Keeping the World Open: What Enrichment Really Looks Like
- 1 day ago
- 5 min read
When we launched YODC Enrichment, we weren't entirely sure where it would take us. That was intentional. The idea was never to fill a calendar simply to keep people occupied. It was to create opportunities for people living with younger onset dementia to keep experiencing life, to get out into the community, try something different, revisit familiar places, discover new interests and, above all, share those experiences with others at a similar stage of life.
A few months in, Enrichment is teaching us a thing or two. Sometimes the destination matters. Sometimes what happens around it matters even more.
Starting with connection
Our first Enrichment Day was deliberately simple. We already had a good group, but one of the loveliest moments was welcoming Marie into the Collective for the first time. It’s quite enriching to watch a new person arrive cautiously and little by little, settle in. Conversations start. Someone recognises something in another person's experience. There is a laugh and a "me too" moment. The unfamiliar becomes a little more familiar. That first day reinforced exactly why Enrichment had been created. To help people feel seen, understood and connected.
Fresh air and an unexpected visitor
Our Ambury Park Enrichment meant fresh air, coastal walkways, conversation and several hours of rambling together with many special moments.
One of those special moments was when one of Ambury's beautiful Clydesdale horses decided to join us. Initially well out in the paddock, the horse somehow spotted our group and slowly wandered over. People gathered around without hesitation, spending time up close with this enormous, gentle animal. Unplanned and spontaneous, it became one of the most memorable parts of the day.
Afterwards we walked, talked and eventually gathered around a table for lunch. Nature. Movement. Friendship. Laughter. An unexpected encounter. Enrichment can be all of those things.
Music – and the bangiest of bangers
Then there was a very different kind of experience.
A group headed along to a Singalong with Fiona McDonald, where the combination of a microphone, ukulele, great songs and Fiona's infectious energy soon had an entire room singing, laughing and eventually dancing.
Nobody needed to be a good singer. That wasn't the point. With lyrics projected onto the screen and a brilliant mix of familiar favourites, Kiwi classics and newer songs, everyone could participate.
Music has an extraordinary ability to unlock something in us. Memories perhaps, but also emotion, confidence, rhythm and connection. For a couple of hours nobody was being defined by a diagnosis but were simply part of a crowd having a very good time.
Real experiences. Real inclusion. Real fun.
Friendship is precious
Our visit to Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Temple offered something different again.
The architecture and peaceful surroundings were beautiful, but it was some of the words displayed throughout the temple that stayed with us.
Messages about kindness, compassion, humility and gratitude seemed particularly relevant to a group navigating the considerable changes younger onset dementia can bring.
But the simplest message perhaps said the most:
"Friendships are Precious."
A diagnosis may change many things, but it should never mean losing the opportunity for friendship, belonging and shared experiences.
We explored, slowed down, talked and finished, as we so often do, by gathering together over lunch.
MOTAT through adult eyes
For many of us, MOTAT was somewhere remembered from years ago. Returning as adults proved surprisingly good fun.
Vintage classrooms, heritage buildings, trams, fire engines, interactive exhibits and plenty of hands-on activities gave us lots to explore, and more than a few opportunities for silliness.
The weather came to the party too, delivering a glorious Auckland winter day.
Our visit was made possible through complimentary passes facilitated by Fair Food as part of National Volunteer Week, a particularly meaningful gesture given the contribution people from our Collective make each week as volunteers.
It was another reminder that participation works both ways. People living with younger onset dementia aren't simply recipients of community goodwill. They are contributors to it too.
Discovering the person behind the condition
Another Enrichment outings took us to Auckland Museum for Wildlife Photographer of the Year, the world's longest-running and most prestigious nature photography competition, direct from London's Natural History Museum.
The images were extraordinary. Some inspired wonder and joy. Others provoked emotion and conversation. A few were confronting, capturing the sometimes-brutal realities of nature, including the relationship between hunter and prey.
But our biggest discovery that day wasn't hanging on a museum wall. It was standing beside us.
Somewhere during the day we discovered that Steve, one of our own group, is a passionate wildlife photographer. Steve was remarkably nonchalant about this. Then we saw his photographs.
Beautiful wildlife images revealed years of patient observation, skill and an obvious love of the natural world.
It was such a lovely reminder of something we believe deeply at YODC:
There is always a person behind the condition.
A diagnosis tells us almost nothing about who somebody is. It doesn't tell us what they have done, what fascinates them, what makes them laugh, what they know, what they can teach us or what talents may still be waiting to be discovered. Enrichment gives us the time together to find out.
And then we discovered competitive whistling
Our latest outing may have been the quirkiest yet.
Our group headed to the New Zealand International Film Festival to see Whistle, a funny, warm and fascinating documentary exploring the wonderfully unexpected world of competitive musical whistling and the people who have devoted themselves to mastering it.
We arrived early, caught up over a chat and, for a while, wondered whether we might have the theatre entirely to ourselves.
The film took us into a world most of us knew absolutely nothing about. It was entertaining, fascinating and just unusual enough to make for a great Enrichment choice.
By the end, however, we were all quietly grateful that we don't appear to have any professional whistlers in the Collective.
Yet again, what happened afterwards became just as important as the planned activity.
Auckland had turned on magnificent sunshine, so instead of heading home we made our way down to the harbour for lunch. What was intended to be a reasonably quick stop wasn't.
Nobody seemed particularly interested in leaving. Lunch stretched into a long, leisurely afternoon of food, conversation, sunshine and laughter.
And why rush?
Perhaps this is what enrichment really looks like
Looking back across these first Enrichment experiences, there isn't an obvious common thread in the activities themselves.
A Clydesdale horse. A Buddhist temple. A singalong. MOTAT. World-class wildlife photography.
Competitive whistling.
And that's exactly how we want it.
People living with younger onset dementia are not one homogeneous group with one set of interests. They are younger people with different personalities, histories, abilities, passions and preferences. Enrichment should reflect that.
But beneath the variety, something consistent is happening. People are getting out. They're participating in ordinary community life. They're walking, talking, singing, laughing, learning, exploring and discovering.
New people are being welcomed. Friendships are developing. Volunteer supporters are becoming part of the group rather than standing apart from it. And shared experiences are giving everyone something new to talk about.
For people living with younger onset dementia, whose worlds can become smaller remarkably quickly after diagnosis, that matters.
Enrichment is about keeping the world open.
It's about continuing to have somewhere to go, something to look forward to and people to share it with. It's sitting around a table long after lunch should have finished because the sun is shining, the conversation is flowing, people are laughing and nobody is quite ready to go home yet.
That's enrichment too. CLICK HERE to learn more about Young Onset Dementia Collective Enrichment
