Brachers shortlisted for two dementia friendly awards

Award winning law firm, Brachers is well on its way to becoming dementia friendly after both the firm and Senior Associate Mary Rimmer are shortlisted for awards.

Hosted by the Dementia Friendly Kent awards, the firm has been shortlisted in the ‘Dementia Friendly Organisation/ Company (More than 50 staff)’ category, while Mary is shortlisted for the ‘Emma Kent Award for Outstanding Contribution’.

Managing Partner, Joanna Worby said the double shortlisting is testament to Brachers commitment to helping vulnerable people in the community, which has already seen the firm named as working towards being dementia friendly by the Alzheimer’s Society.

“The firm is a strong supporter of the community we have been a part of for almost 125 years. We take seriously our corporate social responsibility and participate in a range of local activities which we believe help make a difference. Of course, our legal work involves helping people make important decisions about their personal affairs so it’s important to us that staff are trained to work with vulnerable people, and part of this is understanding how dementia can affect people’s abilities to make decisions. The shortlisting is confirmation of the hard work all our staff do.”

Senior Associate Mary Rimmer, who heads the firm’s elderly and vulnerable team, was excited to be recognised in the shortlist.

“As more people are affected by dementia, I have made it my priority to better aid those affected, as well as give my colleagues the knowledge they need to better help someone living with dementia. I believe that by making those with dementia feel included in conversations and better understood, the stigma around dementia can be reduced.”

Mary has been named one of 10,500 Dementia Champions nationwide by the Alzheimer’s Society, and has been instrumental in helping Brachers to be recognised as working towards being a Dementia Friendly business.

Mary is helping lead the publicity for Making Maidstone a Dementia Friendly Community Action Group, a trustee of charities Maidstone Mencap and Spadework, and a member of STEP and Solicitors for the Elderly. By hosting information sessions at Brachers and within the wider Maidstone community, Mary has successfully made 286 ‘dementia friends’ to date.

The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony on 11 October.

Press release: 20.8.19

This content is correct at time of publication