Training for Health and Care Professionals 2025 – 9 weeks from Thursday 25th September – 8 pm Online via Zoom

Health and Care Professionals

Anyone who regularly encounters people with dementia in their role, or who supervises, mentors or manages others who do, in any health, care or social setting, will find this course beneficial. No previous training is required to understand this course, but whatever courses they have done in the past, delegates will learn something new.

Our course for professionals consists of 9 weekly interactive online sessions. Each session includes a short presentation using real-life examples, with time for questions and discussion. The course improves delegates’ understanding of how dementia affects the person, and develops their skills to:

• lessen the impact of dementia on the individual and their family
• de-escalate distressed behaviour
• avoid inadvertently triggering distress.

Topics covered in each 60-minute interactive session:

1.     Introduction to Understanding Dementia
– what’s different about this approach, and how it can lessen the impact of dementia
2.     Types of dementia and related conditions
– how they differ, and what they have in common
3.      Well-being in dementia
– its importance, why it is so vulnerable in dementia, and how to support it
4.      Questions
– why they can be unhelpful in dementia, and how to find better ways to support choice
5.      Being a buddy
– how to get alongside the people we care for, and build better relationships
6.       Contradiction and confrontation
– why they are best avoided, and how to do that without getting tangled up in lies
7.       Listening and talking skills
– what to listen out for, what we can learn, and how to deal with repetitive questions
8.       The hazards of ‘parenting’ our elders
– why role reversal can cause problems, and how to address ‘difficult’ behaviour
9.       Counterintuitive strategies for managing risk, professional boundaries etc
– how using this approach can make difficult situations easier to manage

Priced at £225 per person, our training for professionals is very cost-effective. A hard copy of the booklet ‘Understanding Dementia and Lessening its Impact’ is included, with electronic handouts after each session and CPD certificate on completion. During the course, reflective homework completed online helps to embed the training as trainees apply the principles of this approach to their own workplace and caseload. After the course, they are invited to join our online community of professionals using this approach, for ongoing discussion and support.

With a whole team trained in this approach, clients can experience seamless and unobtrusive care. We can deliver bespoke courses, so contact us to discuss your requirements.

If your preferred session is fully booked, you can join our waiting list by emailing Lucy White at training@understandingdementia.co.uk

Courses run for 9 weeks