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For LGBTQ+ partners in the earlier stages of dementia impact |
When dementia is beginning to affect your relationship, things can feel unsettled, confusing, and hard to name. You may still feel close in many ways, and also know that something important is changing.
I offer emotionally focused therapy for LGBTQ+ partners in the earlier stages of dementia impact. The work is about helping you make sense of what is happening, stay connected to what matters, and find steadier ways through life now and what lies ahead.
I keep my practice small. I offer a small number of regular therapy spaces for partners, alongside one-off or intermittent sessions for people wanting focused support at particular points.
Work may begin in the earlier stages and continue as things change.
I offer emotionally focused therapy for LGBTQ+ partners in the earlier stages of dementia impact. The work is about helping you make sense of what is happening, stay connected to what matters, and find steadier ways through life now and what lies ahead.
I keep my practice small. I offer a small number of regular therapy spaces for partners, alongside one-off or intermittent sessions for people wanting focused support at particular points.
Work may begin in the earlier stages and continue as things change.
I’m Sandra Taylor, PhD
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Sandra Taylor, PhD
ICEEFT Certified EFT Therapist, Supervisor and Trainer. |
Who this work is for
This work is especially suited to partners in the earlier stages of dementia impact who are able and wanting to explore their relationship, including the impact of dementia on it, even if things are already becoming difficult, unfamiliar, or painful.
You might be noticing things like:
This work is especially suited to partners in the earlier stages of dementia impact who are able and wanting to explore their relationship, including the impact of dementia on it, even if things are already becoming difficult, unfamiliar, or painful.
You might be noticing things like:
- something is changing between us, but it is hard to say exactly what
- we are still us, but not in the same way as before
- I want help while there is still room to work with the relationship
- I do not want to wait until things are in crisis
- I need somewhere to think and feel, not just manage
Space for what is hard and what matters
Therapy can offer a place to slow things down without having to ‘perform okay’.
It can be somewhere to speak about love, fear, grief, anger, relief, tenderness, identity, belonging, and the ways dementia changes everyday closeness.
It can also be somewhere to stay with what is happening between you, even when it is hard to say or easy to move away from. Therapy can offer space for questions like these:
How do we stay emotionally connected when memory, language, behaviour, roles, and recognition are changing?
How do we make sense of times when the person living with dementia feels very much like themselves, and times when contact feels much harder to find?
How do we talk about what is happening without everything becoming only about symptoms, problems, or practicalities?
How do we make the most of this precious relationship?
Therapy can offer a place to slow things down without having to ‘perform okay’.
It can be somewhere to speak about love, fear, grief, anger, relief, tenderness, identity, belonging, and the ways dementia changes everyday closeness.
It can also be somewhere to stay with what is happening between you, even when it is hard to say or easy to move away from. Therapy can offer space for questions like these:
How do we stay emotionally connected when memory, language, behaviour, roles, and recognition are changing?
How do we make sense of times when the person living with dementia feels very much like themselves, and times when contact feels much harder to find?
How do we talk about what is happening without everything becoming only about symptoms, problems, or practicalities?
How do we make the most of this precious relationship?
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How I work
My main ongoing work is with partners, where one partner is living with a diagnosis of dementia. Alongside that, I offer one-off or occasional sessions for partners, supporters, chosen and biological family members, and other constellations of people close to someone with dementia. This may be around a particular issue, decision, or point in what is happening. |
A small practice, by design
I keep my therapy practice small because this work asks for depth, care, and attention. That means I offer:
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Why LGBTQ+ dementia-affirmative therapy?
Dementia affects people in every community, but LGBTQ+ people often face extra layers that can make support less safe or less fitting: being misunderstood, having identity minimised, having chosen family overlooked, or feeling anxious about services and care settings. Much of the therapy and dementia literature still treats LGBTQ+ lives as an afterthought.
I offer something that is still far too rare: emotionally focused therapy that takes both dementia and LGBTQ+ realities seriously, so the support fits actual lives, relationships, and communities.
Dementia affects people in every community, but LGBTQ+ people often face extra layers that can make support less safe or less fitting: being misunderstood, having identity minimised, having chosen family overlooked, or feeling anxious about services and care settings. Much of the therapy and dementia literature still treats LGBTQ+ lives as an afterthought.
I offer something that is still far too rare: emotionally focused therapy that takes both dementia and LGBTQ+ realities seriously, so the support fits actual lives, relationships, and communities.
Why I’m well placed to do this work
I bring together three strands:
I’m a white, British, cisgender, middle-aged disabled woman; I’m lesbian/queer, and also, like all of us, much more than any list can capture. These identities shape how I work, with humility, curiosity, and attention to power, context, and difference.
I bring together three strands:
- EFT expertise as therapist, supervisor, and trainer
- dementia understanding grounded in lived reality and clinical thinking
- a clear commitment to affirming LGBTQ+ lives, including the ways identity, safety, and recognition can become more fragile as dementia progresses
I’m a white, British, cisgender, middle-aged disabled woman; I’m lesbian/queer, and also, like all of us, much more than any list can capture. These identities shape how I work, with humility, curiosity, and attention to power, context, and difference.
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What this work is and is not
This work is not about pretending things are all right when they are not. It is not about reducing everything to loss either. It is about helping people hold both: the very real fear and grief, and the relationship that is still alive and changing. |
If you’re wondering about therapy
You do not need to be in crisis to get in touch. This work is often most helpful when something important is shifting and you want support to think about your relationship, including the impact of dementia on it. For further information, please contact me. |
I work affirmatively with the many aspects of identity and lived experience that shape our lives and relationships, including gender, sexuality, relationship configuration, race, ethnicity, disability, illness, religion, spirituality, and age.
Together, we can think about how these intersect and what difference they make here.
Together, we can think about how these intersect and what difference they make here.
Affirming love, life and belonging in LGBTQ+ lives impacted by dementia.
