Episode 2 of the SPIN-D Connecting Communities and Dementia podcast is now available. This installment, Community Trust and Representation, examines how trust, cultural context, and structural barriers shape dementia awareness work within Liverpool’s Chinese community.

Di Burbidge (Chinese Wellbeing), Ruth Eley (tide), and Dr Clare Hammerton discuss why trusted community figures remain central to effective engagement. As Di notes, “these were long-standing organisations… there was a trust,” while Ruth emphasises that “the trusted connector is really vital.”

The conversation explores the limits of voluntary community work and the difficulties of sustaining earlier Community Champion activity. As Di explains, “you can’t expect that on a voluntary basis,” resulting in the loss of experienced champions when funding ended.

A significant portion of the episode highlights barriers to visibility. Reluctance to appear in videos or photographs remains strong: “Nobody would be photographed,” and even in projects designed to support representation, participants often agreed only to images showing “the backs of their heads.” These patterns reflect ongoing stigma and the legacy of limited dementia awareness across generations.

The episode also examines systemic issues. Public health messaging continues to miss minority communities. “Those messages have just bypassed those communities,” Di states, noting that many elders consume Chinese-language media, where UK dementia information does not appear. Ruth adds that “there is an inertia” within systems when it comes to collecting and using data about minority ethnic groups.

Episode 2 provides a clear view of why culturally grounded, community-led approaches remain essential and why trust and representation must be treated as core components of dementia inclusion.

Find out more about:

Chinese Wellbeing: https://chinesewellbeing.co.uk/

TIDE: https://www.tide.uk.net/