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What are Sensory Activities for Dementia?

There are lots of sensory activities that can be done with people with learning disabilities. One of these activities includes the Happiness Programme, interactive light technology that features over 80 inclusive games and activities that cater to a wide variety of people.

Not a member of the Happiness Programme?

The Happiness Programme is a first-of-its-kind initiative helping to change the lives of people living with cognitive challenges. We use interactive light technology to provide meaningful activities for residents and patients in care homes and care settings.  For more detail on what the Happiness Programme is and how it’s helping care venues across the UK, visit our getting started page.  

Alternatively, jump to our dementialearning disability and NHS pages for more specific detail on how it’s helping care homes like Barchester and HC-One as well as hospitals and local authorities such as St George’s Hospital, London and Westminster and South Kensington Council.  

For anything else, you can contact us here too. 

An Introduction to Therapeutic Interventions

Therapeutic interventions can be incredibly useful for people with cognitive challenges, providing comfort and distraction for people experiencing challenging moments and as tools for care staff. 

 

We believe the Happiness Programme can be an incredibly effective therapeutic intervention, helping to develop person-centred care and create more positive experiences.

 

To help guide the use of the Happiness Programme as a therapeutic intervention, we’ve written this blog article and produced a short webinar.

 

Before getting started, if you’d like to hear how another care venue is already using the Happiness Programme as a therapeutic intervention, check out our Harbour Healthcare case study.

 

 

Watch the webinar

 

Why do we encourage therapeutic intervention?

We encourage using the Happiness Programme for therapeutic interventions for a few reasons. It can be a great way to help support with:

  • Reducing challenging behaviours
  • Alleviating stress at certain times of the day
  • Helping residents with certain habits
  • Supporting / increasing positive behaviours

 

How do we achieve therapeutic interventions?

Therapeutic interventions are predominately used to help calm and settle residents who are experiencing challenging moments. We hope that the Happiness Programme will allow you to create the best conditions possible for residents. So, how can you use the Happiness Programme to aid in these moments of distress?

Appropriate environments

The Happiness Programme can be used to create appropriate environments for your residents. Using our sensory based features such as Ripples or Star Gaze, you can provide a relaxing atmosphere to help residents feel calmer and more present. Adding music can also be a great way to try and ensure that your therapeutic interventions are as effective as possible.

Tools for focus and/or distraction

When residents are experiencing moments of discomfort or stress, the Happiness Programme can provide points of focus or distraction. Deep Breaths can be an effective tool for focus as you can guide the resident through the breaths to bring about a sense of calm. Flower Bloom can also provide a good distraction as it encourages gentle activity. The bright colours will also draw the eye in to promote concentration on the game, and not on an upsetting trigger or moment.

Increasing levels of socialising and physical awareness

The Happiness Programme is a great tool for encouraging more effective and frequent communication for people living with dementia. Our games such as Pond Fishing or Paint A Picture are designed to allow for a collaborative play and encourage socialisation between residents and staff.

 

What Happiness Programme features do we recommend for therapeutic interventions?

  • Pond Fishing
  • Flower Bloom
  • Rose Petals
  • Star Gaze
  • Ripples
  • Deep Breaths
  • Paint A Picture
  • Hot Air Balloons

That’s it for this blog and webinar. We hope you find the content useful and are motivated to start adopting this in your own care setting. We’d love to hear and see feedback on use of therapeutic interventions – subscribers can join our Facebook group to share ideas and be inspired by other care venues.

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