FRIENDSHIP
Dementia Awareness Week 2025 – which runs from Monday 2 June to Sunday 8 June – is an opportunity to support the 90,000 people living with dementia in Scotland and their families and carers. The theme for this year’s campaign in Scotland focuses on the importance of maintaining friendships and social connections at every step of a person’s dementia progression. We have all seen first-hand how staying connected, listening, and showing kindness can bring comfort, joy and a sense of belonging. Friends help keep memories alive, reduce loneliness, and support people with dementia as well as their carers, friends and family.
What you CAN do to help
- Staying friends and keeping in regular contact can help maintain a person with dementia’s sense of identity and self-esteem.
- Use photos, music and other meaningful things to reminisce together, this can help your friend remember shared experiences.
- Choose topics that you think will interest your friend to open up and sustain conversation. Accept the person your friend is now; try not to draw comparisons with how they were before developing dementia.
- Continue to include your friend in social activities for as long as possible.
- Make sure to talk directly to your friend, especially in social situations. Don’t talk past them or assume they are not listening or do not understand.
- Use gentle physical contact, such as linking arms or having a hug. This can be very comforting for people with dementia.
- If your friend is being cared for, try to support the person who provides that care. It might be their spouse/partner, grown-up children or another relative. Spending time with your friend while their carer goes to the shops or meets their own friends can make a huge difference.
- If you participate in an activity or go on an outing, you may need to ‘look out’ for your friend and sometimes give direction. For example, when to cross the road or when to get up when you are on the bus.
Many of the activities we take part in are shared with others. It is through friendships that we give and receive support, share these meaningful activities and develop valued roles. Activities in this topic help you to identify some of the friendships and broader support mechanisms you currently draw on and explore ways to maintain existing friendships as well as develop new ones. TRY. Why not print out 2 versions of the following sheet (or copy the template on to 2 pieces of blank paper). Keep one and give/post one to a friend. Complete the questions thinking about your friendship and then swap them with each other when complete.
Enjoy sharing friendship stories and connecting with friends and family during this years Dementia Awareness Week.
