At first the world for the person with dementia may seem chaotic and threatening and dominated by intense emotion. Our support teams are trained to recognise the potential for creativity in the person with dementia and to tap into their sense of humour. By making humour the cornerstone of our villages we embark on fulfilling, heart-warming journeys alongside our residents with dementia, valuing the time that we spend with them and their families.
However customers enter the Belong community, our colleagues recognise the importance of enabling the person with dementia to retain their interests and abilities for as long as possible. Our rehabilitative approach has successfully enabled individuals to regain skills that were thought to be lost to dementia. Knowing what is important to the person with dementia enables us to encourage individuals to continue to engage in outdoor pursuits, care for their pets and to maintain relationships with younger members of their family and the community.
People living in our villages should feel secure and experience a sense of belonging. All of our customers must have access to human companionship and the opportunity to develop friendships. Colleagues, customers and their families should work together to create purpose and meaning for each day. Finally, we want everybody in the Belong village to be free to make their own decisions and choices.
We encourage all Belong village residents to develop an individual life plan, with the help of their close friends and families. The life plan records builds a comprehensive portrait of the individual, recording and recognising their past, present and future to help ensure that they receive the most appropriate help and support to meet their needs. The life plan concept signifies a move away from traditional styles of assessment and planning, which were based on a medical approach to a person’s needs. While we’ll always prioritise the physical needs of our customers, at Belong we create bespoke care solutions to cater for the needs of each individual, promoting wellbeing through increased happiness. We think it is important to identify what makes life meaningful for our customers, with the aim of maintaining the individual’s preferred lifestyle as far as possible. With the help of families and loved ones, we can create a record for each of our customers that enables us to enrich the quality of their lives.
Read our 10 Top Tips For Supporting People With Dementia.
Watch this short video to get a flavour of what it's like to live and work in Belong.