Ashford Mayor celebrates ‘Phoenix rising’ at KMPT dementia group Christmas event

Members of a dementia service user group were joined by the Mayor of the Borough of Ashford, Councillor Larry Krause, as they came together to celebrate their achievements at a Christmas get together this week.

The Phoenix Group hosted an afternoon of fun, complete with festive buffet and raffle with prizes donated by local businesses at the Repton Connect Community Centre, where they meet on the fourth Thursday of each month from 12.30-2:30pm. 

Well attended by past and present service users and their families and carers, staff, volunteers and representatives from Age UK, and of course guest of honour Councillor Krause, the party marked the many successes of the inclusive collective which was formed in 2017.

Set up to support people living with dementia in the Ashford area and increase the understanding of what it is like to live with a diagnosis, the 15-strong group runs in collaboration with KMPT’s Community Mental Health Service for Older People regional team.  It provides a forum for people living with dementia to voice their opinions and share difficulties.  Together, they run community projects, attend events, and take part in, and comment on, research projects, with the aim of reducing stigma and making services more dementia friendly.

The Phoenix Group is one of several dementia service user groups across the county and, as ‘dementia activists’, are looking forward to becoming increasingly involved with dementia-friendly initiatives to improve built environments, businesses, services, educational and health centres in the new year.

In 2018, the group became a member of the Dementia Engagement and Empowerment Project (DEEP), a national network of similar alliances.

Find out more about KMPT’s range of services and resources for people living with dementia in Kent and Medway: https://www.kmpt.nhs.uk/get-involved/participation-and-involvement/living-with-dementia/