Australia

Contact

Isobel Sanger – Master Trainer
Team Leader, Specialist Aged Services, Merri Health
Email: isobel.sanger@merrihealth.org.au
Phone: +61 419 142 996

Robyn Lewis – Working Group Coordinator
Churchill Fellow / PhD Student Australia 
Email: robyn.lewis@canberra.edu.au
Phone: +61 432 778 27

CST provision

Since 2006, CST has been offered in a range of settings including residential services, hospital wards and transition care services (hospital to home transitions). CST principles have been incorporated into social groups in community settings since 2009.

In 2016, the Whiddon Group (NSW and QLD) commenced CST groups through the program Chat, Stories and Tea.

In South Australia, CST is facilitated by undergraduate and postgraduate occupational therapy students from UniSA. This occurs as part of a structured foundational student placement and is delivered every year across six different aged care providers. Resthaven Incorporated has been providing CST groups in the Making Minds Matter program which was developed in 2019 through a project with Occupational Therapy students from UniSA.

In the ACT, Canberra Health Services in partnership with the University of Canberra incorporates CST in a wellbeing program and study for people living with dementia and their carers. The Sustainable Personalised Intervention for Cognition, Care and Engagement (SPICE) is supported by the Dementia Australia Research Foundation.

CST research projects

• Murray, C. M., Gilbert-Hunt, S., Berndt, A., & de la Perrelle, L. (2016). Promoting participation and engagement for people with dementia through a cognitive stimulation therapy programme delivered by students: A descriptive qualitative study. The British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 79(10), 620–628. https://doi.org/10.1177/0308022616653972 (hyperlink to https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0308022616653972)
• D’Cunha, N. M., Bennett, M., Mitterfellner, R., Brennan, R., Wiseman, L., Isbel, S., Bail, K., Barrett, L., Rutherford, K., Huang, I., & Gibson, D. (2023). Preliminary Findings of an Active Multicomponent Lifestyle Intervention for People with Dementia and Their Carers: Mixed Methods Study. Health & Social Care in the Community, 2023, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1155/2023/5395080 (hyperlink to https://www.hindawi.com/journals/hsc/2023/5395080/)
• In 2020, Robyn Lewis received a Churchill Fellowship to explore yoga for cognitive stimulation in dementia settings in New Zealand, US and UK. (hyperlink to https://www.churchilltrust.com.au/project/to-explore-the-use-of-yoga-wit...)

CST Australia working group

Robyn Lewis has established a working group for those interested in collaboration in Australia. Contact: robyn.lewis@canberra.edu.au

Older Persons Mental Health Service, Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney, Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney, Australia

CST research projects 

•    CST guide designed for Australian Use, Australian Journal of Dementia Care, 2016
•    Cognitive Stimulation Therapy - a pilot Australian Adaptation
•    Cognitive Stimulation Therapy: a pilot Australian adaptation DCRC Summary Report, July 2015
•    Cognitive Stimulation Therapy: a pilot Australian adaptation, Australian Journal of Dementia Care, Feb/March 2015
•    Cognitive Stimulation Therapy - a pilot Australian adaption, National Dementia Research Forum 2014, Sydney

Poster presentations

Alzheimer’s Australia National Conference, Adelaide May 2009: “The benefits of Collaboration: CST implementation with UniSA, AASA and ACH Group: A Berndt and L de la Perrelle

Change Champions seminar on challenging behaviours 30 April 2010 Sydney: “Cognitive Stimulation in partnership for quality outcomes for people with dementia, students and staff” A. Berndt and L de la Perrelle

HammondCare 8th international Dementia Conference: Making a difference: July 2010 Sydney “Making a difference through collaboration: Cognitive Stimulation Therapy” L de la Perrelle

Alzheimer’s Australia’s 15th Annual Conference, Tasmania 14–17 May 2013

National Dementia Research Forum 2014, Sydney

Training

Face to face CST Training is held once per year in Australia. Contact Isobel.Sanger@merrihealth.org.au or visit https://www.ucl.ac.uk/international-cognitive-stimulation-therapy/training-courses-and-events for online training.