People with dementia can still find purpose in life.

It's something Dr Elizabeth MacKinlay, professor of theology at Charles Sturt University in Canberra and an Anglican priest, has researched and firmly believes.

She was in New Plymouth recently to host a full-day workshop last week on ageing and spirituality, particularly spiritual reminisce for people with dementia.

"People who have dementia are still human beings but often feel disempowered and unable to talk normally with others," Dr MacKinlay said.

The spiritual reminisce process was developed in the last 10 years.

"This is not a therapy per se but it's working with the spiritual dimension to help people to find meaning in their life experiences.

"This becomes important for people as they grow older and it's just as important for people who have dementia.

"We have a lot of evidence that shows that people with dementia can find meaning in the face of that experience."

Dr MacKinlay worked with a group of dementia patients in a resthome and asked them what things were most valuable.

"Relationship is really so important for people with dementia even if they get the exact nature of the relationships mixed."

One woman talked about how helpful her mother was, but her mother had been dead for many years.

"She was silent for a little while. Then she said, ‘Oh actually, it's not my mother it's my daughter, but my daughter is just like a mother to me.' That was just something so special."

Dr MacKinlay's work in this field started when one of her friends, Christine Bryden, was diagnosed with early onset alzeimers at age 46.

"She asked me if I would journey with her because I was both a geriatric nurse and an Anglican priest. She thought that she needed both."

Dr MacKinlay was initially apprehensive.

"I did some praying and I became convinced that it was important to do," she said.

"She challenged me in many ways over the coming years and I found that it was possible to talk with her quite naturally."

Christine Bryden has since published several books including "Who will I be when I die."

She was the first person with dementia to do a presentation at the Alzeimers Disease International Conference in 2001.

Dr MacKinlay couldn't base a theory on the experiences of one person, so she got a research grant and gathered a team to delve into the topic more.

"Based on that we've developed this whole process of working with people in facilitated small group settings." 

It was all about asking people where they find meaning in life, and sharing their hopes and fears, what makes them happy and what's hard for them.

"It's really beginning to help them get in touch with who they are and their whole identity."

Dr MacKinlay was brought to New Zealand by the Selwyn Foundation for Ageing and Spirituality.

Her book, "Finding Meaning in the Experience of Dementia: the Place of Spiritual Reminiscence Work," won an Australasian Journal of Aging book prize last year.