NICVA Member Visit - Dementia NI

NICVA member visit Dementia NI

On 21 November staff member Susan Coffey met with Fionnuala Savage, Income Generation Manager at the Dementia NI, at their head office in Belfast.

Dementia NI is a relatively new and unique organisation, set up in 2015 by five people living with a diagnosis of dementia who wanted to ensure that the voice of people living with dementia is at the core of policy, practice and service delivery across Northern Ireland. Today they are a membership organisation specifically for people living with dementia, providing peer support and a platform to have their voices heard.

One of the aims of the organisation is to challenge the stigma of dementia, particularly in our local communities; they are launching a new strategy in January 2020 to focus on policy and campaigning.     

Amongst their activities they embark on a personal development plan with members, focusing on their interests and hobbies to empower them to live their life to the full. They raise awareness through training and education, and funding from the HSCB is providing the opportunity for short breaks for the newly diagnosed person and their carer.

An exciting development is the pilot of the ‘In the same boat’ telephone helpline which will mean that a newly diagnosed person can call to ask any questions they may have and the person answering will be living with dementia – a truly invaluable service.    

NICVA are keen to engage with all our members and find out a bit more about what you do. We are constantly striving to build on and improve our services and find out what attracts our members to join and their most valued benefits. In Dementia NI’s case it was seeing NICVA as ‘The voice for community and voluntary groups’ and gaining strength through collaborating with other organisations in the sector. One of their most valued benefits is the affordable and competitive training and they view NICVA as their ‘go to for personal and professional development’.  

To find out more about DementiaNI and the fantastic work they do you can visit their website https://www.dementiani.org/

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