Davina is a qualified psychiatric nurse who has worked in the hospital setting and in a care home. She currently supports carers. Her little gem ‘Paving the Way’ is a companion for those who live with and care for people with a dementia.

In her introduction, she says, ‘This book is my small attempt at reducing some of the negative responses and turning them into the more positive elements’, and she does precisely that. With immense knowledge and experience and with a dose of gentle compassion, she explores the feelings of the carer and gives invaluable advice.

Respite for the carer is one of the areas she explores in depth, discussing the possibilities and the guilt feelings that surround it for the carer. Her suggestions of ways of prompting the troubled memory of the person are a delight. She lists ‘hordes of nostalgic collections’ that we have in our memories like ‘Black and white TV, Spam, flat irons, Singer sewing machines …’ and she gives useful addresses.

The little volume with enchanting hand-drawn illustrations, was self-published by Author House (who should have done a better job of proof-reading and spacing the text). It is available by post from the Author House Website: Paving the Way, Davina Green, ISBN 978 – 1 – 4490 – 1007 -2, and I thoroughly recommend it even to those of us who have already begun to go upstairs, then wonder what we went for!

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