6.10 Tommy Whitelaw - Intelligent Kindness & Gentle Honesty - listening is the best medicine

Join us for the last episode of series six and a joyful exploration of the importance and reality of person centred care.

For five years Tommy Whitelaw was a full-time carer for his late mother Joan who had Vascular Dementia. In 2011 he undertook a walk around Scotland’s towns and cities to collect hundreds of life stories and letters detailing the experiences of individuals who care for a loved one living with dementia. It was a journey that taught him the importance of gentle honesty, that Civility really does Saves Lives and that listening really is the best drug available.

We find out how an intervention by his local community pharmacist ‘gave him his Mum back’. We discuss the concept of ‘intelligent kindness’ and how the impact of being busy affects our ability to care. ‘When we are busy we do less of the beautiful stuff first…’

We delve deeper into the topic of Intelligent Kindness when we discus Effecting Change - Evidencing Culture Change in Compassionate Care https://www.alliance-scotland.org.uk/blog/news/effecting-change-evidencing-culture-change-on-person-centred-care/

Tommy highlights the importance of music for people with dementia (and those caring for them). Check out Playlist for Life, a music and dementia charity. The charity was founded in 2013 by writer and broadcaster Sally Magnusson after the death of her mother, Mamie, who had dementia. Their vision is simple: For everyone with dementia to have a unique, personalised playlist, and everyone who loves or cares for them to know how to use it. https://www.playlistforlife.org.uk/

As with all of our guests, Tommy shares with us a Memory Evoking Medicine, a career anthem and book that has influenced his career or life.

Tommy works for Person Centred Voices, an ALLIANCE project that works to promote person centred practices in public sector organisations in Scotland; that is, to advocate for personalisation, empowerment and shared decision making across all areas of care and support. He has also had a fantastic career on the road as a tour manager for many of the Worlds best known bands. This has inspired him to hold a bi-annual ‘Concert for Carer’s’. Find out more here; https://linktr.ee/personcentred

You can listen to the Aural Apothecary playlist here; https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3OsWj4w8sxsvuwR9zMXgn5?si=tiHXrQI7QsGtSQwPyz1KBg

You can view the Aural Apothecary Library here;  https://litalist.com/shelf/view-bookcase?publicId=KN6E3O

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