Bill Yeates is an Australian masters competitor in swimming, surf lifesaving and finswimming, a champion lifesaver coach, a community fundraiser and a dementia advocate who was diagnosed with younger onset Alzheimer’s disease in 2019 at age 59.

Dementia Connections was glad to partner with Bill to co-create the following article about the unique person centred, holistic approach he’s developed to nourish his body, heart, mind, and soul called ‘The Tree of Awakening Your Positivity’.

My Tree of Awakening Your Positivity is based on the concept that my aim is not to get better, but to manage my diagnosis and to be able to live a better life. I needed not only to manage my cognitive decline, but also to become a person again. My Tree is about rebuilding myself in such a way that I could start enjoying life again. It's my own holistic post diagnostic care and support program.

I have a large paper tree in my back yard, and underneath it, in the worst possible place, was a seedling.  It sat there unmoving for years.  One day, right around the time I was diagnosed, the seedling flourished – it started to grow! Now it’s a 15-foot-tall tree.  I named my concept the Tree of Awakening Your Positivity because of that little seedling. It’s symbolic of me, where I’m surviving the adversity I encounter in my journey, I am also awakening to a new life post diagnosis.

A Tree of Awakening your Positivity can help you make sense of challenges, and to gain strength from having a plan to deal with the things that happen in life.

– Bill Yeates

Person-Centered Approach

What dawned on me is that a medical approach to treating dementia is not person-centered. So I had to step away from that approach and find a new way to become human again. That’s what building my Tree is. There was a point in time when, because of the darkness, I lost myself and I didn’t really consider life worth living.

Eventually, with the support of my family and friends I was able to enter a period of self-reflection to ask - Who is the person I now want to be?- and then - What do I need to change in my life to become that person?

When I work with people to make their own Trees, I ask them to stop and think about who they are as a person. I ask - What do you value? What are your strengths? What are you dreaming about? The Tree that you create must help you in that journey.

The exercise of designing a Tree of Positivity truly allowed me to be introspective and to recognize the things that define me and those I hold dear, those that I need an expression of to keep in the forefront of my daily life. Now that I see my completed Tree, it takes me to that place of reflection and it will be my reminder of the value of my work, those I love and care for, and most importantly, my own self-care. A place that calms my stress, elicits warm memories, and brings a smile to my face and heart.

–Helen B. Medsger, Global dementia & care partner advocate

Focus on Resilience

I believe that resilience is one of the most important things in relation to dementia. Imagine all the challenges that a person living with dementia faces, and how they just progressively get worse. For example, as communication problems start to occur social isolation is just going to get worse. Problems become more frequent and have increased intensity. It feels like there is no ray of hope.

Yet, when I look at my Tree it’s proof that I’m still trying to live a better life, and that translates back to me as resilience. The idea of resilience fits with my way of thinking – just don’t give up. The most important leaf on my tree is ‘Just Keep Swimming’. I’ll never deviate from this advice I received from a past student, Alison.

Because of the progressive nature of dementia, you must become exceptionally resilient. You will have your ups and downs, barriers and challenges. A Tree of Awakening your Positivity can help you make sense of challenges, and to gain strength from having a plan to deal with the things that happen in life.

Everything about my tree is symbolic. The word awakening refers to the transformation that occurred within me as I transitioned from the darkness of my diagnosis to try and live a better life.

– Bill Yeates

Build Your Tree

Self-reflection is the way to begin to build your Tree. Look at the experiences you’ve gained prior to your diagnosis.  What are your abilities? What are the things you’ve achieved? What are the things you haven’t achieved? Who do you want to be?  Hopefully, by learning about yourself you’ll find out about the things you need to do to live a better life.

For example, there was a part of me that wanted to do an ocean swim.  I thought that my diagnosis had killed that dream, but one of the leaves on my Tree is about setting new goals, challenging myself to step out of my comfort zone. So I thought, why not achieve something I’d always wanted to do, even though I’d have to face the fear of swimming among the sharks. Then I was able to create many leaves for my Tree that physically and mentally supported movement toward my goal of completing my first ocean swim.  The leaves in my Tree became the action steps I need to do each day to achieve this goal.

Building your Tree will help you to focus on what is important to you, on what you really value. The framework of the Tree is made up of leaves that relate to body, mind, heart and soul. It’s equally important to consider what will result in good health for my body, what is important to maintain relationships to people I’m emotionally attached to, and to include all of the other aspects of myself. Each Tree is unique and has a different number of leaves. I update my Tree two to three times per year to reflect the current priorities and goals I have in my life.

Enjoy Life

Everything about my Tree is symbolic. The word awakening refers to the transformation that occurred within me as I transitioned from the darkness of my diagnosis to try and live a better life.

I look at my Tree every day as a reminder that I’m doing something important – enjoying my life.  The exercise of designing a Tree of Awakening your Positivity truly allowed me to be introspective and to recognize the things that define me and that I hold dear. My Tree calms my stress, elicits warm memories and brings a smile to my face and heart. I hope you’ll design a Tree of Awakening your Positivity for yourself.

The Tree itself is a simple, yet creative and beautiful way to find your path back to yourself. The individual leaves highlight how just doing one thing can make a difference. It’s approachable without being overwhelming or discouraging, which makes it all the more impactful.

–Adria Thompson, Founder of ‘Be Light Care Consulting’