“Engagement is everyone’s business!”.

How often have you heard this mantra uttered? Or recited it yourself, quietly under your breath, or out loud to colleagues and service management?

It is true that all aged care staff have a role in supporting clients to have a ‘good day’- a day full of opportunities to engage in a range of meaningful and purposeful activities: helping hospitality staff set tables for meals, assisting the gardener with watering, folding towels fresh from the laundry ready to be used the next day, facilitating today’s ‘news of the day’ activity. The list is endless!

However, non-lifestyle/recreation staff can face a range of challenges in taking up this role and recognising that EVERYTHING that a client does is an ‘activity’. Aged care is sometimes task oriented, resources can be scarce, roles can be narrowly interpreted, and there may be limited support from other team members and management. Sometimes staff don’t feel that they have permission to play a role in engaging clients. After all – that’s ‘Lifestyle’s job!”

Many staff who do not work in Leasure & Recreation lack confidence in their ability to support engagement for clients. And many aged care training courses have limited focus on the knowledge and skills needed to safely and effectively engage clients.

This is especially true when supporting people with dementia, where the work environment, myths, stigma, and misunderstandings of the abilities and strengths of people living with dementia can present even more challenges.

This presentation will describe the MEMS, or Meaningful Engagement Mentors program developed by the Centre for Dementia Learning at Dementia Australia to address the challenges non-lifestyle/recreation staff can face supporting meaningful engagement.

We will share how the program:
• Involves senior management to gain support for what can be a significant change in the ‘way we do things around here’,
• How the team of mentors is chosen and supported to develop the dementia knowledge and the skills needed to create and modifying activities for clients in the various stages of their dementia.
• How we celebrate the success of each staff member who has created and implemented a range of engagement activities for a client and mentored other staff in its use.
The presentation will be full of practical examples and stories of staff successfully rising to the challenge of supporting people living with dementia to ‘live their best life’.