Changing the Culture of Dementia Care at Athena: Our Journey to All Seven Homes achieving Two Gold Stars!
Parallel 2
17 November, 2026 3:20 – 4:30 pmNaDCAS Symposium: Dementia Care Accreditation
Hannah Mulholland
Head of Lifestyle and Community Engagement
Athena Care homes
Summary
When Athena Care Homes began its NaDCAS Dementia Care Accreditation journey in September 2025, none of our seven homes achieved a pass at their initial assessment. Following revisit assessments in May and June 2026, every home had not only achieved accreditation but progressed two levels to be awarded a Two Gold Star Accreditation, with one home receiving Platinum.
There wasn’t one thing that changed dementia care at Athena. It was many small changes, one shared vision and a belief that every interaction matters.
We wanted people living with dementia to continue doing the things they love to do. We knew meaningful engagement shouldn’t begin and end with the Lifestyle Team, and it shouldn’t belong to one department. Instead, we set out to create a culture where every team member understood they had a part to play in helping people living with dementia continue to live meaningful, purposeful, and connected lives.
We didn’t look for one solution. Instead, we brought together everything we believed made a real difference to people living with dementia. We embedded PAL assessments, helping team members understand what people were still able to do. We embedded ‘All About Me’ books and One Page Profiles so every decision started with the person, not their diagnosis. We developed Living Well with Dementia at Athena to bring together our vision, evidence-informed practice and shared expectations into one practical guide for every home.
At the heart of our culture change was our Connected Living Model. We wanted meaningful engagement to become part of everyday life, not something that happened at set times or belonged to one team. Every team member was encouraged to think differently about their role and how they could create opportunities for connection, purpose, and independence throughout the day.
Gardeners worked alongside residents to choose what to grow, plant sensory gardens and spend time outdoors together. Administration team members hosted weekly quizzes and reminiscence sessions. Housekeepers encouraged residents to fold napkins, pair socks, lay tables and take pride in caring for their home. Maintenance team members introduced Fix It Friday, supporting residents to safely repair, build and maintain everyday items using lifelong skills. Catering teams promoted independence and choice through dementia-friendly dining with our Cutlery Free dining initiative, while Lifestyle Teams continued to lead cognitive stimulation, virtual reality sessions, meaningful one-to-one engagement, Resident Ambassador initiatives, and opportunities to build relationships within the local community. We also updated our digital recording system to Relish Wellbeing, this enabled us monitor engagement daily to ensure every resident was interacted with.
The Connected Living Model extended beyond our homes too. Regional and support team members shared their own skills, hobbies, and passions with residents, delivering line dancing sessions, talks about life working on cruise ships, bringing in family pets, planting herb gardens, and creating experiences that genuinely felt that we were living our values by making moments together. These visits strengthened relationships, introduced new experiences, and reinforced our belief that everyone has something valuable to contribute. We introduced Athena’s Tiny Moments project, where every team member in the home was encouraged to tick off one of the 40 tiny moments from the residents’ booklets with them, this included taking photos of nature, having fish and chips on a bench, toasting marshmallows on a fire or even flying a kite.
None of this was achieved by one person or one team. It was made possible because Home Managers, Lifestyle Teams, care teams, catering teams, housekeeping, maintenance, administration, gardeners, and regional support teams all embraced the same vision and committed to making meaningful engagement part of everyday life.
Meaningful engagement wasn’t something we scheduled. It became the way we lived every day.
This presentation shares that journey honestly- the challenges we faced, what we learnt along the way and the changes that made the biggest difference. It explores how changing culture transformed not only the everyday experiences of people living with dementia, but also the confidence, understanding and pride of the team members supporting them every day.
We didn’t set out to achieve Two Gold Stars (and one Platinum). We set out to make life better for people living with dementia. The accreditation simply showed us we were on the right path.