BEING diagnosed with dementia was “like stepping off a cliff,” according to one sufferer.

With this week being Dementia Awareness Week, Tom Coppins, 61, who lives in Wrotham has explained how he joined forces with 56-year-old Brian Fuller to help others cope.

Mr Coppins, who lives with his wife Pauline, was diagnosed four years ago and used his own experience to devise a scheme that has now been backed by Kent County Council.

Helping sufferers across Kent, including a number from Dartford and Gravesend, the Maidstone Mentors group is run by people with dementia, offering one-to-one support for people who have just been diagnosed.

Mr Coppins said: “My experience of getting diagnosed is you get a diagnosis and then they give you a six-week post-diagnostic care one hour a week.

“They explain what the problem is and how to cope but after six weeks of having that support system in place, you’re discharged.

“So I contacted the hospital and arranged to go in and talk to people who had just been diagnosed to show them they were not on their own.

“You think you are the only one but there are thousands of others out there going through the same thing.”

Mr Coppins joined forces with fellow sufferer Brian Fuller, 56, from Tunbridge Wells, who he met at the Alzheimer's Society Maidstone peer support group.

The pair now run the Maidstone Mentors group together.

Mr Fuller said: “When you are diagnosed you have an incredible feeling of being alone, it was like stepping off a cliff.

“But going to the peer support group, everyone is in the same boat.

“You can talk about anything and it doesn’t matter if you forget a word or trip up – no-one minds.

“It helps release the tension. It has really helped me get on and lead my life.”

Maidstone Mentors has now been running for several months and it is hoped the scheme will soon be rolled out across the country.

Mr Coppins added: “It is going extremely well, we’ve had quite a lot of success already.

“There was one guy who, when I first met him, he was really depressed and he and his family had given up.

“Since talking to us at the Maidstone Mentors, he has now become a regular at our peer support group and has just blossomed – it is an unbelievable transformation and he is back to his old self.”

Dementia Awareness Week runs until Saturday, with the theme this year being “worrying changes nothing. Talking changes everything.”

For more information on Maidstone Mentors call 07970 379930, or email silk.team@kent.gov.uk.

For online support for health professionals and family relatives involved with caring for someone with dementia visit yecco.com.