I am a carer, family member or friend

Information for families and friends of people with dementia

We know that supporting or caring for a person with dementia can be difficult and that you will probably need support yourself and reliable sources of information. We hope this website is helpful, but you might also find useful information from the Alzheimer’s Society UK and Dementia UK’s websites. Details are in the section, ‘Other sources of help and support’, below.

How Dementia Jersey can help you

Dementia Jersey offers a range of information and support options for people supporting or caring for a person with dementia, fuller details of which can be found under the section headings – Our Services – Support and Advice.

These support options include;

• A drop-in service where you can have a brief chat with a member of our team, make an appointment with a Dementia Advisor for a longer chat, find out about our activities and support groups, or pick up useful leaflets.
• A Dementia Advice service for you to talk with an expert advisor about any aspects of caring for a person with dementia. They can also let you know about any other sources of help or benefits available for you or the person with dementia.
• A confidential counselling service where you can talk to a trained professional at depth and in confidence about any issues, thoughts, feelings or worries that are troubling you.
• A choice of support groups, at various locations and times.
• A good range of therapeutic activities for you to attend together with the person you support or care for.
• A Dementia Pathway – A guide to the stages of dementia, likely symptoms and the services available to you and the person with dementia as dementia progresses.
• And coming soon – we will be rolling out our new updated course for carers, The Dementia Information Program, which will be packed with useful information. More details will be available soon.

Staying active and meeting others

Dementia Jersey also provides a whole range of other therapeutic and social activities for people with dementia to enjoy along with a relative or friend. These include, Splashchat a swimming group (followed by good coffee and chat), an art group, music groups, including our most popular Musical Memories, a petanque club, a walking group, a gardening club at our allotment, S Club (a gentle exercise class) and our fun and games groups East and West. Find out more here.

Because we know it is so important for people with dementia to keep active and to enjoy a good social life, we are always in the process of designing new activities – so – watch this space for news or let us know what you might like us to do next!

Other sources of help and support

We hope the information above and in other parts of this website will provide you with a good deal of information about the help that is available in Jersey for you and your friend or family member with dementia.

We can also highly recommend all the information provided by both the Alzheimer’s Society UK and Dementia UK. In particular, you should find the Alzheimer’s Society UK’s booklet, Caring for a person with dementia: A practical guide, a good source of help. This is available online and is free to order by post. Some of the detail it contains about legal issues, benefits and how to access care, is UK specific, so please do ask our Dementia Advice team, if necessary, to clarify any of these details for Jersey.

The Alzheimer’s Society UK and Dementia UK also have a range of other information booklets and leaflets on most subjects related to dementia, all of which are available online and some are available from the Dementia Jersey office in St Helier.