You are not alone

At this month’s Fabulous forgetful Friends meeting, we designed a leaflet to share with other people who have been newly diagnosed, our main goal to reassure others that ‘You are not alone’

Every member of the group could recall how they felt when they received their diagnosis, and how they felt after it.

They want to reach out to others and share their knowledge and experience and offer a supporting hand.

The leaflet will be previewed by the group at our next meeting, which will take place in one of our favourite pubs for fish & chips!

Once everyone is happy it will go to print and soon be circulated across memory clinics and given to dementia support advisors’ in Manchester to spread positive messages of support and friendship,

Who are we?

Fabulous Forgetful Friends are a group of people living in Manchester who have a recent diagnosis** of Dementia or MCI (Mild Cognitive Impairment) and who want to use their skills to make a difference.

**although two of our founding members have been with the group for 10 years!)

Our aims:

To change people’s views of Dementia

“We want to be supported and have understanding”, we want to fight discrimination & stereotypes, “we are all people, and we are all different”

“To see it in context with other long term/ life changing ‘conditions’ – not ‘a taboo”

·We want to tell others recently diagnosed with Dementia,

‘don’t panic or think that your life has ended, we are also living with dementia and we’re living quite well, enjoying ourselves, helping others, keeping fit, and living one day at a time’. We know there may be challenges and sometimes you might need help from a relative or friend but, with adjustments, you can still live a full life.”

Our offer:

Friendship, we offer a place where people can talk about things and support each other. We also plan some social trips together – as laughing and having fun is so important to us.

We influence and inspire having our say about services that affect us in Manchester, by getting involved in campaigns, and creating innovative projects to teach other people about living with Dementia.

We ‘enable voices to be heard’ regarding ‘post diagnosis’ needs, and share our ‘lived experience’ and knowledge with many ‘new audiences’ in a positive way – e.g. speaking at conferences to nurses, consultants and many other health / social care professionals