Jenny's Diary

download Jenny's Diary & postcards

Please scroll down the page to download the free booklet and set of colour postcards in English, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, German or French. Alternatively, you may prefer to contact Karen to request a free printed copy in English. A Dutch translation is expected in 2019.

The accompanying postcards give examples of activities that Jenny engages with in a typical week. They can be printed and passed around, held closer to look at if needed, viewed on a computer screen or stuck on a wall at home.

Click here to download the English language version of Jenny's Diary postcards. The cards are larger versions of images in the book making them easier to use as discussion topics. The booklets and postcards are also available from the University of Stirling website.

Jenny's Diary has been developed at the Skilled dementia practice level of the Promoting Excellence Framework in Scotland

'It is done with plain language and it is great that it talks about the issues of pain and delirium and how that can impact people. It gives some of the “whys” behind people’s expressions of frustration'

Jenny’s Diary is a free to download booklet and a set of postcards. It is aimed at supporting conversations about dementia with people who have a learning (intellectual) disability. Conversations about dementia are never easy. All dementia strategies in the UK state that everyone is entitled to know of their diagnosis, not only as a human rights issue but as part of developing appropriate and individualised post-diagnostic support. Currently there is limited guidance on how to talk about dementia to an individual with a learning disability. There is typically a fear of what will be understood, uncertainly over the words to use, and concern over how to cope with the response. Jenny’s Diary takes a three-step approach to address this:

Part 1 opens dialogue about why Jenny is behaving differently, and how she can be supported to live as well as possible with dementia.
Part 2 suggests how to have a conversation with Jenny about her diagnosis of dementia.
Part 3 contains guidance to talk about dementia with George, Jenny’s partner. This recognises the important role that friends play.