The director of the Awen Institute, Andrea Tales, recently chaired the Arts 4 Dementia’s Wales meeting, which focussed on social prescribing to weekly arts and wellbeing activity as peri-diagnostic practice for dementia. The meeting took place remotely on Monday 15 March.
The meeting looked into bridging the gap between the increasingly anxious, unsupported months leading to memory assessment and diagnosis. Through reviewing the patient journey, the meeting discussed referral to social prescribing to arts opportunities for brain health, pre-diagnosis, and to embed the practice on the point of referral to memory assessment.
Andrea, who holds a Personal Chair in Neuropsychology and Dementia Research, joined numerous speakers at the meeting from organisations including National Museum Wales, Public Health Wales, Cardiff and Vale University Health Board, Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board and Swansea City Council.
Andrea said: “It was a great honour and pleasure to Chair the Arts 4 Dementia meeting on social prescribing to arts as peri-diagnostic practice in Wales and also to hear of the wide range of amazing initiatives undertaken across Wales and further afield. The ethos of Arts 4 Dementia is very much one the Awen Institute subscribes to and we look forward to making further links and exploring collaborations.”
