Opening Doors London, a UK charity providing support, guidance and information for LGBT communities, has launched a new café for LGBT people living with dementia.
Rainbow Café is a community space where people affected by dementia can meet and receive support. The main objective of the project is to make people feel safe and understood.
The regular meetings will happen over tea, coffee and cakes and will involve social activities and information sharing. The organisers hope that the project is going to evolve on its own overtime and activities shaped by the attendees themselves.
Opening Doors London is a membership body which aims to support ageing members of the UK LGBT community. They organise events for members and also provides specialist training for organisations and statutory bodies to help them identify the needs of older LGBT people.
The first Rainbow Café meeting took place on the 9th of October and regular meetings are now scheduled for every second Monday of the month.
Being diagnosed with dementia can lead to isolation, and members of the LGBT community can sometimes face additional isolation.
One attendee of the café launch, who lives with a partner affected by dementia, said:
“We’ve been through a lot, but the Rainbow Café will be a wonderful opportunity to share our experiences with other gay people and to feel we can really be ourselves.”
The café was set up with the Ageing Better project in Camden-a partnership of older people and Camden organisations, working together to tackle social isolation and loneliness among older people, which is supported by Big Lottery Funding.
The café is held at Tavis House, 1-6 Tavistock Square, London.
