I thought I'd share something that took place last week that really touched me.  I was visiting a lovely lady in an Aged Care Facility (Low Care) for some emotional support (part of my role as a Counsellor) who had just recently been moved from her small room to a larger one. She informed me that the lady that was originally in the larger room had gone to high care and she was suffering dementia so she didn't really know she was being moved. . That sound feasible I thought! Then she said to me, "how do I know that I haven't always been in this room and that I too are suffering dementia and it's all been in my mind and people are just being kind and going along with it?"  My heart starts pumping faster and I'm completely on the spot now! "Well", I began. "I would ask a series of questions that help you to find your own reality. They could be questions such as, "when you leave your room to go to lunch, how do you get to the dining room?, tell me about the person living in the next room (a couple of examples). Then I would could confirm the answers together and if you didn't come to your own conclusion that things have changed around you, I guess I would re-assess my decision to tell you the truth about the change as it may not be relevant to your care needs.   She sat thinking for a few minutes and said, "I really like that answer, I can see you can be trusted and will look out for me",  Working with elderly people with dementia can be challenging, I like to always listen and be there in their thoughts, not mine! If it's a false reality, sometimes it's a nicer place for them to be, sometimes not.... as you can see you have to think on your feet, and keep kindness in your heart!