Flipping Stigma Toolkit: Now in Chinese

Building on the international recognition of the Flipping Stigma Toolkit by the World Health Organization’s Global Dementia Observatory Knowledge Exchange Platform, researchers from the University of Victoria and the University of British Columbia, Dr. Mariko Sakamoto and Dr. Karen Wong, have translated and culturally adapted the toolkit for the Chinese community. This work was done in partnership with a knowledge translation group of people with lived and living experience from the Chinese Community in BC, and with funding from a Reach Award from Michael Smith Health Research BC/The Alzheimer Society of BC & Yukon.

在世界衛生組織（WHO）「全球腦退化症觀測站知識交流平台」的國際肯定下，《翻轉污名指南》（Flipping Stigma Toolkit）迎來了重要的里程碑！為了讓這份珍貴的資源走進華人社區，來自維多利亞大學的Dr. Mariko Sakamoto與英屬哥倫比亞大學的Dr. Karen Wong攜手合作，正式推出了專門為華人社區量身打造的中文版本。這項充滿文化關懷的傳譯工作，是與一群來自卑詩省（BC省）華人社區、擁有親身經歷的「知識轉譯小組」(Knowledge Translation Group )共同合作完成，並獲得了卑詩省邁克爾·史密斯健康研究局（Michael Smith Health Research BC）以及卑詩省與育空地區阿茲海默症協會(The Alzheimer Society of BC & Yukon）的「Reach Award」研發基金鼎力支持。

The Flipping Stigma Toolkit is an online resource designed to challenge misconceptions about dementia and provide practical strategies for responding to stigma. Developed through the perspectives of people living with dementia, care partners, and health-care professionals, the toolkit offers tailored information, reflections, and tools for each of these groups.

《翻轉污名指南》是一個專門為了打破大眾對腦退化的誤解而設計的線上資源，旨在提供實用的策略來化解社會標籤。這個工具包完全是從腦退化病友、照顧者家屬以及醫護人員的真實視角出發，並為這三大群體精心設計了量身打造的資訊、深入的反思引導與實用工具。

Report Alert!

After hosting workshops in both Nanaimo and Victoria in the fall of 2025, our research team led by Dr. Jae-Yung Kwon and Dr. Mariko Sakamoto, in partnership with Island Health, released “Seniors in the ED,” a key findings document sharing what they learned from their time engaging with the community as well as from the rapid literature review they conducted. The project’s aim was to review and prioritize evidence-based ED interventions, identify quick wins that could be readily implemented, and to provide recommendations for implementation and further research.

Read the report here.

Comox Valley Project

In 2025, The Dementia Action Co-Lab worked in partnership with the Comox Valley Partners Group (comprised primarily of care partners) to develop a resource specific to their community that would help foster a more dementia-friendly culture overall.

There is a great deal of interest across the mid to North
Island region in finding better ways to support seniors.
And the community was keen to join in the co-design
seminars and workshops the Co-Lab offered to help
develop this resource, co-designed in partnership with
the Health Design Lab at Emily Carr University of
Art + Design.

The resource launched in early 2026, and was further
promoted at an April 7th Community Engagement Event
held at Courtenay’s Native Sons Hall. The team created
a street installation along the city’s well-known
Fifth Street to coincide with the event too. The month-long
display featured lamppost banners, window and bench decals sharing important information related to de-stigmatizing dementia.

Visit our page for the project here.

Dementia-Friendly Communities for People Living Alone

The Co-Lab team worked with project co-lead and advocate Lynn Jackson and Emily Carr University’s Health Design Lab to co-design an action plan for people living alone with dementia. A team of researchers and eight participants with lived experience (four men and four women) gathered for a series of six online sessions that established and explored two guiding themes:

1.  What do people with dementia who live independently need to thrive in community?
2. What makes a community dementia friendly (according to people with dementia who live independently)?

Audio Diaries

This research, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), invited care partners to share recorded stories from their daily journeys with loved ones living with dementia as a way to gain insights into what they need, how they feel, and what we as a community can do to better support them.

This project resulted in a second season of the Call to Mind podcast series originally created by long-time University of Victoria professor Debra Sheets. Co-Lab director Dr. Mariko Sakamoto hosted a special online event at the end of May called “Call to Mind: Shared Stories, Stronger Connections: A Story-Based Gathering on Dementia and Caregiving” that you can view here. And the Co-Lab made a special documentary about the project currently making the rounds in the international film circuit.

The CARING Collaborative:

This UVic-based dementia-friendly research cluster brings together researchers from across faculties who share expertise and a collaborative drive. Their objective is to highlight and advance the impact of dementia-friendly environments and person-centred care for people with lived experience.

After mapping out community needs through an environmental scan, the team has spent the past year turning ideas into action. They’re committed to pushing this work forward—learning, adapting, and creating meaningful change. You can access the Collaborative’s website here.

Dementia in the Outdoors:

The Dementia Action Co-Lab is excited to collaborate with Project Lead Dr. Elaine Wiersma on “Dementia in the Outdoors.” This CIHR-funded research initiative explores how nature-based innovations contribute to, and shape, the experiences of people living with dementia. Researchers at Lakehead University, the University of British Columbia, and the University of the Fraser Valley have come together to follow a variety of outdoor programs and study their impact.

Lakehead created “Dementia Gardens: A Place to Grow”, as a consistent sanctuary amidst native plant gardens, where people with lived experience can work in the garden, connect, learn, and be together in nature.

Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging (CCNA) Collaboration:

Lab Director Dr. Mariko Sakamoto is also collaborating on an exciting Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging (CCNA) project, headed up by Dr. Laura E Middleton and Dr. Carry McAiney from the University of Waterloo.

This CIHR-funded collaboration seeks to promote health equity and to co-design quality of life supports among people living with dementia and care partners in under-represented ethnoracial communities in Canada. Dr. Sakamoto and her colleague Dr. Karen Wong will be co-primary investigators leading work with the Chinese community.