Recently when applying for some funding I spent a good deal of time thinking about Autonomy as being a core value, an outcome and a journey this made sense to me and I came up with the following:
Our project wishes to achieve a set of outcomes that can be summed up by the word Autonomy;
Activity
Understanding
Togetherness
Originality
Normalising
Order
Meaning
Youthfulness
The word autonomy not only describes one of our core values as a group but it is also what we strive for in our lives whether we are people with cognitive impairments, family members, carers or workers. The project seeks to achieve all of the above and more.
Activity
One of our main beliefs in Deepness is that meaningful activity is an essential component of living well with dementia as it both keeps the mind active and gives many of us a reason to keep going. Most of the activities in the proposed project require input that will stretch those with dementia but doing so within a safe environment and with support that will ensure success.
Understanding
We believe that this project will foster greater understanding of the effects that dementia has on all of the stakeholders involved including people with dementia, their families, Carers, the workforce and the wider public. This understanding will be fostered by the use of a narrative approach to co-producing all that we do
Togetherness
As an organisation we believe that by coming together, working together, being creative together and learning together we will each bring our strengths to the project and through our togetherness we minimise the deficits we have as individuals an outcome that we have seen within our projects already and wish to bring to life in all new projects.
Originality
Perhaps one of the most important outcomes we expect from the project is that by bringing people together as equals and applying a collaborative process we will see some original thinking that can be applied in peoples’ lives and drive forward change.
Normalising
One of the aims of the project is to challenge both discrimination and stigma inside and outside of the dementia community. Our expectation is that by working together to increase our online presence and develop our projects many of the perceptions of the stakeholder groups that are often held about each other will be challenged and that this in turn will lead to change that will benefit all.
Order
One of the outcomes we are determined to achieve is to help people with dementia and their families achieve good structures or order in their lives. This will be one of the driving forces of how we design projects and we will use the answer to the following question to determine whether to go forward with a project. “Will this project enable people to be more autonomous, help create better relationships, develop better understanding or be developed in a co-productive way?” If two of these criteria are met then the course can go forward for approval if this is required.
Meaning
Making meaning of our lives is common to all and even more so for those with dementia, their families and friends as meaning often leads to purpose. Helping people discover meaning in their lives through their interaction with Deepness will result in them finding purpose. We see this impacting on those developing projects as well as those engaging with projects.
Youthfulness
When we talk about youthfulness in this context we are not talking about rediscovering our youth, rather it is about learning to renew our selves in the present. It is also about learning to renew our organisation in an open and honest way. This will keep our organisation fresh as we ensure our leadership is constantly answerable to the membership and therefore all of the Deepness directors will change over a six -year period with the first chair stepping down in June 2023. This will be verified at a general meeting towards the end of May 2020. Renewal will be the outcome and value that will ensure, the ongoing positive development of Deepness.
