Diocese of Lichfield
The Diocese of Lichfield is a Church of England diocese in the north West Midlands, serving near 2 million people in 1,744 square miles. Geographically, it covers parts of Sandwell, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Stoke-on-Trent, Telford and Wrekin, Walsall, and Wolverhampton.
- Updated:
- 29 September 2021
- Location:
- West Midlands
- Sectors:
- Communication, Membership Organisations, Voluntary Sector, Faith Groups, Schools
- Local Alliances:
- Wolverhampton Dementia Action Alliance, Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Dementia Action Alliance, Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin Dementia Action Alliance, South Staffordshire Dementia Action Alliance
1. Action Plan
1. The National Dementia Declaration lists seven outcomes that the DAA are seeking to achieve for people with dementia and their carers. How would you describe your organisation’s role in delivering better outcomes for people with dementia and their carers?
We seek to promote the spiritual, emotional, mental and physical well-being of all those living and working within the Diocese of Lichfield, in their local and global context, for this and future generations. We are a network of Christian communities around Staffordshire, Stoke-on-Trent, Walsall, Wolverhampton, and much of Sandwell, Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin, and with chaplaincies located in hospices, hospitals, prisons, educational institutions, the workplace and other organisations. We are committed to serve all those within the wider community. We work in partnership with other local groups to deliver services within our parishes. Our assets include our spiritual and religious traditions, our established pastoral networks of community care, over six hundred church buildings and halls, and a variety of resources for local communication. Our experience is particularly relevant to times of transition and at the end of life. Our values include the unconditional love of God and of neighbour.
2. What are the challenges to delivering these outcomes from the perspective of your organisation?
Responsibility for community involvement and pastoral care is exercised locally. Whilst much leadership is provided by professional clergy, most ministry in the community is delivered by church members on a voluntary basis. With limited resources and dependent on the skills and interests of those involved, there is a considerable variation in the priority given to working with those with dementia and their carers.
Member website
http://www.lichfield.anglican.org/2. Actions
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Diocese will promote training
For the 12 months from November 2016, we have expanded our dedicated “Dementia Enabler” roles from one person one day/week in one third of the Diocese to three people two days/week across the whole of the diocese. With the benefit of this additional resource, our activities for the 12 months to March 2018 include the following plans:
Run Dementia Friends Sunday services in 20 more churches across the Diocese.
Run four-session “Dementia-Friendly Churches" courses (or a one-day workshop covering the same material) in seven more areas.
Continue to support churches in the appropriate next steps that they identify for their local communities.
Maintain links with the churches already involved in dementia-friendly churches across the Diocese, including developing a dementia-friendly church Network, with meetings and with occasional training sessions to support and encourage those who are actively involved in helping churches to become more dementia-friendly.
Trial church services particularly suitable for those with dementia and their carers and provide some training on dementia-friendly services, including training for those leading worship in residential homes which include people with dementia.
Set up at least one more dementia group to support people living with dementia and their families/carers.
- Status:
- Delivery
2020 - Fourth Quarter Update
We are now expanding the team of people who can run the four-session "Dementia-Friendly Church" course or use bite-sized elements of it to increasing understanding about dementia and to open up local discussions.
In October 2020, we built on this by sharing the toolkit with 25 or so participants from the Diocese of Lichfield dementia-friendly churches network, to share all available material and allow it to be led by trained members of the network.
2020 - First Quarter Update
UPDATE TO FEBRUARY 2020
Training and awareness raising continues.
As at 1 January 2020, we have run 101 Dementia Friends Sunday services across the Diocese, making approximately 4,151 Dementia Friends at that services. We have held 31 "four session dementia-friendly churches courses" (or equivalent), attended by 575 people.
2019 - Second Quarter Update
UPDATE TO JUNE 2019
Good steady progress, with churches across the diocese continuing to hold a rolling programme of
Dementia Friends Sunday servicesFour session "Dementia-Friendly Churches" coursesAnnual ConferenceRegular Network meetings in different locations across the Diocese.All of this is supported with a bi-monthly Dementia-Friendly Churches Newsletter and an informative Diocesan website which includes resources on dementia-friendly churches www.lichfield.anglican.org/dementia
2018 - Second Quarter Update
UPDATE FOR JANUARY - JUNE 2018
In total we have now run Dementia Friends Sunday services in over 70 churches, creating more than 3000 Dementia Friends across the Diocese.
