Kate White is an activist caregiver, training therapist, supervisor, researcher and teacher at The Bowlby Centre, UK. She is series editor of the John Bowlby Memorial Conference Monographs and editor emeritus of the journal Attachment: New Directions in Psychotherapy and Relational Psychoanalysis. She has edited and co-edited many books on a variety of issues in relation to psychoanalysis, including, attachment, culture, sexuality, trauma and the body.

Kate was previously a senior lecturer in district nursing at The South Bank University, London. This is where her interest in the care of those who become vulnerable thorough dementia and ageing originated. The perspective provided by attachment theory has, in her view, a great deal to offer both paid carers and family members alike. She has personal experience of this as her partner John was diagnosed with Alzheimers ten years ago.

In addition to working as an individual psychotherapist, Kate has co-edited Dementia: An Attachment Approach, (Routledge, 2020) and runs workshops on the themes of attachment and trauma in clinical practice and dementia care.

“I love you, for god’s sake don’t leave me!!” – Living with Dementia Together: An Attachment Approach

My presentation will address the emotional issues raised by the subject of dementia both in our personal lives and our professional roles as caregivers. The contribution of attachment theory in helping us think about the subject of dementia will be explored through personal lived experience and research in the context of the current social and political debate about dementia care. The critical importance of enhancing the well-being of both people living with dementia and those caring for them through relationship focused interventions using the creative arts will be illustrated and discussed.