Dementia Walks

This toolkit will help local community groups and organisations to map dementia walks in their area. These walks can create great opportunities for people living with dementia to enjoy with their carers to be active.

Walking is a fantastic way for people living with dementia to be active. It brings benefits like reducing the severity of some symptoms and improving overall wellbeing. People with Dementia also often report feeling isolated within their communities. Going out for a walk together helps to reduce feelings of isolation.

The Norfolk Easy Ambles toolkit includes a checklist of things to consider when creating a walk for someone with Dementia. This includes practical considerations, such as does the walk have toilets? Are there benches to take a rest? It also helps you look for prompts to stimulate memories and conversation. The video above explains how to map a dementia-friendly walk.

How can dementia walks help those with dementia?

Mapping your own dementia walks can help to:

• Help people living with dementia to feel part of your community
• Benefit health and wellbeing by giving people living with dementia more opportunities to be active
• Improve engagement with local services and organisations

Basically, you’ll be contributing to helping those with dementia stay active. This will make a huge difference in their lives. It can also be a really fun task to keep your mind busy whilst out on your own walks.

Use the checklist below to make sure your walk is dementia-friendly, and watch the video for a more detailed explanation of how to map your walk.