Helping at memory cafes is uplifting - solicitor

Volunteering at memory cafes after her grandmother had dementia was an "uplifting experience" that helped sufferers and carers, a solicitor said.

Michelle Monnes-Thomas helps families with challenging care decisions and care assessments and is an Alzheimers Society Dementia Friends Training Champion.

She was inspired to help the charity and families through her work after her experience of "navigating the maze of the care system" when her grandmother was diagnosed.

Working as a solicitor in Wolverhampton she said it was "incredibly important" to get legal matters in place for someone who has dementia.

"We started to try to navigate a maze of the care system which is very confusing and complex for a lot of families," she said.

"We were very much reliant on the medical teams and the care support staff that we experienced.

"We then started to look at Alzheimer's and dementia and what that meant for us and a family and how we could support her but it's really post her passing that, I was really determined that other families shouldn't go through what we did with that minefield and not really knowing what we could or couldn't do."

The firm she works for, FBC Manby Bowdler, sit on the Wolverhampton Dementia Action Alliance which is made up of a "fantastic group of individuals" who span many areas including the NHS and the city's Grand Theatre and discuss how people can be helped to stay in their homes and receive support.

She said "lifetime planning" was vital when someone has been diagnosed, particularly arranging power of attorney.

"You're already facing a very traumatic and stressful situation and quite often its not your loved one who is dealing with that stress because they have got a condition that affects their capacity to deal with those issues."

She said she wanted to volunteer at the memory cafes because of her personal and professional connection to people with the disease.

"It's such an uplifting experience... [people] can just go along and have some cake and have a chat and just have a wonderful couple of hours where the world is just a better place for individuals..."

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