Press release: House of Memories and Switchboard to work on LGBTQ+ app
House of Memories and charity Switchboard to work together on LGBTQ+ app
National Museums Liverpool’s award-winning dementia programme House of Memories will work with Brighton and Hove LGBT+ Switchboard to create an app to support people living with dementia in the LGBTQ+ community.
Funded by Alzheimer Research UK’s Inspire Fund, House of Memories will work with Switchboard – a ‘by and for’ charity that supports the LGBTQ+ communities – to collect a digital archive of audio, video, objects and photography, stored in the My House of Memories app.
The app will feature real life memories and experiences from the LGBTQ+ community, which people living with dementia and their loved ones can explore, to create their own bespoke set of memories. Users can also add their own media to further personalise the app.
Through the House of Memories app, Switchboard will showcase important landmarks, social spaces, club nights and cafés, alongside drag acts, trans heroes and role models from LGBTQ+ history for users to browse.
The app will also tackle other subjects including PRIDE, queer art and film and living through the HIV/Aids epidemic.
John Hammond, bereavement, older people’s and dementia (BOLD) project manager at Switchboard, said: “This is an extremely exciting initiative and we are delighted to be funded by Alzheimer’s Research UK and to be working in partnership with House of Memories.
“Many LGBTQ+ people living with dementia share both painful and uplifting life stories and this app will capture memories and experiences that are equal parts poignant and fabulous!”
Carol Rogers, director of House of Memories, said: “Creating an app to support members of the LGBTQ+ community living with dementia and their carers, is something we’re really excited about.
“We’d like to thank Switchboard for giving us this great opportunity to collect memories from LGBTQ+ communities that will help spark conversations and improve the lives of people living with dementia.”
Switchboard and House of Memories are now in the process of bringing together memories and moments to include in the app. If you would like to contribute, email: info@switchboard.org.uk.
Discover the full story of House of Memories and download the My House of Memories app here: www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/house-of-memories
FURTHER INFORMATION
Chris Wardle
PR & Communications Officer
chris.wardle@liverpoolmuseums.org.uk
NOTES TO EDITOR
National Museums Liverpool
National Museums Liverpool (NML) comprises seven venues, including some of the most visited museums in England outside of London. Our collections are among the most important and varied in Europe and contain everything from Impressionist paintings and rare beetles to a lifejacket from the Titanic. We attracted more than 3 million visitors in 2019.
Our venues are Museum of Liverpool, World Museum, Walker Art Gallery, Maritime Museum, International Slavery Museum, Sudley House and Lady Lever Art Gallery. National Museums Liverpool is regulated by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).
House of Memories
House of Memories is National Museums Liverpool’s museum-led dementia awareness training programme. It offers training, resources and activities to enable caregivers to provide person-centred care for people to live well with dementia.
National Museums Liverpool launched House of Memories at the Museum of Liverpool in 2012, working with people in the health and social care sector and training more than 12,500 caregivers across the UK and internationally to date. Part of the programme includes the multi-award-winning My House of Memories app; a digital app designed in consultation with people living with dementia and their caregivers, and the first of its kind in the world, which was launched at the House of Commons in 2014.
The programme has won multiple awards, most recently the Impact Award – International Reach, Liverpool City Region Culture and Creativity Awards 2020, and the Exceptional Achievement Award, Museums Association in 2018. It received recognition from Museums & Heritage, winning the National Education Initiative Award in 2014, and also won the Innovate Dementia European Award for the My House of Memories digital app in 2014. It is cited as an example of best practice in the Museums Association’s vision for the impact of museums: Museums Change Lives. In 2015 House of Memories won the Best Dementia Friendly Partnership Working at the Alzheimer’s Society’s Dementia Friendly Awards. In 2016, it won the North West Adult Learners Awards Health and Care, and in 2017, House of Memories was a commendation winner for the My House of Memories app at the Jodi Awards, as well as a winner at the North West NHS Clinical Improvement Awards.
Brighton and Hove LGBT+ Switchboard
Brighton and Hove LGBT+ Switchboard is a ‘by and for’ charity that was established in 1975. It provides a range of services to improve the health and wellbeing of LGBTQ+ people throughout their lives and to help LGBTQ+ people and communities to thrive. This includes a specialist Dementia Support project which helps LGBTQ+ people living with or affected by dementia and their caregivers, supporters and loved ones. This project won a Royal Society for Public Health award in 2022 for its work in addressing issues of health inequity.
Switchboard also has a much-needed programme of support for older LGBTQ+ people and provides weekly opportunities for peer support and social connection. For LGBTQ+ people who have experienced grief or bereavement, we offer ‘Grief Encounters’, a monthly bereavement support group where LGBTQ+ people can share their experiences.
Further specialist services are offered to trans, non-binary and intersex communities and also to LGBTQ+ survivors of domestic abuse and violence. Brighton and Hove LGBT+ Switchboard remains a trusted source of support for LGBTQ+ people, sometimes at the most challenging times in their lives. Indeed, Switchboard’s Helpline continues to receive up to 3,000 calls each year.
Listening to LGBTQ+ people and responding to their needs through the innovative projects and services it develops is at the heart of Switchboard’s work. This was recognised in 2023 when Brighton and Hove LGBT+ Switchboard was chosen from more than 400 charities across the UK as one of the 10 winners of the 2023 GSK IMPACT Awards, which are delivered in partnership with leading health and care charity The King’s Fund. The awards are a mark of excellence in the charity sector, designed to recognise the outstanding work of small and medium-sized charities working to improve people’s health and wellbeing in the UK.
Alheizmer’s Research UK
At Alzheimer’s Research UK, we stand for everyone affected by dementia, we stand for a cure.