A local landmark for dementia support, Sage House

For families across Chichester, Bognor Regis and the surrounding villages who are living with a dementia diagnosis, one of the most valuable local resources sits just ten minutes from our office. Sage House in Tangmere is a purpose-built community hub that brings a range of dementia services together in one welcoming space. We regularly signpost families to it as part of good, person-centred care, and this article explains why.

What Sage House offers

Run by the local charity Dementia Support, Sage House provides a genuinely holistic set of services under one roof:

• Support groups for people living well with dementia, for family carers, and for the wider community.

• Daily respite in Daisy’s Cafe, with experienced support workers providing attentive, personalised care.

• A community outreach service that brings activities and information into local communities across West Sussex.

• Information and advice for families navigating a new diagnosis.

• Fundraising events and volunteer programmes that build a real community around the service.

A dementia diagnosis can feel isolating. Families often describe the weeks after diagnosis as a fog of appointments, forms and unfamiliar language. Somewhere to walk into, sit down, be understood and be pointed in the right direction is worth more than any leaflet. Research consistently shows that people living with dementia who stay socially connected and mentally engaged experience better wellbeing and often slower functional decline. Family carers who have access to peer support are less likely to burn out. Sage House does both.

How Sage House complements home care

Home care and community support work best together. A regular Carer from Right at Home can help someone with dementia get ready for a Sage House session, travel there safely, take part with confidence, and settle back at home afterwards. What happens at Sage House then feeds back into the Care and Support Plan: the activities that lifted the mood, the friend they made, the family carer’s conversation with a peer that changed their thinking about a difficult decision. This is what good, joined-up dementia support looks like locally.