Empowered Conversations at work

Working with people living with dementia can be both rewarding and demanding. Time pressures and ever-increasing workloads massively impact on our abilities to connect and communicate with people, especially those living with dementia. The Empowered Conversation team can offer flexible online courses to suit your workplace, offering participants a chance to pause, reflect on how they communicate and explore different ways to connect.

“I’m slower, I’m really looking at their body language. It’s changed my perspective and I feel that I can satisfy their needs better.”.’
Kay, Heathlands, Salford.

The Empowered Conversations workshops are suitable for:

People providing Dementia Care –

  • Dementia Care Managers,
  • Dementia Care Givers –
    • Domiciliary Care Workers,
    • Care Home Staff and
    • Primary Care Staff.

People whose jobs may bring them into contact with a person with dementia –

  • Emergency Services,
  • Housing teams and people working in retail, services and other public facing occupations.

“Empowered Conversations has helped with further understanding how someone can living well with dementia and their families. It shows how you can connect with people on an equal level and appreciate the frustrations a person may have and allow them time to say what they want without misinterpreting or redirecting the conversation”.. – Andrea Tucker, Operational Team Leader, Welsh Ambulance Service Trust

Empowered conversations is a practical psycho-educational programme for professional carers of people living with dementia. The approach was developed by Six Degrees in partnership with the University of Salford. The course uses discussions, group work, films, real life examples and sharing stories to explore, reflect and learn as a group. We get people to think about ‘Tuning In’ to the person living with dementia and think about what’s happening for the person right now. The course can be delivered flexibly to meet the needs of the employer, from 3 x 2 hour online sessions through to a condensed day course, it covers the following:

* What does it feel like to talk to someone with dementia and what might it feel like for a person living with dementia talking to us?

* What gets in the way of you having the conversation that you want to have?

* Simple to use tips to start conversations.

* What gets in the way of us really listening?

* What’s said without words?

* What have we learnt, what have we changed and what can we celebrate?

If you would like to bring Empowered Conversations in to your workplace please email
emmasmith@ageuksalford.org.uk