Dementia Care training to help support adults with learning difficulties
Dementia Care training to help support adults with learning difficulties
Frontier Support, provider of specialist care for vulnerable adults is rolling out Dementia Care training for its team of 125 support workers.
People with Learning Difficulties are now living longer. This means that, as they grow older, they will have many of the same age-related health and social care needs as other people. In addition to navigating the specific challenges associated with their learning disability.
Frontier Support’s Head of Learning and Development, Iqbal Sohawon, explains why he believes this training is so important:
“We provide supported living – care for people with complex needs provided in their own home – so they can access the community and live as independently as possible. We’ve had fabulous results in helping people to move from residential Assessment and Treatment Units to living behind their own front door. But it can take time for people to make that transition. Ours is a long-term commitment and relationship with the people we support.
“The longer people with Dementia can stay in their own home, the better. This is particularly true of people who have learning disabilities or whose needs are complex due to other conditions. The decision to provide our team with Dementia training is part of our plan to continue to support people – in familiar surroundings and with familiar faces – for as long as possible.”
Face to face training
The two-day face to face training is licensed from Homecare association. Participants cover a number of modules including:
- Recognising Dementia – a look at the signs, symptoms and types of Dementia
- Supporting people to live well with Dementia – how can we help people to live as full a life as possible
The training is delivered in small teams. There is plenty of time for questions and discussion about how the learning can best be applied for the people supported by Frontier.
Iqbal added: “This training has proved incredibly popular with the team. There has been lots of sharing of stories, tips and ideas. And the support workers at Frontier have been keen to find practical ways to support people with a Dementia diagnosis.
“The favourite tool has been the reminiscence box. People with dementia can find it difficult to recall short term information which can make it hard to maintain conversation. And without conversation, isolation can set in and potentially a worsening of symptoms.
“But dementia sufferers can struggle less when it comes to recalling and discussing details of their childhood or things that happened in the past.
“So, a reminiscence box containing personal photos, newspaper cuttings, mementos and so on is invaluable for prompting conversation. And these can be made multi-sensory with the inclusion of music and favourite scents.”
To find out more about how Frontier supports vulnerable adults, click here.