Transforming the Quality of Life for People with Dementia through Contact with the Natural World

Rachael Litherland co-founded Innovations in Dementia with Nada Savitch in 2007. She has a background in psychology and advocacy and is particularly interested in ways of working that enhance people's day to day lives. She especially enjoys working with people with dementia in care homes, having begun her working life managing an advocacy project for care home residents with dementia in London. Rachael has focused for the past few years on involvement methods and has seen a lot of change from the early 2000s when she set up an involvement programme for the Alzheimer's Society. Mary Marshall is a social worker who has worked with older people for most of her professional career. She was the director of the Dementia Services Development Centre at the University of Stirling from 1989 until she retired in 2005, and now writes and lectures in dementia care. Mary chaired the steering group for the new dementia standards in Scotland. John Killick has been the Writer in Residence and Poet Mentor on several Poetry and Dementia projects over the last 25 years. He currently runs a residential Poetry and Dementia course in Wales.

• Introduction. Jane Gilliard and Mary Marshall. 1. Dementia, Spirituality and Nature. Malcolm Goldsmith, author of In A Strange Land and Hearing the Voice of People with Dementia and former Research Fellow, Dementia Services Development Centre, University of Stirling, Scotland. 2. Sunlight and Daylight. David McNair, Director of Lighting, Dementia Services Development Centre, University of Stirling, Scotland. 3. Living with Dementia through the Changing Seasons. Neil Mapes, Director of Dementia Adventure CIC, Essex, UK. 4. The Forget Me Not Centre. Linda Hughes, Lead Occupational Therapist, Forget Me Not Centre, Swindon, UK. 5. From Demedicalisation to Renaturalisation: Dementia and Nature in Harmony. Peter Whitehouse, Geriatric Neurologist, The Intergenerational School and Case Western Reserve University, USA, Danny George, Department of Humanities, Penn State College of Medicine, USA, Johanna Wigg, The Vicarage by the Sea, Inc., Maine, USA and Brett Joseph, Environmental Educator and Farmer/Permaculturalist, Center for Ecological Culture, Inc., Ohio, USA. 'A Walking Panacea.' Brian and June Hennell. 6. Farming for Health: Exploring Benefits of Green Care Farms for Dementia Patients. Simone De Bruin, Researcher, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven, the Netherlands, Simon Oosting, Assistant Professor, Department of Animal Sciences, Wageningen University, the Netherlands, Marie-José Enders-Slegers, Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, Utrecht University, the Netherlands and Jos Schols. 7. No Roof but the Sky Above My Head. James McKillop, MBE. 8. Animal Assisted Activities (AAA) for People Living with Dementia. Marcus Fellows, Chief Executive, BCOP, UK and Ann Rainsford. 9. Gardening and Dementia. Members of the Park Club, Age Concern Exeter, UK and Rachael Litherland, Innovations in Dementia, CIC, UK. 10. Allotments. Lorraine Robertson, Alzheimer Scotland. 'Things Aren't What They Used to Be.' Trevor Jarvis. 11. Creativity Outdoors. Claire Craig, Art and Design Research Centre, Sheffield Hallam University, UK. 12. The Therapeutic Mountain: The AlzheimUr CENTRE (Murcia, Spain). Halldóra Arnardóttir, PhD Art Historian and Javier Sánchez Merina, Architect, Sarq Architecture Office and Hospital Virgen de la Arrixaca, Murcia, Spain. 13. Three Voices. Scottish Dementia Working Group. 14. Arne Naess: A Reflection. Peter Whitehouse, Geriatric Neurologist, The Intergenerational School and Case Western Reserve University, USA. 15. Nature, Spiritual Care and Dementia from an Asian Perspective. Manjit Kaur Nijjar and carers. 'Up and Away' and 'An Eyeshot in Summer.' John Killick, Poet and Writer in Residence for Alzheimer Scotland. Concluding Reflections. Jane Gilliard and Mary Marshall. The Editors. The Contributors. Index.

Providing a compelling case for both the need for therapeutic intervention, delivered through the medium of the great outdoors and the need to see the service user as a person first, this text is a timely reminder in these figure focussed times that as therapists we have more to offer than a focus simply on service users daily routines.