Difficult conversations
Admiral Nurse charity Dementia UK has published “Seven tips for handling difficult conversations” on its website, focusing on how to respond to differences of opinion among family members about how a loved with dementia should be cared for.
Assembled with the help of Admiral Nurse Vic Lyons, the tips cover topics like preparing for the conversation, setting up a good time and place to talk, how to ask good questions and how to listen to each other effectively.
Also new on the Dementia UK website is “Mike and Tom’s story”, in which Mike talks about the impact that his husband Tom’s dementia had on their marriage and how he came to be a founder member of the LGBTQ+ Dementia Advisory Group.
He relates how they both joined a dementia support group and found that they were the only gay couple. “I had to be quite brave and say ‘This is my husband,” Mike writes.
“Everyone was accepting but what was missing was other people from the LGBT+ community who had a shared experience and history. I couldn’t find any existing services, so I created one – the LGBTQ+ Dementia Advisory Group. It was something that I needed as a carer.”
More information at www.dementiauk.org.