Community building
“I think one of the things which certainly struck me… is that you could see how the Meeting Centre itself in a sense had a role in actually creating community.” – Meeting Centre volunteer
“You become more and more a member of the community, rather than somebody that’s just looking in.” – Meeting Centre member
Meeting Centres cannot exist in a vacuum. Having a place in, and the support of, the community surrounding them is important. They are more likely to thrive if the community around them is closeknit, active and dementia-friendly. Establishing a visible presence in their community also helps.
With time and community networking, a Meeting Centre can play a role in creating a dementia-proactive community around it.
Recommendations:
- Seek to engage other community groups and organisations, both when setting up and on an ongoing basis. Identifying and communicating with key people and visibly promoting the Meeting Centre at community events and forums can help with this.
- Try to link in with existing community activity to support people in need, particularly around dementia.
Partnerships and networks
“There’s a lot of resources in the community. If you could pull it all together it would make it more doable. It’s trying to get everyone around a table and share the costs and ask to contribute some of those costs.” – Family carer
“The links with those who are going to come across people who have a dementia diagnosis, or a problem, is critical to getting people in.” – Meeting Centre trustee
“We’re completely and utterly plugged into everything [dementia-related] that goes on [in this county]… we get out and about and we just know everybody locally and whatever that takes, we do it.” – Meeting Centre trustee
Links can be forged with many areas of a local community. These include local businesses, charities and social enterprise groups; clubs, hobby groups, religious and cultural groups; councillors and other community leaders; police, fire and ambulance services and more. Links can be forged through inviting people in or going out to visit them; working together on small projects; or putting on events together.
This can boost promotion by word-of-mouth, and ultimately help find new members, introduce new activities and even source funding.
Recommendations:
- Ensure someone has the responsibility and time to forge community links. First, they will need to find out about people, groups and organisations in the community that they could work with in some way. Next, invite these community members into the Meeting Centre or offer to go out to them to talk about it.
- Think of small projects or events that could involve people or groups from the community working together.
Organisational governance
People who are organising these Centres have to be people within the community because they understand their community.” – Arts practitioner working with Meeting Centres
You’ve got to give ownership back to the people that are using it. You can’t do it from above.” – Meeting Centre trustee
There’s always this argument about [the involvement of] national charities or bigger charities or… But I think my personal view is you need quite a bit of infrastructure around a Meeting Centre to run it.” – Meeting Centre trustee
Our more successful Meeting Centres have had an active dementia friendly community… having a strong connection with a Dementia Friendly Group, I think is key; it’s crucial to success.” – Lead of Meeting Centre-running organisation.
Ultimately everyone’s just trying to help other people. So, having to sort of fight with another organisation to provide that help is kind of baffling really, but I appreciate that’s how it’s all structured and that’s how it’s all set up.” – Third sector professional
Strategic decisions made by the organisations that run Meeting Centres, such as how they structure themselves and how they work together, can have a major impact.
Meeting Centres can be run by grass-roots groups in one town, village or local community; or by regional organisations, for example working at county level, running multiple Meeting Centres. Some have found it effective when these two types of organisation work together, as they can pool resources and bring different strengths. For example a grass-roots group may lack infrastructure and reach; a regional organisation may lack community knowledge and connections; but together they have everything covered.
Organisations can be fiercely protective of what they do and wary of outside interference. They are also often put into competition when it comes to funding. This can lead to groups with similar goals being hesitant to work together. However, collaboration is vital to work effectively and efficiently in a sector with limited resources.
Meeting Centres are usually community-led, but larger charities or local authorities can get involved. A major benefit to this is better organisational infrastructure and resources with which to staff and run a Meeting Centre; but larger organisations can struggle to make strong community connections. Larger organisations may have an agenda that varies from the original Meeting Centre model and may close a Meeting Centre if deemed not successful enough, or if the organisation’s priorities change.
Recommendations:
- Avoid overlap and competition with others in the same sector. Instead seek collaboration and ways in which your organisations can complement each other’s work.
- Where there are organisations at a more local or more regional level that might provide something to help run the Meeting Centre, explore how you might work together. Where there is no such organisation at that level, consider if you might instigate setting one up.
Data collection and research involvement
I know it’s so hard to get the Meeting Centres to collect that data… but it really is absolutely crucial. It is the big switch which will turn any funders of anywhere on.” – Meeting Centre trustee
The theory behind the practice, I think that’s really important… It gives it some kudos and weight, the fact that an academic institution is supporting it.” – Arts practitioner working with Meeting Centres
If possible, gathering evidence on what your Meeting Centre does can help it sustain. Having performance and cost data is essential to demonstrating its value to others, in order to get support and funding. Being able to point to a robust evidence base for Meeting Centres can lend a Meeting Centre greater credibility and backing, as can getting involved with academic research.
Recommendations:
- Keep a record of basic data such as attendance, referral sources, joining and leaving dates, demographic data and income and expenditure.
- Regularly collect feedback from members and carers on what they think of the Meeting Centre and how it has impacted their lives.
- Consider engaging with academic institutions researching Meeting Centres and what they do, if the opportunity arises.
See also Referrals and the Dementia Care Pathway, Reaching People and Membership and Finances and Funding
Get Real with Meeting Centres and the SCI-Dem project 