Are you running a dementia cafe and interested in joining the Irish Dementia Cafe Network? If so, please contact us and we’ll send more information to you.
How the network was set up
The HSE’s National Dementia Office commissioned Engaging Dementia to develop an Irish Dementia Café Network in July 2019. The project was funded by Dormant Accounts through the Department of Health and the HSE NDO.
Throughout the project, Engaging Dementia has worked closely with 21 Alzheimer, dementia and memory cafes around Ireland and an Expert Advisory Panel to develop a shared vision of the dementia cafe and network in Ireland. The project draws on research which was carried out by the Centre for Economic and Social Research in Dementia (CESRD). Read the CESRD research here.
Expert Advisory Panel members:
Dr Emer Begley, Senior Project Manager, National Dementia Office
Dr Tony Foley, GP and lecturer in the Department of General Practice in UCC
Matthew Gibb, Director, DSIDC, Alzheimer Café Donnybrook
Dr Louise Hopper, School of Psychology, DCU, Alzheimer Cafe Glasnevin
Prof Kate Irving, School of Nursing, Psychotherapy and Community health, DCU
Siobhan O’Connor, Head of Operations, Alzheimer Society of Ireland
Prof Eamon O’Shea, Director, Centre for Economic and Social Research in Dementia (CESRD)
Kevin and Helena Quaid, Irish Dementia Working Group (IDWG), Dementia Carers Campaign Network (DCCN) and Memory Café Kanturk.
How to join the network
The Irish Dementia Cafe Network is now processing dementia cafe applications. To apply, click here
About Engaging Dementia
Engaging Dementia’s mission is to facilitate communication, engagement and connection for people with dementia and their care partners. It does this through education, resources and community activities. Its training activities are focused on improving wellbeing for people with dementia through the use of music, sensory interventions, the outdoors, the creative arts, and evidence based therapeutic activities, especially the Sonas Programme. Its primary community activity relates to dementia cafes. Engaging Dementia pioneered the Alzheimer Café model in Ireland in 2011, and won the tender for the establishment of the Irish Dementia Cafe Network in August 2019. Click here to find out more.