The use of counselling skills in the care of people with dementia
A 3-day course for experienced person-centred dementia care staff devised and delivered by DementiaTrainers.
Day 1
- Emotional expression
- Issues leading to strong feelings for people with dementia
- Listening skills
- Recognising feelings
- Messages behind behaviour
- Helpful and unhelpful questions
- Empathy
- Basic qualities and skills of counselling
- Demonstration of basic counselling skills
- Counselling skills practice: reflecting and clarifying
Day 2
- Non-verbal communication
- When practical solutions don’t help
- Demonstration and practice of counselling skills: paraphrasing and summarising
- Acknowledging feelings within the context of practical help
- Skills and qualities needed for person-centred dementia care
- Incorporating counselling skills into day-to-day practice
- The use of counselling skills in responding to different realities
- Case study and guided demonstration: using counselling skills to respond to different realities
- Compensating for dementia-related difficulties in using counselling skills
- Counselling skills practice
Day 3
- Losses involved in dementia
- Strategies for dealing with feelings
- Demonstration role play: using counselling skills with a person with dementia
- Counselling skills practice
- Case study: identifying feelings and underlying messages
- Group role play: using counselling skills with a person with dementia
- The difference between ‘counselling’ and ‘using counselling skills’
- What we can hope to achieve in using counselling skills with people with dementia
- Personal support systems
- Taking the learning back into work