We have run over 20 four-session courses in total, covering more than 400 people.
Our churches are currently running 8 groups for people affected by dementia.
We are arranging a day-long training session on Saturday 6 October 2018 on "Dementia - Don't Forget the Carers!"
2017 - Fourth Quarter Update
UPDATE FOR MARCH-DEC 2017:
We have run 32 more Dementia Friends Sunday services across the Diocese.
We ran nine new courses (or one-day workshop equivalent) during this period.
Support for churches on next steps continues - focusing now particularly on Dementia-Friendly Churches Certificates (see separate action).
In north Shropshire, the dementia-friendly churches local Network is now established with four meetings taking place every 6 months. First Network meetings are taking place in the Black Country in early 2018.
We ran a "Dementia-Friendly Worship" day-long Diocesan training session in October 2017, which included specific workshops on leading worship in residential homes. One or two churches are trialling dementia-friendly worship and we are planning a broadcast of a dementia-friendly service with Radio Stoke in 2018.
A new church group for people affected by dementia started in Hinstock, north Shropshire in summer 2017.
2017 - First Quarter Update
We have provided training to 60 churches in the Diocese of Lichfield, with five additional churches each quarter.
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Share our resources in appropriate ways with others involved in dementia-friendly churches
For some time, we have been involved in sharing dementia-friendly church experience/ideas with others, including: - Helping to co-ordinate meetings of people from across Church of England Dioceses involved with dementia-friendly churches in 2015 and 2016. - Sharing information and material with people from other Dioceses. Most recently, this has involved: - Speaking at a conference in Wales in Dementia Action Week 2019. - On-going collaboration with the Diocese of Manchester, who are using our "Embarking / Embedding / Extending" model as set out on our website. Centrally, we have recently put the material we have produced on dementia-friendly churches on to the Diocese of Lichfield website so as to be freely available to others at www.lichfield.anglican.org/dementia, as well as pointing people on to other resources that we are aware of, that are helpful for anyone taking steps to become more dementia-friendly churches at the heart of dementia-friendly communities.
- Status:
- Being implemented
2020 - Fourth Quarter Update
The "Dementia-Friendly Churches" video for the Diocese of Lichfield is one of five videos now available, produced by Staffs University. The others cover The Diocese of Rochester, Churches Together in Cumbria and the Church in Wales - with a final video giving the national picture on dementia-friendly churches.
We continue to collaborate with other Dioceses, as and when inquiries are received. Most recently, we have shared resources about responses to the Covid-19 pandemic, recognising its particular impact on people living with dementia and sharing ways of keeping connections with people affected by dementia, with the Diocese of Bristol.
2020 - First Quarter Update
We continue to share material, responding to inquiries from other churches / Dioceses and anyone else who gets in touch with us. The dementia-friendly churches material on the Diocese of Lichfield website is available to others.
A key collaboration through 2019 involved working with the Diocese of Manchester to share our dementia-friendly churches material. Rev Dr David Primrose led a training day in Manchester early in 2019. Buildng on this, Sarah Thorpe led two training days in October 2019 sharing the Diocese of Lichfield material, including the approach to Dementia Friends Sunday services and the four-session "Dementia-Friendly Churches" course so that people who had attended the training day could lead these in the Diocese of Manchester.
Additionally, we have worked with Staffs University to produce an introductory video on "Building Dementia-Friendly Churches" to share our approach with others. This is due to be made widely available in early 2020.
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Four training programmes will be available locally
Four training programmes are available locally:
There’s More to Life: Four sessions for those in their late 50’s & 60’s, looking at spirituality; active ageing & life-long learning; volunteering & intergenerational relationships; future planning.
Sharing Ministry with Older People: Six sessions for pastoral carers involved with those in ‘deep old age’, covering: spirituality, worship and discipleship; dementia and depression; carers; healthy life-styles; local agencies, falls, fire and crime prevention; end of life.
