Brain Health & Wellbeing Funding Initiatives 2022/23

Our aims

Dementia United’s strategic aim is to promote brain health to help prevent avoidable cases of dementia, promote wellbeing and time spent living independently.

Our evaluation feedback from the 2022 Bounce Back Fund demonstrated just how important creative arts and healthy living are to people living with dementia and their carers:

Caring for someone 24/7 can be isolating, lonely and exhausting.  Coming along to the Music and Dance gives me a place where I know the other people understand what the situation is…My husband loves the singing, and it is wonderful to see the glimmer of the man that I married.

The group gives me a chance to stop and relax on a regular basis. This ‘me-time’ is a chance to catch my breath and gives me energy to continue my caring duties.

I observed my father come alive. He was smiling, laughing, and chatting in a way I have not seen for many years

I speak on behalf of all the attendees at the lunches when I say many thanks to Dementia United for helping to tackle isolation and keeping people connected

Why this matters

Promoting good brain health is a great way to reduce the risk of dementia as well as helping to slow disease progression.  Find tips on how to improve your brain health here.

What we’ve achieved so far

Bounce Back Fund 2022

  • One-off grants between £750 – £1200
  • Fully Co-Produced from Day One
  • Aimed at Grass Roots organisations to help them get back on their feet after Covid 19
  • Small investment – big impact!

We supported postal arts projects, pamper sessions, mindfulness classes, days out on the canal and trips to RHS Bridgewater, Easter parties, Jubilee tea parties, South Asian Carers groups, singing and dancing events, numerous live entertainment sessions, dementia awareness videos in Hindi & Gujarati and much, much more.

 Creativity in Care Homes 2023

Improving access to creative health and supporting the Living Well aspect of the Well Pathway for Dementia

  • £50,000 allocated for a Dementia United collaboration with Adult Social Care and Creative Health. This was allocated to six care home providers to support them to connect to arts and music and to develop their creative health offer

Big Brain Health Fund

We awarded 24 one-off grants of up to £5,000 to kick start creative arts & healthy living projects.  The key focus was on sustainability to support Dementia United’s strategic focus on Brain Health.

  •  Interactive Puppetry Shows
  • Dementia Discos x 2
  • BAME Dementia Awareness Events by Khush Amdid
  • Holistic Music Sessions for people with lived experience
  • Creative Mindfulness
  • Clay Club Ceramics Classes
  • Song Writing & Dance Sessions
  • Dementia Activity Tables
  • Arts, Calligraphy & Crafting Sessions and much, much more

What’s next?

Coming Soon… We’ll be filming out and about over the summer to showcase our award-winning projects and demonstrate how they are actively promoting brain health across Greater Manchester.  Watch this space!