Amore Care Receives University Accreditation For Innovative Dementia Programme
Amore Care, part of the Priory Group of Companies, has received university accreditation for a new successful ‘Creative Minds’ programme.
The project was well received by the review board at the University of Brighton which was unanimous in giving full accreditation. The success of the programme follows a year of writing, delivering to care teams, reviewing, changing and retesting.
‘Creative Minds’ is an innovative five session programme that has the ethos of supporting people with dementia to live their lives to the fullest capacity. The sessions include:
- Understanding the impact of dementia on the person and family
- Enabling communication and positive experiences for people living with dementia
- Understanding stress & distress reactions in dementia
- Promoting dignity, respect and personhood for people who are living with dementia
- Living life – meaningful activity for people living with dementia
Creative Minds is available for all Amore care home staff and offers participants a variety of ways to learn including active participation, best practice films, exercises, presentations, theory and reflective learning.
Amore Cares’ Creative Minds training is designed to motivate all care home staff and encourage creative ideas to improve the quality of life for residents.
Stephen Amos, Dementia Lead at Amore Care said, “Creative minds gives a clear message that people with dementia can contribute, be purposeful, can engage and be active, can share emotions and develop relationships, depending on the individual.
“Our absolute belief is that people living with dementia need to be valued as a person with a continued role and purpose in life, need a sense of belonging within their care home community, need to feel they are loved and need to have meaningful engagement, activity and occupation. The key challenge for our staff is that residents are often reliant on them to facilitate this.”
Creative Minds in action:-
A firm friendship with Amore Care’s Apple Mews’ maintenance man Johnny McKenna has enabled resident Alfie to involve himself in everyday tasks and activities that have led to a quality of life and level of independence he never dreamed of attaining.
Johnny, who has worked at Apple Mews in Armagh since October 2012 after spending most of his working life on building sites, attended Amore Care’s Creative Minds training.
Despite not having a care background, Johnny embraced the ethos of the programme and engaged with Alfie in a way that changed his life. Alfie now helps around the home, goes fishing with Johnny and even mows the lawns from his wheelchair, with a little innovative assistance from Johnny. He is so motivated in his life that he has started regular physiotherapy with the ultimate aim of walking again.
