestyle. So, yeah, that's amazing. So I can't believe we're about to ask our very last question. So we always ask this question to all of our guests. Our last question for you is what is your hope for the future for people who are affected by dementia?
Speaker 4:Comes down to many things, such as an increased awareness of what this all means, how it affects someone's lifestyle. Early diagnosis, which is coming more, at least here from what I read from Dementia UK that's becoming more common, so that then, with the early diagnosis, lifestyle changes can be made that will then help the whole family or the individual or the setup. Along with that, then, with the improved quality of life, better care, better caregivers, better caregiving Because I think again, I don't know enough about what's happening in Canada and these sectors, but Dementia UK is, I'm always amazed by what they're doing in their reports, just like Parkinson's UK. Just like Parkinson's UK. Obviously, ongoing research is huge and incredibly important, but I think in the meantime again going back to this, you know that's like the big thing up there in the sky will a cure be found in our lifetime and all that.
Speaker 4:I think, just people learning more, the hope that you know. If you think, even 30 years ago, someone like I think of my great-grandmother sitting in a home, like strapped to a chair, she probably had early stage dementia or dementia there was nothing, there was nothing. They would just sit, then they would get fed and then they would be put and that wasn't a bad place she was at, she was at a nice place. So now when I think and I go, because we go into different they're called the sheltered accommodation schemes but that kind of assisted living or care homes there's just so much more awareness from the caregiving companies about like we work with one here called home instead and they specialize in Parkinson's and dementia and they have different classes and courses and meetings and meetups and you know, card games and film nights and I think, yeah, just less of a stigma. So more hope that the lifestyle can be more healthy and enhanced and more inclusivity in the community. That's my hope anyway.
Speaker 4:Amazing Quality of life, right yeah, which everyone deserves, we all deserve that, that you that's not taken away just because others don't understand how to take care of someone with any kind of an impairment.
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh, that's amazing. I thank you for that answer and I guess I would say it's sort of a PS is that the UK is a leader in this field.
Speaker 4:Interesting to know because I, when I read any of their research or their articles or I go like this week I was visiting their site just to kind of check in and see things that it's always very impressive the work that's going on and their fundraising also yeah, well, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for being, you know, making us part of your day today, and we were talking before the episode about needing to come to London, finding an excuse to come to London, and I think we've definitely found it for sure to come, and at least next time we have the opportunity to cross the pond, we can. We would love to come and see one of your classes.
Speaker 4:Well, thank you for this opportunity, because no one usually likes to hear what I have to say about much of anything, so it feels very wonderful to speak with people who are doing important work in the world and who have curiosity about others doing something along these lines, so I feel honored. So thank you both and do come to London and we will give you a very warm welcome, as you can imagine.
Speaker 1:Thank you, Donna, and save us some ballet slippers.
Speaker 4:I've got two more pairs Perfect, I love that.
Speaker 1:Thank you for joining us for this episode of the Redefining Dementia podcast. We hope the insights shared today leave you feeling empowered and connected, no matter where you are on the dementia journey, whether you are living with dementia or you are a care partner, a professional or an advocate. Together, we can continue shifting the conversation.
Speaker 3:This season. We're grateful for the opportunity to bring you new voices and perspectives. As always, we strive to offer practical tips and heartfelt stories that resonate with your experience.
Speaker 2:A huge thank you to our incredible guests who generously share their time and knowledge with us, and to everyone behind the scenes. Our music is written and produced by Scott Holmes, and this podcast was produced by Jana Jones. Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss our upcoming episodes. And, as always, let's keep redefining dementia together.
