Role, identity and meaningful engagement are all important aspects of who we are. A well designed enabling environment can support a person living with dementia to have enhanced opportunities within that environment. This expands a person’s connections with the world around them, in a physical, mental, social-emotional and spiritual way.
Providing the opportunity to engage in a range of activities that meet a variety of abilities and needs is essential to respect the individuality and identity of each person accessing the space.
When setting up areas for activity ensure they can be functionally used for their purpose. For example if you have a piano in the living room ensure it is in working order, there are books of sheet music on the shelf and seats close by to listen to the music. If you have a CD player, ensure it is set up on an appropriate height table and CD’s are close by which are clearly visible and labelled as needed.
Providing the opportunity to engage in a range of activities that meet a variety of abilities and needs is essential to respect the individuality and identity of each person accessing the space.
When setting up areas for activity ensure they can be functionally used for their purpose. For example if you have a piano in the living room ensure it is in working order, there are books of sheet music on the shelf and seats close by to listen to the music. If you have a CD player, ensure it is set up on an appropriate height table and CD’s are close by which are clearly visible and labelled as needed.
Sensory experiences
Create a variety of sensory experiences in the garden where smells, sights, sounds, taste and touch can all be explored and engaged with. This could be through an edible herb garden, water feature or seasonal flower beds.
Seeding, potting and growing
Build a potting area with accessible height tabletops and seating to grow flowers and vegetables from seeds and cuttings.
Children's play areas
Incorporating children’s play equipment into the garden can encourage visiting day care, playgroups or families. Ensure seating with good line of sight is placed around the play area for elders to sit and enjoy watching the children play.
Outdoor activity
For some people, enjoying the garden passively and being exposed to sensory stimulation will assist with their wellbeing. For others, a more active approach is needed. Research has shown spending time in the garden and nurturing plants has a beneficial outcome to both physical and emotional wellbeing for people living with dementia. Setting up different areas of the garden for different activities could include some of the following.
Men's Shed
The addition of a Men’s Shed into a garden can provide opportunity for meaningful engagement, socialisation with peers and reinforce sense of identity. Ideally the shed should be large enough to accommodate five to six people comfortably. To ensure the shed is an enabling environment consider:
- Various bench heights to work at when both standing and sitting.
- Adequate and even lighting.
- Safe storage of tools and materials to reduce trip hazards.
- Secure storage for any dangerous tools or chemicals.
- Easy circulation paths around the shed.
- Wide enough benches to accommodate people working side by side for support.
- Easy access electrical plug points with RCD switched circuitry.
- Create a social space out of the shed such as a patio with decking and benches, seats and fridge for cold drinks at the end of a hard day’s work.
Animals
Bringing animals into your home or care environment needs careful consideration. The decision should involve everyone and there needs to be a commitment to the care and maintenance of the animals.
- Through careful planting and landscape features the garden can provide a haven for wildlife and birds. Consider planting native flowering plants to attract birds into the garden. The addition of flowering plants will bring bees, insects and birds into the space. The addition of a water filled bird bath as well as feeding stations will encourage regular visits. Learn how to create a bird-friendly garden.
- Introducing an aviary into the garden can provide opportunities for elders to give care. The ideal location is a high traffic area, next to a communal window so the aviary can be enjoyed when sitting inside as well as outside. Enabling design features such as swivel feeders allow for easy feeding and cleaning. Speak to your local bird specialist shop for a great deal of helpful advice and equipment for setting up your aviary.
- Chickens can be introduced to the garden and provide a number of benefits including organic pest control, recycling of food scraps and off course fresh egg production. Using a moveable chicken coop can save space and also help fertilise different parts of the garden.
Reminiscence
Sharing memories through reminiscence can reinforce a sense of identity and provide opportunities to build meaningful relationships with others. These opportunities can be enhanced by incorporating enabling design features:
- Incorporate reminiscence baskets or shelves with familiar and meaningful items that can stimulate memory and conversation. For example, you could create a cooking based reminiscence basket with old recipe cards, cooking utensils and dried herbs.
- Ensure items for domestic tasks are easily visible for people to access. For example, leave the lace tablecloth, serviettes and cutlery out on the buffet so someone can set the tables if they wish.
- Include family photographs or images of local history in communal areas. This can create talking points for the people using the space.