A FIRST IN SURREY…. Cranleigh joins in
A life changing new course has just been delivered into a local community about helping communities to confidently learn how to communicate with people living with dementia with specialist person centred empathy training.
Two iCARER courses have been delivered in Cranleigh, Surrey over the summer. This is about creating a compassionate neighbourhood for people living with dementia. The short course was designed for local residents and local carers of people living with dementia, businesses, churches, shop staff, health and social care staff, volunteers or friends interested in supporting someone with dementia.
The invitations went out into the pharmacists, local shops and media asking:
Have you the right heart and a little time for creating a compassionate neighbourhood for people living with DEMENTIA?
· Learn how to communicate at a deeper emotional level
· Learn how to listen intelligently from the heart
· These skills create compassionate communities through the way we communicate with individuals experiencing dementia to ensure they feel understood and included in our community
iCARER is an acronym for a set of skillful empathetic interaction. These skills create compassionate communities through the way we communicate with individuals experiencing dementia to ensure they feel understood and included in their community.
A local community can provide backup and a ‘safe’ environment when emotions may be running high.
Services will be better equipped to support customers who are struggling in day-to-day situations
It will provide support and intervention which will allow people to live well with dementia and carry on leading an active community life for longer.
It will equip and support family carers with the skills and confidence to know they are giving the best care possible
It encourages inter-generational involvement
It creates a compassionate community of awareness and how to listen intelligently and engage from the heart. This ensures a vulnerable person feels valued, competent and included.
iCARER - 4 Key Messages
The person experiencing dementia can’t help what is happening to them
It’s not what you say but how you make them feel that matters
Individuals experiencing dementia have a unique language
What a person needs most is empathy
It was inspiring to experience the energy in the room between people working in shops, carers and professionals interested in upping their game in supporting local people.
People attended felt they enjoyed learning how to interact with empathy to someone with Dementia. Some had no personal experience but learnt about the need to look at the underlying feelings with learning Strategies and hearing about other experiences from within the community group from Cranleigh.
QUOTES
I feel I could try and get into the place that the person with Dementia is in
Patience, understanding and staying calm
To be more patient and listen and Learning to not correct…
Ensuring my organisation cares for those with dementia
The person experiencing dementia can’t help what is happening to them.
It’s not what you say but how you make them feel that matters
People experiencing dementia have a unique language
What a person needs most is empathy