Enabling Church: Eight sessions for church members covering a variety of disabilities, including dementia, prepared with Churches for All.
Lifting the Lid: Six sessions for church members introducing various aspects of mental health, produced in conjunction with Livability.
- Status:
- Delivery
2020 - Fourth Quarter Update
Modules offered in response to requests from parishes.
2020 - First Quarter Update
Modules offered in response to requests from parishes.
2019 - Second Quarter Update
Modules offered in response to requests from parishes,
2018 - Second Quarter Update
UDPATE FOR JANUARY - JUNE 2018
We continue to offer these modules in response to requests from parishes.
2017 - Fourth Quarter Update
We continue to offer these modules in response to requests from parishes; for example, an Enabling Church module was run in Shrewsbury this autumn.
2017 - First Quarter Update
All four modules are now available, and delivered on request to parishes within the Diocese of Lichfield. These generic courses can lead to the request for more specific training on dementia. Each module is delivered on average once each year.
2017 - First Quarter Update
All four modules are now available, and delivered on request to parishes within the Diocese of Lichfield. These generic courses can lead to the request for more specific training on dementia. Each module is delivered on average once each year.
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Support national dementia campaigns
We run Dementia Friends training within Sunday morning services, and on other occasions.
We encourage churches to participate in Dementia Awareness Week.
Our Director of Transforming Communities chairs the PMCG's Communities Thematic Group and its Faith in Dementia Task & Finish Group.
- Status:
- Delivery
2020 - Fourth Quarter Update
We are still actively working with national campaigns including
- We have just renewed our recognition by the Alzheimer's Society as a "dementia-friendly community".
- Members of our network are active in local Dementia Action Alliances and Dementia-Friendly Communities.
- We are active in supporting Dementia Action Week.
- We continue to run Dementia Friends Information Sessions.
- We are glad to participate in Alzheimer's Society's Webinars and sharing snippets information from these across the network.
2020 - First Quarter Update
We continue to work with national campaigns, including:
- Using Dementia Friends within Dementia Friends Sunday services - now we've led 101 services creating over 4000 Dementia Friends
- Diocese of Lichfield recognised as a dementia-friendly community, awarding Dementia-Friendly Churches Certificates to churches that sigh up to three action points for the year ahead
- Participation in Dementia Action Week activities.
2019 - Second Quarter Update
We are continuing to run Dementia Friends Sunday services, in response to requests from parishes,
The Diocese is maintaining it accreditation as a "dementia-friendly community": there are now approximately 55 churches which are recognised with a "Dementia-Friendly Churches Certificate as "working to become dementia-friendly".
For Dementia Action Week 2019, we shared a Dementia Action Week Prayer and a Dementia Action Week challenge, to share examples of church service sheets with pictures, to help people navigate through the service.
2018 - Second Quarter Update
We participated in Dementia Action Week 2018, including:
- Planning, preparing and participating in a broadcast of a dementia-friendly service during Dementia Action Week for Radio Stoke.
- Running a Diocese of Lichfield "noticeboard" campaign across social media, encouraging churches to share pictures of dementia-friendly church noticeboards.
- Holding a dementia-friendly "Strength for the Journey" service and two "Songs of Praise" services and making the format for these services available to other churches who wish to run a similar service.
- Held Palm Sunday Dementia Friendly Church Service which was recorded by BBC Radio Stoke, and broadcast during Dementia Action Week.
- Liaised with BBC Stoke for local interviews during that week.
2017 - Fourth Quarter Update
For example, there Shropshire Dementia Awareness Week day which started with a vintage tea-party at St Andrew's Church Aston church hall, with a walk from there to St John's Muxton Church Hall where a Forget-me-not film was shown.
The Diocese of Lichfield has been recognised in 2017 by the Alzheimer's Society as a "dementia-friendly community".
2017 - First Quarter Update
We have run 40 Dementia Friends Sunday Services, raising awareness and recruiting over 1200 Dementia Friends
We promoted activities associated with local churches during Dementia Awareness Week.
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Working on collaborations
We seek links with local DAAs, charities and healthcare agencies, usually with a focus on shared activity.
