Mental Health Minister Maureen Watt alongside constituency staff and local councillors visited the Alzheimer Scotland Aberdeen Dementia Resource Centre recently to take part in a Dementia Friends information session to help support dementia-friendly communities.

Alzheimer Scotland entered Scotland’s Dementia Awareness Week (4-10 June) by celebrating a major new milestone with 60,000 people joining the Dementia Friends initiative across Scotland which tackles perceptions of dementia. With increasing numbers living with the condition, the Dementia Friends programme aims to transform the way the nation acts, things and talks about the condition as well as challenging the stigma of the condition which still exists.

Mental Health Minister Maureen Watt, said: “Around 85-90,000 people in Scotland live with dementia, and the Dementia Friends programme tackles the stigma and lack of understanding that lead to many people with the condition experiencing loneliness and isolation. Dementia Friends awareness training helps us to learn more about dementia and the small things everyone can do to help. I recently took part in a Dementia Friends awareness session at the Alzheimer Scotland Resource Centre in Aberdeen along with my constituency staff and local councillors. These invaluable sessions aim to change the way we think, talk and act about dementia.”

Anne McWhinnie. Dementia Friends Programme Manager, said: “We were delighted to host the Dementia Friends information session for the Mental Health Minister Maureen Watt, her constituency office staff and local councillors in Aberdeen. This is a crucial step towards building a Dementia Friendly Scotland, where nobody should face dementia alone.”

Find out about dementia and what’s it’s like to live with the condition by becoming a Dementia Friend at www.dementiafriendsscotland.org. The Dementia Friends programme is supported by the ScottishPower Foundation.

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