Dementia Adventure - August's Featured Cause

In the UK there are 850,000 people living with some form of dementia. With an ageing population, numbers are set to rise to 1 million by 2025 and 2 million by 2051. In fact, someone develops dementia every three minutes.

Whilst we wait and hope for a cure, there is much that can be done right now to care for and enable people living with dementia to live healthier, more active and enjoyable lives and bring emotional, social and physical benefits to dementia affected families. This is the challenge ahead of us as a society and why Dementia Adventure exists.

Dementia Adventure is a multi-award winning charity co-founded by Neil Mapes and Lucy Harding in 2009, using the unique combination of Neil’s expertise in dementia care and support and Lucy’s expertise in the adventure travel industry. The problem they identified was that once diagnosed, people with dementia were at risk of being indoors too much of the time, resulting in an unnecessary decline in their physical, emotional and social well-being.

Dementia Adventure believes that with the right support, people living with dementia can continue to do the things they have always enjoyed: get outdoors, remain active, keep connected to friends, family and their community and retain a sense of adventure in their lives.

Through their range of services – all with nature in mind – Dementia Adventure provides supported small-group holidays and short breaks, ‘Thinking Differently About Dementia’ training for family carers, professionals and other organisations, and conducts research into the benefits of outdoor activity for people living with dementia.

Supported holidays can make a massive difference to the quality of life experienced by people living with dementia and their carers – removing the barriers that often prevent people from taking a break and allowing those living with dementia to enjoy time away together with their partner, family or friends.

With the support of The Giving Machine and those who make a donation to Dementia Adventure through this platform, the charity are able to keep the cost of these short breaks affordable for more people; allowing them to access the outdoors in a meaningful way.

This year Dementia Adventure will celebrate its 10^th birthday milestone, and looks to deliver 32 holidays in 11 different locations across the UK, with the potential to benefit 252 people.

Furthermore, research from Dementia Adventure shows our supported breaks continue to have a positive effect on the overall well-being of both the person with dementia and their carer for a considerable amount of time long after it has ended

• 100% of carers and 76% of people with dementia reported feeling positive after the holiday
• 73% of carers said they felt that the holiday would help them sustain their caring role at home for longer
• 100% of those surveyed felt well supported on the holiday

“What every couple living with dementia need – sharing the load and someone else to take some of the responsibility for a while, learning to laugh again” – Gill, Holiday Client