Mild Cognitive Impairment Group
Following a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment (MCI), everyone in our service is invited to come to one of our MCI groups. You will be contacted as soon as a group in your area is available.
What is Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI)?
Having MCI means that your thinking skills have changed, and that you may find certain tasks more difficult than before.
Most commonly, people with MCI notice that they have difficulties with their memory. However, people may notice some slight difficulties in other areas, such as with problem-solving, concentration, language, or visuospatial skills.
MCI is different from dementia. With MCI, the difficulties you experience may not worsen over time.
What will be included in the MCI Group?
The group will consist of other people who also have a diagnosis of MCI.
There will be opportunities for you to discuss your condition with the other people in the group (if you wish to).
The sessions will be delivered by a range of trained healthcare professionals, who have specialist training in this area.
These professionals work within the NHS (for Dorset HealthCare), for Help & Care (a charity organisation), and for Bournemouth University. We have specifically sought out professionals who can provide the most up-to-date and relevant information for you.
Why are we running groups for people with MCI?
10-15% of people with MCI are later diagnosed with dementia. Recent research has shown that there are modifiable risk factors to getting a dementia, and there are lifestyle changes that you can make to reduce your chances of getting a dementia in the future. You may already be doing some of these things and so they may not apply to you
We would like to provide you with more information to help you understand what increases your risk, so that you can understand your condition and can feel more confident in taking responsibility for your own health and wellbeing.
There will be five, two-hour sessions which will give you information about MCI and strategies to use to maintain or improve brain health. They will focus on:
- memory management
- introduction to the HOPE course
- diet, nutrition and sleep
- physical activity falls and social contact
- memory, mood, stress and lookin after yourself.