We plan for three local churches to join their DAA during the coming year.
We are developing links with other dioceses to share good practice.
- Status:
- Implementation
2020 - Fourth Quarter Update
Collaborations remain important to us.
Recent collaboration with Staffs University has produced five videos telling the story of dementia-friendly church activities - nationally, in the Diocese of Lichfield, in the Diocese of Rochester, in the Church in Wales and in Churches Together in Cumbria.
2020 - First Quarter Update
Collaborations are continuing including
- participation in local DAAs and local dementia-friendly communities - for example one of our Dementia Enablers is currently Vice-Chair of Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin Dementia Action Alliance
- collaboration with library in producing "Strength for the Journey" memory bags
- collaboration with Staffs University in producing "Building Dementia-Friendly Churches" videos with four dioceses actively engaged in this work
- collaboration with Diocese of Manchester, training them to use our dementia-friendly churches material.
2018 - Second Quarter Update
UPDATE FOR JANUARY - JUNE 2018
Sarah Thorpe is vice-chair of the Shropshire Telford & Wrekin DAA for 2018.
St Andrew's Church Little Aston and St Nicholas Church Newport are actively partipating in the newly formed Newport DAA.
St Oswald's Church Oswestry is looking to become actively involved in the newly formed Oswestry DAA.
In north Shropshire, there is a current project with the library and three local churches to develop additional memory bags for the libraries, based around the Pictures to Share books, including a "Strength for the Journey" memory bag.
We ran a "Dementia-Friendly Churches" day-long Workshop for Peterborough Diocese in February 2018.
We ran a "Dementia-Friendly Churches" day long Workshop for Guernsey churches in June 2018, with a Dementia Friends Sunday service the following day.
The ecumenical Dementia Friendly Churches work in and around Codsall was part of South Staffordshire District’s successful application for Dementia Friendly Status.
We contributed to the early work that has led to Livability’s “My Faith Matters” – a free resource supporting the spirituality of those living with dementia.
2017 - Fourth Quarter Update
We continue to collaborate with local DAAs.
We continue to share material with local dioceses. So we have spoken at conferences in Llangollen and Cardiff in 2017 and will be leading a day-long "Dementia-Friendly Worship" workshop in Corby in February 2018. The churches in Guernsey are currently inquiring whether we can lead a day-long workshop for them.
We are also in the process of including more detailed "dementia-friendly churches" information on our Diocese of Lichfield website, including resources that other churches/dioceses may be glad to share.
2017 - First Quarter Update
We are currently linked with the LDAAs in Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin.
We provide training for neighbouring dioceses.
We are leading on a nation-wide Dementia Friendly Churches gathering on 25th May 2017
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Enabling Church
The Enabling Church initiative promotes inclusivity for those living with disabilities, and their carers.
- Status:
- Completed
2017 - First Quarter Update
We have worked with Churches for All to establish their Enabling Church course, which is now nationally available.
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Area Resources
We will identify specific resources to address matters concerning church & dementia in designated areas.
- Status:
- Being implemented
2020 - Fourth Quarter Update
We are glad to share material and ideas and experiences via our website, via our Dementia-Friendly Churches Newsletter and via our Dementia-Friendly Churches Blogs.
2020 - First Quarter Update
Extensive material is available through our website. This is amended / updated as appropriate.
2019 - Second Quarter Update
We have made extensive material available on Diocese of Lichfield dementia-friendly churches website, at www.lichfield.anglican.org/dementia - both sharing our own resources and signposting people on to other resources which we find useful.
2018 - Second Quarter Update
JANUARY - JUNE 2018
From services run during Dementia Action Week 2018, we plan to share via our website the format for a dementia-friendly "Strength for the Journey" website and the format for a "Songs of Praise" service.
We are developing our website at www.lichfield.anglican.org/dementia including adding documents to the website to share with others.
We are planning a Diocese of Lichfield training day for Saturday 6 October entitled "Dementia - Don't Forget the Carers!"
2017 - Fourth Quarter Update
We ran a diocesan training session on "Dementia-Friendly Worship" in October 2017, which included a workshop specifically focusing on people with dementia in residential care.
