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Sip & Sonder: Connections with Self, Family, Community and the Natural Environment

Wednesday, November 1st 2023 (1 – 5 pm)

Thursday, November 2nd 2023 (10 am – 5 pm)

North Bay Museum

Free Admission

According to the World Health Organization high quality social connections are essential to our mental and physical health and our well-being. We also know that connecting with nature and having periods alone can benefit our mental health. People who are diagnosed with dementia and their family supporters are at greater risk of experiencing social isolation and/or loneliness.

Sonder: “The realization that each random passerby is the main character of their own story, living a life just as vivid and complex as your own…” (Koenig, 2021, pp.123)

An ‘eco-map’ is an innovative tool that locates an individual and family/friends within their current context. They provide a visual representation of a person’s or family’s connections, the quality of those connections, and the flow of energy and resources to and from connections. The connections explored in this project included social ones, connections to the natural environment (blue and green spaces), and periods of solitude or connections to self.

The ‘eco-maps’ presented here were completed by people living with dementia and/or their family supporters to explore their risk and their resilience through the lens of connection.

We are grateful to the RTOERO Foundation for their generous support.

Wednesday 1 November 1 pm – 5 pm

  • 1 pm: Welcome and refreshments
  • 2 pm – 5 pm: Open Gallery & Imagine and Create Your Own Maps

Thursday 2 November 10am – 5pm

  • 10am: Welcome and refreshments
  • 11am – 5pm: Open Gallery & Imagine and Create Your Own Maps
  • Sip & Sonder: Connections with Self, Family, Community and the Natural Environment
    Thank you to all who gathered at the North Bay museum on November 1st and 2nd to explore our installation of stories of connection and living with dementia. The event included welcome and refreshments, open gallery & Imagine and Create Your Own Maps.
  • Support Group for Familial Alzheimer’s Disease
    In partnership with Rare Dementia Support (UK) and Youngtimers (USA), Rare Dementia Support Canada hosted a joint support group to bring together individuals from the US, Canada, and the UK (and beyond) impacted by autosomal dominantly inherited familial Alzheimer's disease (sometimes referred to as ADAD, DIAD or FAD).   We are pleased to announce that the 90 minute group support session ran on Sunday, November 19th and included an international group of participants.  For more information please email rdscanada@nipissingu.ca.
  • Talking Lines creative research update 
    Talking Lines is a research project which combines both visual and verbal modes of communication, taking the concept of the drawn line as a starting point to promote communication and narrative construction.  Talking Lines invited 27 people living with or caring for someone with a rare dementia to draw and talk about their experiences; reflecting on deeply challenging situations such as maintaining identity in the face of a diagnosis, the realities of care, and wider social and cultural narratives about dementia. There will be a presentation of this research at the Drawing Room Library, London (UK), which will focus on the drawings and words of 4 participants who took part in the research, including Canadian participation.
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