“Coming here, it’s not just the person with dementia that gets support, the carer does as well. You’ve got other people that are going through the same thing as you, that know what you’re going through, so they give you support.” – Family carer
“A lot of people do come to it initially with… I need some respite. And then you start getting them to stay a bit longer at the start and then they realise there’s other people there in the same situation as them… and you start to build those relationships and then all of a sudden, the penny drops for them, I’m getting as much out of this as I thought the other person would.” – Meeting Centre staff member
The Meeting Centre model suggests that people living with dementia and family and friends that support them should attend together where possible to fully benefit from what a Meeting Centre can offer.
However, often those that care for someone with dementia can have little engagement at all with a Meeting Centre, beyond dropping someone off and picking them up again at the end of the day.
Sometimes a Meeting Centre can become so focussed on the needs of the people with dementia that it leaves little time for carers to get support, which is an issue those running the Meeting Centre should be aware of.
Carers may have to weigh up conflicting needs and demands and attending a Meeting Centre may not be the most urgent; or they may not understand how engaging more with a Meeting Centre might help them.
Meeting Centres need to have something to offer family carers, and it needs to be clear what that might be.
Recommendations:
- Make clear what a Meeting Centre aims to do and what the benefits to family carers might be, beyond respite, when first discussing attendance of the person a carer supports at the Meeting Centre.
- Consider ways to make time for carers to get support or socialise during a Meeting Centre session.
- Design activities to include and appeal to carers as well as the people attending who are living with dementia.
- Allow family carers to attend flexibly to suit their circumstances.
See also Reaching People and Membership
Get Real with Meeting Centres and the SCI-Dem project 