Rare Dementia Support (RDS) Canada members, in collaboration with Making Art Making Change (MAMC), recently came together to create New Encounters. New Encounters is a dynamic virtual arts-based rare dementia support group aimed at building supportive connections over conversation, exploring visual art and painting. Storytelling through art brought together a group of people living with a rare dementia and another group for spouses.
Over the course of eight weeks, RDS Canada members assembled an accordion book of images and stories. Combining colour, texture, words and images, stories unfolded around life experiences, childhood, home, meaningful objects and, as Claire who lives with young onset Alzheimer’s disease remarked, “bringing me back to who I am”.
Previous art experience? Not required! “You don’t paint what you see, you paint what you feel”, said Joseph who is living with dementia. Prompts and technique suggestions offered by the artist facilitators, Vanessa and Elena, acted as a guide to complete each panel. After some quiet time while people painted, images where shared within the group. Louise, whose husband is living with frontotemporal dementia captured the sharing time when she remarked, “Everyone appreciated what was going on. Our process. Our vulnerability. Letting it go. No right or wrong. Everyone is accepting and happy.”
Annette, who lives with a rare dementia. said to the group, “We didn’t need to talk about dementia. This disease can keep me off balance. New Encounters was for me. This group was magical. For once I forgot about FTD. This was just about me.” And Sahar who supports her husband remarked that this was “creative self-care”.
Ricardo who lives with dementia summed it up for everyone, “I learned that I can achieve my goals. I need to be patient, accept my condition and enjoy my journey. These classes empowered me and helped me to forget about my condition. Nowadays, it helps me to regain self-confidence and try not to complain about my limitations. It also made me feel that I can receive and give knowledge and acquire new learning experiences.”
Rare Dementia Support Canada provides a continuous and tailored specialist support community for people who are living with, affected by, or at risk of, a diagnosis of rare or young onset dementia.
They are led by Nipissing University through a generous donation from The Hilary and Galen Weston Foundation. Their support services are delivered by a team of support practitioners in partnership with Rare Dementia Support in the UK.