London, 20 April 2022: Social-Ability, a social venture aimed at supporting the lives of people living with cognitive challenges such as dementia, has announced its partnership with Wolverhampton Council and Durham County Council to introduce its Happiness Programme to care homes and day services across the districts.
The deals include the provision of Social-Ability’s Happiness Programme to 5 care homes in Wolverhampton, along with 10 care homes and day centres in Durham.
Social-Ability’s Happiness Programme is a holistic therapy for people living with cognitive challenges such as dementia, aiming to improve care outcomes and individuals’ wellbeing. The programme uses interactive light technology, via a projector called the magic table 360, to project images onto a surface allowing those with care needs to play games, listen to music, and interact with pictures.
This technology facilitates social, sensory, and cognitive activity, encouraging people to play games with each other, with the aim of improving their wellbeing through keeping them active and social. Each activity on the projector has a different purpose, with some, such as the Happy Memories feature, allowing family members to share pictures with their loved ones in care homes, stimulating reminiscence that is particularly beneficial for people living with dementia.
The Happiness Programme has played a vital role throughout the pandemic, as care home residents and those living with care needs out in society have been some of the people most affected by lockdowns. For many, it’s been vital in providing meaningful and stimulating activity, sustaining the wellbeing of residents and easing the workload and pressure of care workers.
Dementia is particularly prevalent in UK care homes, and the condition is expected to grow in the coming years, with the latest findings from the Lancet Public Health predicting a trebling of cases by 2050. With the NHS already facing a backlog of 50,000, it is crucial that councils are making the necessary investments to help mitigate the impact of dementia.
John Ramsay, Managing Director of Social-Ability, said: “We welcome the investments from Wolverhampton and Durham councils to bring the Happiness Programme to local care homes and day centres. It is fantastic to be delivering positive, feel-good change all across the country and hear from care staff and residents about the substantial difference the technology has made. We look forward to continuing our relationships with these councils and hope to further expand the programme across the country.”
