Older People's Mental Health Conference reflection

The Oxleas Older People’s Mental Health conference was an event showcasing work and projects that are improving the mental health and well-being of people later in life. Reinhard Guss was a speaker at this event, his talk was about involvement and co-production with people living with dementia. His work with the DASH group has been an important part of this; therefore, David, a member of the DASH group talked about this alongside Reinhard and the psychology placement students. 

Here is what he had to say about the experience:

When I walked in it was a shock to see so many people, I expected to see a group like the sessions we had in our DASH groups. If I walked into that a few years ago it wouldn’t have been as much of a shock as I did a lot of public speaking in my career. However, in the condition I’m in now with my dementia, I was taken aback. I wish I would have had a bit more of heads up that there was going to be so many people but at the end I was delighted to have had such a big impact on so many people. At the end I felt renewed, being able to do the talk and hear people say afterwards “David that was good what you did”. Had such a massive positive impact on me.

It’s not just a help to the professionals but it’s also a help to me. I am so keen to help the people that are helping me. In my previous job as a structured engineer, I have helped people my whole life and I am very glad to be able to continue to do that later in life despite my illness. If you told me to come to another conference tomorrow at midnight I would be there. Opportunities like this and the talk I did at Salomon’s are what is making living with dementia bearable.

                                                              - David 

Reflections

When speaking to David about the details of the conference I think we focused too much on the contents of his talk and did not spend enough time briefing him on what to expect coming into the room and who he’d expect to meet. Next time we will make sure to holistically explain what the experience would be like before he agrees to take part.