Supporting someone living with dementia at home

For most people living with dementia, home is the single greatest advantage available: familiar rooms, familiar objects and familiar rhythms all reduce the cognitive load of an ordinary day.

Consistency matters more than anything

The same carers, arriving at roughly the same times, doing things in roughly the same order. Consistency prevents the daily re-introduction that so often causes distress.

Practical adjustments that help

• Clear, uncluttered walkways and good lighting
• Labelled cupboards and a visible clock and calendar
• Meals and medication at fixed points in the day
• Photographs and music from significant decades
• Contrasting colours on toilet seats and door frames

Responding to distress

Distress is almost always communication — pain, hunger, tiredness, needing the toilet or too much noise. We record what preceded each episode so patterns become visible and avoidable.

“We never correct a memory just to be right. We meet the feeling behind it.”