be my Guest
Let Us Return to Relationship
Memory Cafés are events that allow individuals living with dementia and their care partners and family do something together in community, allowing dementia to fade into the background. Our time together includes facilitated activities, sharing in good food and drink, and beautiful conversations. There are various themes facilitated by guest speakers and artists. The Cafés take place in accessible, relaxing, and welcoming spaces throughout our community.
Memory Cafés allow those walking the dementia journey to return to relationships without the worry, the fear, the unknown of dementia.
What is a
Memory Café?
A memory café is a program that lasts about an hour and offers moments of engagement, of breaking bread together, and of community. They are designed for us to forget about dementia and come together as loved ones and friends to experience real encounters with each other.
During our time together we welcome the attendees, spend time greeting and enjoying each other’s company, participating in a group program designed in a way that all attendees can succeed, and break bread together with light refreshments and sometimes even a meal.
A memory café is not simply a life enrichment program where family can attend. It is a unique program that cultivates community, invites people into creativity and curiosity, with each moment designed to ease worries and allow everyone to succeed.
The Cafés I facilitate take place in local cafés, parishes, and libraries.
Together
Breaking Bread and Engaging in
Community without the Hovering Shadow
of Dementia.
Structure
Pillars of the program
Creativity and Curiosity
The programming facilitated during each Café is an invitation. An invitation to explore something new, to share in one’s interests and talents, to continue to work on magnifying one’s purpose, and to learn for the joy of learning, even when the memory of what we learned only lingers for a moment.
Community and Relationships
Community should not disappear because of dementia. Not for the person with the diagnosis, not for the family. Memory Cafés foster community that often lives beyond our set time together.
Storytelling and Breaking Bread
The gift of self and the gift of one’s time are precious. Dementia does not change this fact. In our Memory Cafés we crack open opportunities to give and share of one’s self in the beautiful dignity of one’s life. We share in light refreshments or a meal, breaking bread in community.
Be My Guest
We craft bespoke interiors that embody refined elegance and thoughtful design, creating spaces that elevate your lifestyle and reflect your individuality.
When I first experienced a Memory Café back in 2014, the first thought I had was, “I wish this existed when my grandmother was living with dementia.” Having died two years prior to the first memory cafe in the area, I still was deep in the family care partner role when it came to my mindset about care.
Memory Cafés allow those walking the dementia journey to return to relationships without the worry, the fear, the unknown of dementia.
During each Memory Café, you are my guest, and over the course of an hour, we will break bread together, meet others on similar journeys of dementia and care, and partake in an activity that brings joy, a moment for learning, and community. Our General Outline: welcome and introductions A playful moment of creativity (Usually a TimeSlips Storytelling Session) A facilitated program that varies depending on the theme or guest for that day. A closing moment. Ending with refreshments and conversations.
While Memory Cafés are typically out at local restaurants, libraries, senior centers, and churches, I do not shy away from having a Café at a care community. It is important that we include all on the dementia journey into the joy of these moments but sometimes transportation is not feasible. Because of this, if you would like to see a Memory Café in your community. Let me know and let’s create something together.
I have been a firm believer in the power of community and breaking bread together. That is why in 2014 when I first heard about Memory Cafés through the Fox Valley Memory Project in North East Wisconsin, I knew I wanted to get involved. I am grateful that the door to facilitate a handful of Memory Cafés for the FVMP opened and thus launched an almost obsession with the beauty and wonder that came from these events. They are simple, rooted in the core needs of our humanity, yet the impact on alleviating isolation, depression, and emotional pain, life with dementia can cause is profound.
I along with many others are working towards a day when thousands of Memory Cafés exist.
Programs I Facilitate
ONe
Faith
Working with faith communities, mostly Catholic Parishes and organizations to provide programming rooted in a life of faith and prayer.
Two
Literature
Currently focusing on The Secret Garden, we facilitate programs connected to story, gardening, and friendship. (In Partnership with Finding the Key)
Three
Schools
Working with schools and universities to connect a broader community of intergenerational friendship, connection. (On pause until October 2025)
Not Local? Here are Ways to Partake
Memory Café Retreat Box
In partnership with The Hem of Christ, we have put together a Memory Café retreat box that will give you the materials you need to host a retreat at your parish in the format of a Memory Café, with virtual support from Kate.
Memory Café Alliance Directory
The Memory Café Alliance formed out the desire to increase the number of Memory Cafés in the United States. Visit their directory to find a Café near you.