Harding Evans pledge to become ‘Dementia-Friendly’

A few months ago, the firm were approached by Cardiff Council, who are working with the Alzheimer’s Society in order to make Cardiff a ‘Dementia Friendly City’ and as part of that, wanted to see if Harding Evans Solicitors would be interested in pledging to make their Cardiff office a Dementia-Friendly Business.

Having looked into it, HR & Operations Director Milena Roberts and Marketing & Communications Manager, Haley Evans, decided that it shouldn’t just stop at the Cardiff office, but that they would pledge to make the Newport office Dementia-Friendly, too.

Commenting on the pledge, Milena Roberts said “many of us, including both myself and Haley, have seen family members suffer from this cruel disease, so to be able to play our part and do something that would have a positive impact for our clients and the communities our offices are based in, wasn’t a difficult decision”.

The steps Harding Evans will be taking to become Dementia-Friendly fall into three categories:

1. People
2. Process
3. Place

Under ‘People’, the firm will be encouraging all staff to become Dementia-Friends, which will involve watching online training videos approved by the Alzheimer’s Society. Process will see information on where to turn for support made readily available for anyone who needs it and place will involve a full audit of public spaces, including the reception area, toilets and meeting rooms, to see if there is anything that needs to be done to make them more accessible.

“We offer many services here that help individuals and their families who are dealing with a diagnosis, including putting in place a Lasting Power of Attorney, or if it is too late and capacity has been sadly lost, assisting family members apply for Deputyship with the Court of Protection” Haley Evans added. “To be able to make our team more aware of little things they can do, along with assessing our offices to make sure the environment is the best it can be, just made sense. It is something that we care about passionately and we look forward to being recognised as fully Dementia-Friendly in the very near future”.