Funded by the Government and The National Lottery Community Fund
Project Date: September 2020 to March 2021
Area: Devon

Memory Matters, based at Moments Café in Plymouth (run by nurses Kate Smith and Laura Walker), are partnering with charities and social enterprises across Devon to deliver an evidence-based, easy to administer therapy that increases thinking skills and tackles isolation for those most at risk during the Covid-19 Pandemic.

The project funded by the National Lottery and the Government sees Memory Matters using their skills and expertise to train and coach other like-minded organisations to deliver fun, structured Virtual Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (vCST) workshops incorporating a talking therapy recommended by the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) for all people living with dementia.

Memory Matters aim, with the help of other third sector organisations, to reach as many people as possible who may be at risk of isolation during these unprecedented times.

Memory Matters will be providing training, coaching and support to all organisations to get their beneficiaries online and receiving virtual Cognitive Stimulation Therapy and hope that the partnerships will reach many more than could be reached alone.

The project aims also to pilot and test different virtual platforms to find the most easily accessible solution for people living with dementia.

Memory Matters have been running CST Workshops for 10 years and have a wealth of experience in engaging people living with dementia in a fun, friendly atmosphere which promotes thinking skills.

CST follows a simple structure including:

 

  • Music of the song
  • Current affairs chat
  • Word warm-up exercise
  • Subtle orientation to time and place
  • The main topic of focus is different for each workshop e.g. Word Games, Sounds, Childhood, Household Treasures, Categorising Objects, and Money Workshops are fun and lighthearted and there tends to be as much laughter as thinking going on