2017 - First Quarter Update
Trial church services particularly suitable for those with dementia and their carers and provide some training on dementia-friendly services, including training for those leading worship in residential homes which include people with dementia.
Develop resources and provide training for ministers involved in funerals, bereavement support and end of life care for those with dementia and their families
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Research Collaboration
We will collaborate with Staffordshire University in assessing the effectiveness of our Dementia Friendly Church programme
- Status:
- Being implemented
2020 - Fourth Quarter Update
the impact of our Dementia-Friendly Sunday Services and our four-session Dementia-Friendly Churches course has been rigorously evaluated in a collaboration with Staffordshire University published in this year. The Retreat was carried out by Professor Peter Kevern of Staffordshire University and Rev Dr David Primrose, our Diocesan Enabler of Transforming Church and Communities. From the responses, we can affirm that there has been a community-level change, after the service and the course, making our churches more welcome and hospitable to someone living with dementia. You can read the full paper here; and you can read a blog summarising it here.
2020 - First Quarter Update
This collaboration is continuing - currently focusing on a short introductory video to "Building Dementia-Friendly Churches" within our Diocese (and three other Dioceses/church areas actively involved on dementia-friendly churches).
2019 - Second Quarter Update
The programme has involved using a questionnaire before we started to work with a church/group on "Dementia-Friendly Church" (for all groups/churches over the course of a year) and then repeating the same questionnaire a year later. We are just coming to the end of the cycle of asking participants to complete "follow up" questionnaires, a year on.
2018 - Second Quarter Update
UPDATE FOR JANUARY - JULY 2018
We have now completed the first year of data collection and we are returning to churches to get the same questionnaire completed a year later, so that the researchers can assess what has changed.
2017 - Fourth Quarter Update
The process of data collection is continuing.
2017 - First Quarter Update
We are beginning the process of data collection.
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Use Dementia-Friendly Churches Certificates to embed dementia-friendly churches
Now that the Diocese of Lichfield has been recognised as a dementia-friendly community by the Alzheimer's Society, we have developed a "Dementia-Friendly Churches Certificate" which we are using as a key element for helping to make sure that dementia-friendly church isn't "something we did a year or two ago", but is part of the on-going transformative work of our churches in our local communities. We aim to get individual churches signed up with three action points, in return for using the "Working to become dementia-friendly" logo.
- Status:
- Implementation
2020 - Fourth Quarter Update
We have been working to streamline the process for agreeing dementia-friendly church Certificates, including compiling one complete list of all participating churches, with details of actions agreed to in previous years. This is necessary as we move to the new phase where one Dementia-Friendly Church Enabler is covering the whole Diocese of Lichfield; and it also allows this information to be shared effectively within the Diocese, recognising the actions that are being taken by participating churches. It may further enable external publicity for participating churches, in due course. This process has been assisted by endorsement of Dementia-Friendy Churches Certificates by Bishop Michael Ipgrave, the Bishop of Lichfield. From November 2020, he has agreed personally to sign every Certificate that we issue. We have designed a revamped Certificate to mark this transition. Further, we have worked with churches on a whole range of appropriate actions to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic, including ways of keeping connections during this season, ways of supporting residential care homes, publicising resources available (including, for example, the national Hope Line phone line or music4dementia radio etc) and putting articles about dementia in parish magazines, to raise awareness and increase understanding and to open up conversations.
2020 - First Quarter Update
The current tally for Certificates, as at 1 January 2020, is that we have 40 current Dementia-Friendly Churches Certificates, covering a total of 71 churches. Each Certificate lasts for 12 months, and then it needs to be renewed: some churches are now on to their third Certificate.
2019 - Second Quarter Update
We now have approximately 55 churches signed up with Dementia-Friendly Churches Certificates. Each Certificate lasts for a year, so we are now issuing new Certificates, with a new set of action points, for churches that signed up to Certificates early on.
2018 - Second Quarter Update
We now have more than 20 churches across the Diocese that are signed up to a "Dementia-Friendly Churches Certificate" with at leas three action points. We have over 40 further churches involved with dementia-friendly churches and we aim to sign up further churches from this group.