MCST and Reminder Finder
Find out how Vernon, Doug and Ian found friendship through an Age UK group.
Maintenance Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (MCST)
We are supporting the wellbeing and mental stimulation of people living with dementia through group programmes.
What's MCST?
Maintenance Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (MCST) is a weekly one to two-hour long programme for people living with mild to moderate dementia.
Group members take part in meaningful and stimulating activities, proven to help maintain memory and mental functioning. The groups provide a fun, supportive environment where people can build new friendships.
Activities include:
- discussions
- word games
- quizzes
- physical activities
- creative and musical activities.
Some local Age UKs provide Reminder Finder programmes, which follow the same structure as MCST, but run for four to five hours and include lunch.
Some things, like crosswords, can be difficult to tackle on your own but together you feel you can do it.
Why is MCST so important?
After someone is diagnosed with dementia, they may be offered Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (CST). This is a short-term programme for people with mild to moderate dementia and usually runs twice weekly for seven weeks following diagnosis.
However once this programme finishes, there’s limited provision of services for people with mild to moderate dementia. MCST and Reminder Finder sessions are longer-term programmes based in community settings which help to fill this gap.
Cognitive Stimulation is the only non-drug treatment recommended to improve cognition, independence and well-being by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).
"Enabling people to have fun"
Dr. Aimee Spector, Clinical Psychologist at UCL, discusses the benefits of MCST.
What’s its impact so far?
The 2017/18 pilot found that MCST sessions contributed to the maintenance of group members’ wellbeing, related to their feelings, memory and everyday life. These would usually be expected to decrease over time for people with dementia who don’t attend sessions.
Group members, carers and staff all stated the following benefits:
- Enjoyment, having fun and increasing levels of happiness.
- A sense of belonging and making new friendships.
- Increased confidence in ability and to try other new things.
- Improvements in communication, including reading and writing.
- Improvements in memory and mental ability.
- Having more energy.
- Increased levels of physical activity.
Evaluation report
Our report evaluates the pilot so far with the aim of providing more services across the country.
I can see the difference in him from when I drop him to when I pick him up again – he’s so much happier and chatty.
Where is the programme running?
The initial 6 local Age UKs running MCST or Reminder Finder programmes were:
- Age UK Mid Devon
- Age UK North Tyneside
- Age UK Nottingham & Nottinghamshire
- Age UK Teesside
- Age UK Walsall
- Age UK Wirral
In addition to these 2017/18 pilot partners, the following 7 partners delivered MCST for the 2018/19 programme. The programme finished in June 2019:
- Age UK Bath and North East Somerset
- Age UK Herefordshire & Worcestershire
- Age UK Leeds
- Age UK Leicester Shire & Rutland
- Age UK Plymouth
- Age UK Sheffield
- Age UK Sunderland
To find out more about the programme, contact one of the local Age UKs listed above. There are plans to provide sessions in more local Age UKs. For further details, contact dementiamcst@ageuk.org.uk