'Finding the Light in Dementia: a guide for Families, Friends and Caregivers' is the essential self help book that explains common changes that can occur in people living with dementia. By offering valuable approaches, tips and suggestions interspersed with caregivers' stories, the reader can learn to care for and maintain a connection with their care partner. Whether you're a spouse, partner, daughter, son, sibling, friend, parent or paid caregiver, this book is for you. Finding the Light in Dementia will help give you more confidence to care by:
- Supporting you through a diagnosis of dementia
- Helping you understand what your care partner is experiencing
- Teaching you ways to communicate and connect with each other
- Helping you make subtle changes to your home to help your care partner feel safe and content
- Introducing practical and creative ways to stimulate memories to help with day to day living
- Showing you how to create lifestories together
- Suggesting ways to keep your care partner interested and engaged in meaningful activities
- Providing tips for sleeping, eating and drinking
- Suggesting ways to help your partner with their appearance and dignity
- Showing you ways of overcoming the challenges of changing behaviour, reactions and responses
- Helping reduce the effects of hallucinations, delusions and misperceptions
- Suggesting ways for you to care for yourself
- Involving families and friends
- Giving advice when considering professional care at home and in residential care
Knowing how tired and stressed you may feel, 'Finding the Light in Dementia' is written in bite sized chunks that makes it easy to follow. By giving you space to write down any points you would like to make and providing question sheets for you to refer to when speaking with your doctor and/or legal professionals you can make this your personal guide. When following the approaches in this book, you should find that your partner will feel more understood and you will become calmer thereby helping you both find a sense of connection and continue to live well.