• Professional Development
  • Medicine & Nursing
  • Arts & Crafts
  • Health & Wellbeing
  • Personal Development

342 Educators providing Poetry courses

Dementia Club UK

dementia club uk

5.0(9)

London

Dementia Club UK is a well-established UK charity, working hand in hand with the local community since 2013 to support people living with dementia and their carers and works in partnership with Barnet Carers and Barnet Council.  Dementia has become a growing concern and is unfortunately the leading number one killer. The main aim of a dementia club is to provide much needed respite to carers and those living with these conditions; to give our members the chance to meet socially in a relaxed atmosphere over a cup of tea and coffee and cakes and make new friends; take part in gentle exercise and fun activities.  Dementia Club UK welcomes those living with Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia and also provides advice and information to their carers and families and also welcomes those who have lost someone with dementia and are now lonely.  Our founder and Chairman of Dementia Club UK and also former Mayor of the London Borough of Barnet and local councillor, Lisa Rutter, wrote a paper called ‘The Dementia Club UK Model’ which outlines the core principles that have come together to form our Dementia Clubs. The charity commissioned an independent research study in May 2015, conducted by Middlesex University London, which “showed (demonstrated) that the dementia club as having a positive impact on those living with or caring for a person with dementia, based on the techniques and the model used in its cafes.”   The dementia club sessions run for 2 hours in the afternoons and provide various activities from quizzes, bingo, singing, poetry reading, arts and crafts and indoor games liking putting golf or table tennis. We then have about 30 minutes of fun exercise to music including yoga and in the final part of the session we have live music entertainment performed by various professional singers including Opera singers and Elvis and Abba impersonators.  We often invite professional speakers to attend to provide information and advice on current topics related to dementia. Our members attend our dementia clubs with their families which is something we like to encourage as it creates a friendly and welcoming atmosphere. Our members come from many faith communities and backgrounds which makes for exciting times when we celebrate events throughout the year.  Dementia Club UK now runs 6 dementia clubs across the Borough of Barnet and also continues to run the popular online Zoom carers group meeting every week on Tuesday evening for carers. We often have guest speakers, typically from either a medical or political background, discussing relevant topics and allowing for a question-and-answer session too. We also use this session to provide training sessions in areas of health, wellbeing and mindfulness.   Dementia Club UK has recently been recognised by the Barnet Group and was awarded Charity of the Year 2020.  We have also featured as a WHICH Support Group. A radio and video documentary was produced by the BBC to help showcase the charity and all it does for the community, both of which aired on national radio and television.   Most recently in November 2022, we are very proud to have won the tender from the London Borough of Barnet to provide training online around Understanding Dementia. The aim is to help Barnet Council as they work towards their target of becoming a Dementia Friendly Borough.  We are now delivering online training to individuals and organisations, businesses, faith communities etc with the aim of creating more dementia champions and also to help organisations to become dementia friendly. Lisa has written the one-hour training course which is CPD Certified. The course is provided online using Microsoft Teams in the mornings and ZOOM in the evenings to give people a choice.  Lisa is happy however to organise bespoke training dates if any of the dates through Eventbrite are not convenient.   We aim to continue raising awareness to reach as many people as possible in all communities, to ensure people living with dementia feel safe, included and involved while retaining control over their every day life and having the scope of choice they need to live well.

The Holding Time Project

the holding time project

‘The Holding Time Project’ is a rolling inter-disciplinary, co-created portrait of breastfeeding.The outcomes of the project include writing and performances by breastfeeding mothers, animated portraits as immersive installations, audio tours using narratives and interviews, a Youtube channel and podcast. The project has been shortlisted for this year’s Royal College of Midwives Excellence in Public Health. These courses are designed to help new mothers, or anyone who has recently given birth, an opportunity to create poetry or prose from the experience of the post part period. With a particular emphasis on wellbeing, the process of creating new writing is an opportunity to make meaning form what can be a difficult journey to parenthood. In particular, the struggle to feed whilst recovering from birth, is a time when many find themselves isolated and grappling with a huge amount of new information. Writing, as a therapy can help to locate and identify key moments in this journey, giving the experience shape and definition.  Rachel New, our writing coach is an experienced workshop lead with years of writing and radio producing behind her. She designed this series of sessions to help mothers navigate their new landscape of motherhood as a group.  These workshops support the wider Holding Time programme, aimed at normalizing breastfeeding, deepening public engagement and increasing social concern for the needs of breastfeeding mothers and those who tried but were unable to breastfeed.

Upcoming Workshops & Retreats with Kubi May...

upcoming workshops & retreats with kubi may...

Glastonbury

I grew up in a little market town in the East Midlands, happily in awe of the magic buzzing beneath the tapestry of existence in the countryside surrounding me, making childhood potions from crushed herbs and flowers and sneaking home Esoteric books to read from the library. At 18, I grew restless with a curiosity about the world and quit college to save up, travel, and spend time learning from the hidden tribes and global communities I had read so much about. My travels expanded my understanding around magic and how ritual had manifested in different indigenous cultures beyond our Celtic origins. Here, I began my journey training to become a Reiki healer (and eventually teacher), with a personal earth mission to also contribute as much healing, light and joy to our planet as possible. By my twenties I had returned home, moved to the city and anchored myself back into a decade of education. I gained a PGCE qualification as a secondary school art teacher and finished a University Degree; a BA Honours in Creative Therapies where I focused my dissertation on the healing power of Creative Ritual and Art in Psychotherapy. Following this, I worked for 5 years as a Creative Therapist as part of an Intensive intervention Team for Children in Social Care, whilst also founding and managing London's Activist Art group 'The People's Tribe' to try and promote positive change in society with creativity (and of course, rebellion!) As I approached my thirties, I began to delve deep into my own shadow work and healing, which lead me to explore the healing potential of plant medicines, shamanic rituals and tincture making. One summer, I softened, decided it was time to return back to the countryside and challenged myself to set off at sunset for an overnight pilgrimage. I mapped out the leylines and followed them on foot, walking 12 hours by myself through the night, singing songs to the stars and arrived at sunrise on the mystical lands of Glastonbury for the first time, where I began my training in Celtic Shamanism.... and never left! I'm humbled to live a harmonious and gentle life here upon the mystical lands of Avalon. From this sacred motherland, I forage and make flower tincture medicines from the earth and sculpt personalised wands from the fallen branches of the ancient orchards. More than anything, I love to compassionately hold space for others walking the sacred path of initiation or undertaking healing/ shadow work. (We're at a very interesting moment in history where nothing is more important than this!) I do this using therapy, ritual, ceremony, playfulness and creativity to help alchemise and empower individuals to step into the highest version of themselves and it brings me so much joy to see the light returning, one by one, to the beautiful tribe we know as the human race. Let's rise together and remember who we really are as we make the journey back home to ourselves!