We depend on public generosity to raise the funds we need. Please help us to reach the thousands of people who would benefit so much by learning about our approach and method.

The Contented Dementia Trust hopes to raise £25,000 to develop and launch an online e-learning training programme to help people to understand and implement the SPECAL method for managing dementia.

The SPECAL method offers both family and professional carers a practical way of sustaining lifelong well-being for people with dementia and everyone involved in their care.

For payments by cheque see details here

The need

The Trust is receiving increasing numbers of requests from families and professionals based in the UK and overseas who cannot travel to our Centre of Excellence at Burford for training.  It is vital that we meet their needs, whether at a basic or advanced level, and that we increase the number of qualified SPECAL Practitioners.

The proposed e-learning programme would provide a practical and cost-effective introduction to the SPECAL method, enabling both family and professional carers to explore and experience the benefits of this unique method.

The SPECAL method has already been shown to achieve extraordinary outcomes:

  • sustained well-being
  • reduced medication
  • extended time living at home
  • crisis-free transition to residential care, if this becomes necessary
  • reported plateau effect in disease progression
  • reduced carer guilt and stress

The key to the SPECAL method lies in something called the SPECAL Photograph Album.  This uses a simple analogy (not an actual album) in a particular way, to convey the experience of dementia as seen from the perspective of the person with the condition.

The SPECAL Photograph Album lays the foundation for all higher level training in the SPECAL method, pointing the way to sustainable well-being, 24 hours a day, every day, for life.

The SPECAL Photograph Album way of understanding dementia gives rise to a set of basic principles which apply to each and every person with dementia.  Our e-learning training programme will provide the rationale for adopting these basic principles, which have the capacity to make a remarkable difference to the way the dementia journey unfolds.

The programme will be developed by an existing e-learning specialist provider who has a proven track record in the field, supported by a team of professional film makers closely associated with the Contented Dementia Trust.

We need to raise £25,000 to develop and build the first component of our overall e-learning training programme, which will teach the basic stages of understanding and implementing the SPECAL method.

We’re hoping you can help us to achieve this goal – it could make a huge difference to so many lives.

Donate now