Alive!

Alive!, founded as a charity in 2009, provides activity sessions for older people living in residential care

In many care homes, older people have very little to do with their time, often experiencing feelings of boredom and isolation

Alive! has a strong belief that older people accessing care services should be able to connect with their hobbies, interests and the things they are passionate about

Starting off as the idea of director Tim Lloyd Yeates, Alive! now has 15 presenters providing activity sessions in over 200 care homes

Alive! provides workshops which are person-centred, overcoming barriers to provide inclusive activities for all

The majority of people they work with are living with dementia

They work in over 200 care homes across 9 counties, including Bristol, Hampshire, Dorset, Gloucestershire and West Sussex.

Alive! also works with older people attending day centres as well as with younger people who are living with physical or mental impairments

Alive! provides a range of activities, including music, dance movement, art and reminiscence activities using iPads and the internet

Their Guided Reminiscence sessions allow older people to see things which are significant to them using a 3G iPad which is hooked up to a video projector – The wealth of materials online means that each individual can see something they will enjoy

They also provide one-to-one sessions with older people who are not able to join in with group activities

Alive! presenters are skilled at connecting with older people, making each individual feel valued in every session by remembering names, saying hello and goodbye to each person in turn and treating each person as an individual

Their work with older people and iPads has been researched by the University of Worcester and documented at www.memoryappsfordementia.org.uk

They also provide training courses for care staff in how to run successful activity sessions with older people (find out more by calling 0117 3774756)

You can follow Alive! on Facebook, Twitter, linkedin and Pinterest

Alive! is entirely dependent on donations to survive – you can donate through their LocalGiving page