Dementia Friendly Falkirk are a group of professionals who are working together to offer training, advice and support.  The aim is to work towards Falkirk becoming more accessible for people who have a diagnosis of dementia, their families and carers.

Since commencing, as a group, we have made links with Denny High School.  Student Placements were offered within Dollar Park Dementia Service.  Moving forward we hope to open up this opportunity to other Falkirk based High Schools.  It is hoped that by offering such placements students will be in a position to increase their knowledge of Dementia and see the positive sides of working with this client group.

We also have links with Forth Valley College and offer placements for HNC Students. 

Intergenerational work is already ongoing with Bantaskine Nursery.  The Nursery children visit Dollar Park Dementia Service on a weekly basis and work on an activity with the service users who attend on that day.  The next step is to expand this to include a Grangemouth Nursery where service users with dementia will have the opportunity to visit the Nursery on a regular basis. 

We have now met with Torwood Garden Centre who are extremely keen to work alongside us .  We will provide inhouse training for the staff and they have already agreed to look at their cafes, signage and toilet area.  The Garden Centre are already planning for Christmas and they will look at how they can make a visit to their garden centre accessible and a pleasant experience for anyone with dementia and their families.  We will keep you posted nearer the time.

Our next step is to link in with Falkirk Delivers.  We will meet with local businesses in Falkirk Town Centre and work along side them to see what positive changes can be made to make the Town Centre dementia friendly.  By moving forward with this plan we are aiming to entice people from the Falkirk Area back into the Town Centre and businesses. 

We have a lot to work ahead over the next few months however will keep you all updated.

Our Dementia Friendly Falkirk meetings take place in our building at Dollar Park every 6th Tuesday between 3:15pm – 4:45pm. The 2025 meeting dates are:

• Tuesday 21st January
• Tuesday 4th March
• Tuesday 15th April
• Tuesday 27th May
• Tuesday 8th July
• Tuesday 19th August
• Tuesday 30th September
• Tuesday 11th November
• Tuesday 23rd December

Come along and join us for a chat and share information, which will help raise awareness of dementia in the Falkirk community. The group is made up of a mix of people with lived experience and professionals, who are looking to share their knowledge and expertise.

We’ve also been updating our own local map to showcase Dementia Friendly Places in Falkirk to give our service users and carers information on community resources which might be more appropriate for their needs.