Caremark recently visited Care Match UK HQ to take part in our Dementia Interpreter Training to become a Dementia Advocate!

Read on for their first-hand experience and what they thought of the Dementia training!

Our Care Coordinator Gemma recently attended The Dementia Interpreter course with CareMatch UK.

What is it about?

The course is a commitment to learning the ‘language of dementia’. With experiential elements, where delegates had their abilities such as sight and hearing removed, this provided an experience to best understand what it is like for a person with dementia.

Gemma engaged fully with this course and felt she got so much from it. 

What did you do?

We won’t give away what happens completely in this training session but through the use of different equipment and activities, communication with others got harder and harder as the session went on. Scenarios getting us to think out of the box

This allowed me to experience what it could be like for someone with Dementia trying to communicate but maybe not having the right words or ability to explain properly. 

This was a really interactive training session which I loved. 😊

What have you taken away from this training?

How difficult and frustrating it must be when you cannot get your words across, obviously with Dementia it is really hard because the client wants to say something, but they do not know how to express it.

I got frustrated because I just wanted the ‘client’ to say what she wanted to say and at times wanted to say the words for them. It is a weird feeling, but it opens up your eyes to how difficult it really is for someone with Dementia and not being able to use hand gestures also made it even harder. 

I could see that the ‘client’ was getting agitated and more and more frustrated not being able to communicate. 

I got a lot out of this course and would love to do more.

If you are interested in becoming a Dementia Interpreter, then contact us today to get started!