We spoke with Pat and Lisa, activity coordinators at Marion Lauder House. They’re huge advocates for the Happiness Programme and you can read why below.

When asked about the sessions they run using the interactive projector, Lisa and Pat told us they use it in all dimensions:

“We use it on the ceiling, the floor, tables, walls. For our residents that are resting in bed we try to project where is best for them; on the sheets or on the ceiling. We do sensory breathing exercises, fish swimming in a pond and flowers. Then on our nursing advances dementia side we use the enlarge capacity and do it on the floor. Quite a lot of residents do participate and pop balloons with their feet, or watch the fish swim over their feet. It’s a fabulous piece of kit. It’s really good and it’s benefited our residents so much since we had it, we’d be sorry to not have it.”

They also commented on the variety of activities available:

“There’s different levels of activities on there, for quite able-minded people that are on the residential side, they like the quizzes and crosswords and the painting, we give them paint brushes and spatulas it’s really good, really helpful.”

Pat and Lisa told us about how the Happiness Programme has improved life for the people they support, including improving socialisation, mobility and independence. They also talked about how it has been for people living from bed:

“Sensory stimulation for people that are non-verbal and resting in bed, the stimulation they get, their eyes light up. It’s just lovely to see the reaction from them.”

When asked about how it has helped them in their work, they told us they’ve been using the projector at least 4 times a week:

“I find it really helpful because I think visual is more beneficial to a lot of our residents and the colour and projection is so good, they really do enjoy it so it makes our work, our job a lot easier because we can interact with them a lot more and we get a lot more response from them.”

And last words about their experience:

“I think if we’d not had it for the past year, we’d have been lost without it. It has really helped us, it’s really helped our residents. The overall mood and wellbeing has improve, they look forward to it and enjoy it.”