You sit down to tell someone a story and the name you need, whether it’s a person, a place, a film, it simply will not come. You walk into a room and forget why you went there. You read the same paragraph three times and feel the words sliding away before they settle. And somewhere underneath the ordinary frustration of these moments is a more persistent worry: Is this the beginning of something serious?

For the nurses, doctors, chaplains, and allied health professionals who dedicate their careers to supporting people living with dementia, the rewards are genuine. So too are the challenges. This article explores psychological growth in senior health professionals working in dementia care — and what their experiences can tell us about meaning and purpose, adaptability, and what it means to truly give to another person.

When dementia takes away speech, it can feel like connection is slipping too. But our research The Dance of Communication reveals that even without words, awareness and belonging remain.

You walk into a room and forget why you're there. A name won't come. And somewhere in the back of your mind: "is this how it starts?" Fear of dementia is one of the most common health concerns in midlife — and one of the least clearly addressed. This article explains what normal memory change actually looks like, when it's worth speaking to your GP, and what the research tells us you can do to protect your brain across the decades ahead.

Depression in later life is one of the most common and most missed mental health conditions in Australia. It often doesn't look like what most people picture when they think of depression, and that's why so many people in their 60s, 70s, and 80s are living with it unrecognised and unsupported. This article explains what late-life depression actually looks like, why it is so often overlooked, and what helps.

There is a particular phrase that appears again and again in the accounts of family members who have moved a family member with dementia into a care home. Not anger, not relief — though both of those are present. The phrase is simpler, and harder: I feel like I've failed. For many families, this is where the story appears to end. But a growing body of research indicates it is where something else begins.

There is a moment many family carers describe in almost identical terms; a day that arrives with paperwork, practical necessity, and an ache that defies explanation. The day they hand over the care of someone they love to an unfamiliar system of aged care. For such families, the emotional meaning is rarely spoken about. Yet research suggests that within such painful experiences, something else is also possible — an unexpected capacity for growth.

For many families, supporting a member living with dementia is marked by confusion, grief, and relational loss — as friends stop visiting and some family members withdraw in distress from the person at the centre of it all. Yet research indicates that this same experience, however unwelcome, can also become a turning point for unexpected growth, deeper intimacy, and new meaning in life.

Dementia and Alzheimer's disease are not the same thing. Dementia is an umbrella term for a set of symptoms affecting memory, thinking, language, and behaviour, which can be caused by over 100 different conditions. Alzheimer's disease is the most common of these conditions, accounting for 60–80% of dementia cases. Understanding the difference matters because the type of dementia affects how symptoms present, progress, and are best supported.

Dementia is now Australia's leading cause of death, affecting an estimated 446,500 Australians in 2026. According to the 2024 Lancet Commission, up to 45% of dementia cases globally may be prevented or delayed by addressing 14 modifiable risk factors, including physical inactivity, depression, social isolation, hearing loss, and high blood pressure. Midlife is a critical window for action: the earlier protective habits are established, the greater the potential benefit across the life course.