Hello everyone.
I work in a dementia specialist care home. Part of my job involves supporting the relatives of our residents, which I feel is a very important role.
I currently run a monthly support group which involves a guest speaker covering a variety of topics that helps to support our resident's spouse, partner, children and friends.
I have exhausted my list of contacts and ideas and I am looking for new avenues. To give you an idea, I have run the following sessions:
- Admiral nurse (x2 sessions) to signpost to local services and internal support in the home
- dementia medical details talk from specialist nurse, exploring different types, what happens to the brain, how it affects you etc
- dementia friends workshop run by Alzheimer's society
- legal matters talk with local solicitors and funeral directors e.g. funeral plans, powers of attorney, next of kin, wills etc
- Carers UK support group sharing experiences and 'getting it off your chest'.
- Carers UK focusing on putting a parent into care and another session around putting a spouse into care - feelings of guilt and coping with living alone
- Pain Management and how to recognise signs of pain in a loved one with dementia, having a go at using the tools we use in the care home to document and assess pain
- Mental Health Act & Mental Capacity Act, exploring deprivation of liberty safeguards too
-The importance of life story books when caring for someone with dementia, content, how it is useful and benefits the person
- Effective communication - what colours, senses and forms of communication work with those who are unable to verbalise, showing there are lots of ways to still enjoy each other's company
- Safeguarding adults, how to recognise signs of abuse and to protect your loved one as well as yourself
- Dementia & depression
- Funding long term care and the new care act
I am looking for some new ideas - what do you as a relative or friend of someone with dementia wish you knew/would like to know? We invite people from the local community so it's not specifically tailored to those living in care.
Thank you!
I work in a dementia specialist care home. Part of my job involves supporting the relatives of our residents, which I feel is a very important role.
I currently run a monthly support group which involves a guest speaker covering a variety of topics that helps to support our resident's spouse, partner, children and friends.
I have exhausted my list of contacts and ideas and I am looking for new avenues. To give you an idea, I have run the following sessions:
- Admiral nurse (x2 sessions) to signpost to local services and internal support in the home
- dementia medical details talk from specialist nurse, exploring different types, what happens to the brain, how it affects you etc
- dementia friends workshop run by Alzheimer's society
- legal matters talk with local solicitors and funeral directors e.g. funeral plans, powers of attorney, next of kin, wills etc
- Carers UK support group sharing experiences and 'getting it off your chest'.
- Carers UK focusing on putting a parent into care and another session around putting a spouse into care - feelings of guilt and coping with living alone
- Pain Management and how to recognise signs of pain in a loved one with dementia, having a go at using the tools we use in the care home to document and assess pain
- Mental Health Act & Mental Capacity Act, exploring deprivation of liberty safeguards too
-The importance of life story books when caring for someone with dementia, content, how it is useful and benefits the person
- Effective communication - what colours, senses and forms of communication work with those who are unable to verbalise, showing there are lots of ways to still enjoy each other's company
- Safeguarding adults, how to recognise signs of abuse and to protect your loved one as well as yourself
- Dementia & depression
- Funding long term care and the new care act
I am looking for some new ideas - what do you as a relative or friend of someone with dementia wish you knew/would like to know? We invite people from the local community so it's not specifically tailored to those living in care.
Thank you!