Kia ora and welcome to the September 2026 edition of Our Mind Matters Magazine.

This edition focuses on behaviour as communication: what may sit behind changes in behaviour when someone is living with dementia | mate wareware, and how greater understanding can lead to a better response.

Jacqui Sawford tells the story of her husband Kevin, whose diagnosis with behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia changed how she understood years of behaviour that had cost their family dearly.

“The diagnosis gave Kevin his dignity back within our family,” she writes. “Our children could look at him and see their dad again – not simply the man whose behaviour had caused so much hurt.”

Alongside Jacqui’s story, Sheena Farquhar explains anosognosia, or lack of insight; Chantell Bramley summarises Mackenzie Ebbett’s education session on behaviours in dementia; Tina Carter describes her work as a dementia advisor in Wellington; Steph Harlan writes on what behaviour tells us when words are gone; and Winifred Henderson asks us to be a detective, not a judge. Three people from across the network share their perspectives, and we look at what the Wairoa pilot has taught us about support in rural communities.

Our chairperson, Frances Blyth, reflects on why community support matters most, whatever the headlines say about new tests and treatments.

Read Our Mind Matters Issue #45 online, or download the PDF.