Diary of a Careworker – Setting Boundaries

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We care. We want to make life a little brighter; a little easier for our clients, so we go the ‘extra mile’. But when is it a mile too far for us? Setting healthy boundaries is one of the most important lessons we can learn to prevent burnout and undue stress. 

‘A Mile too Far 
’ 

I worked with a young man with lower-limb paralysis, and who had the most amazing positive approach to life. We got on well, and one day he asked me to be his ‘walk wingwoman’ for a fundraiser in support of a paraplegia charity. I felt, in all honesty, that this was perhaps beyond me, but I could see it was incredibly important to him; so I agreed. 

Soon after, we set about practising for the 8-mile walk, both taking turns to propel his chair. I found it hard. In fact, about halfway into our ‘training’, my knee began to ache. Carelessly, I ignored it, putting his excitement well before my slightly dicky knee.  

Some Sound Advice 

Perhaps predictably, about a week before the event, I woke up to find my knee swelled up like a bunch of misshapen grapes –  not pretty. I knew I was going to have to ‘bail out’. Feeling awful, I spoke to a colleague, who offered to take my place (she did these kind of things for fun:), but also gave me some sound advice, as an ‘over-giver’, which I share with new careworkers regularly. I’m paraphrasing, but here it is in a nutshell: 

  1. Healthy boundaries make better carers: Your health is at the heart of the good care you provide. Without it, nothing else works.
  1. Know why you’re over-giving:  Chronic over-givers may be doing so for different reasons: perhaps out of a need to be needed, or because we’re deflecting from our own worries by caring for others. We need to ensure that the ‘extra’ we’re doing is always coming from a healthy place.
  1. Selflessness is not in your job description! Ultimately, you are employed to support your client. Empathy and concern are a natural part of what you give as a careworker, but over-giving at the expense of your own wellbeing is not! 

I took up my colleague’s offer and her sound advice, realising that I should have declined at the outset; I needed to rethink my boundaries. My client was fine about it – he was just delighted that he would still have support on the day. 


 And he certainly did; with not one, but 3 ‘wingwomen’, all colleagues, walking along beside him and taking turns propelling his wheelchair to the finish line, where I was waiting with a high-five, a lumpy knee 
and a lesson learned  

Healthy Boundaries make Better Carers

Yes, we want to do all that we can for those we support, but we do our best when we’re at our best. And keeping ourselves in check with clear healthy boundaries on what we can – and can’t do – helps us to continue doing just that. 

My colleague’s wise last words on the matter made me realise how little attention I had paid to my own wellbeing: “Caring is sharing”, she said, “but a sponsored walk with a gammy knee is just plain daft’.  Again, she was spot on. 

Plant Power! – Promoting Client Wellbeing with Indoor Gardening

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There’s something really satisfying about watching plants thrive – and spring is the perfect time for clients to get their hands dirty 
with some home gardening! Even the least green-fingered among us gets a little joy from seeing new shoots unfurling, or a flower blooming. Furthermore, many elderly people will have had gardens in younger life, or don’t have the mobility to enjoy their existing gardens. Bringing some needy greenery to them can host a whole bunch of benefits; here are just a few 
 

Home gardening improves flexibility and mobility  

Anything that encourages a person to move around is a good thing! And, for those who need to move around more, knowing that their plants ‘need them’ can be a powerful motivator to maintain their own wellbeing 🔗.  Home gardening can be a mini-workout for the whole body, too; pruning, weeding, and cutting can help to limber up stiff finger joints and unwilling wrists, and even turning plant pots around on a windowsill can help improve flexibility in the arm and stomach muscles. Every little helps!

Tending to plants promotes wellbeing

Studies show that indoor plants provide physical and mental health benefits, including lifting mood, reducing loneliness, lowering stress and anxiety, and increasing physical activity.  Also – particularly for those with dementia, there is a strong sensory element to gardening; tending to plants and flowers can trigger good memories, remembering the flowers, their smell, and fond thoughts of family and friends.

It can be the start of a new hobby! 

Even if your clients have not enjoyed gardening in the past, it’s a quiet, simple and satisfying activity which can be very moreish. Helping them to gain other interests and activities is important for mental and physical wellbeing, and this is particularly the case for those whose interests and hobbies have been limited by ill health or restricted mobility. Before long, one plant can become two; and a little know-how can instigate a whole range of activities, from cultivating new plants from seed, or propagating from cuttings.

The best plants are not necessarily ‘the best plants’:) 

We all love to ‘root’ for the underdog – and garden centres, as well as supermarkets, often reduce those poor little wilting plants that are left because they don’t ‘appeal’ to customers. But these are the ones you want! As well as being cheap – often reduced to pennies, plants that need some extra care and attention can really pull at the heartstrings (in a good way:) 


Alternatively, if you’re green-fingered yourself, you could bring some cuttings in from their garden, if they have one. That way, your clients can have a connection to their garden which is manageable for them.

So why not make an occasion of starting a new green-fingered hobby with your clients. Have a little joint mosey down at your local supermarket – and rescue a plant today!

How to motivate those you support

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Everything we do is motivated by something. Even things we don’t want to do are motivated by the consequences of not doing them. But motivation has many facets and can work in a variety of ways; understanding some of these can help you in your role as a care worker.

Intrinsic Motivation

When we do something because we like it in itself – such as eating chocolate because it tastes good – we need very little encouragement! The same applies to hobbies that we enjoy, and all the vices we wish we didn’t have 🙂

Extrinsic Motivation

More often in life, however, we do things to get other things. With children, we entice them to tidy their toys in exchange for a treat; as adults, we generally work to get paid. This does something very important to the activity; it makes what we are doing a ‘means to an end’. And with that, it can often lose its value.  

The perfect example of this type of motivation, is an experiment which was conducted with a classful of children. All were given ice cream with the promise that if they ate it all, they would get some broccoli as a reward. What happened? Many of the children complained about having to eat the ice cream, with some even refusing to eat it, and asking to skip to the broccoli!  

Vexingly, even as adults, we still operate with the same basic ‘carrot and stick’ principle; however, we can make carrots out of our sticks!

Using Motivation as a Care Worker

Clients need, to varying degrees, to play an active part in their own wellbeing. This could be through encouragement to move around more, or to drink more fluids, for example. Often, we might resort to using rewards (extrinsic) – “Drink this and I’ll fetch you an extra biscuit with your cuppa” – or fear (also extrinsic – the desire to ‘avoid’) – “You’ll get dehydrated, Betty, and we don’t want that!”.  

However, a better way to change behaviour is to use good feelings that already exist around an activity. An example of this might be taking a walk through a favourite park, or perhaps encouraging more green-fingers clients to tend to plants in the home 🔗. It might take a little more time to work out what activities have intrinsic value for your client, but the results are far more likely to be long-lasting and self-driven.

We can give almost any Behaviour Intrinsic Value

It is slightly trickier when a behaviour just has no redeeming features for a client, but a combination of both types of motivation can help get them to the point where they engage in the activity for its own sake. Look for activities closely related to the desired behaviour which your client does have positive feelings for. These ‘milestones’ help to bring the person closer to the end goal.

For example:

Perhaps you care for someone who loves getting dressed up but not walking. Make a fuss: decide on which clothes to wear; what hat goes with what; which shoes look best. The walking activity will then become associated with feeling and looking good, and should eventually become part of that overall ‘good feeling’.  

Giving praise and encouragement are of course, always helpful. However, the goal is to get the individual to the point of doing the activity because they want to – not because they are praised. Remember: we are more likely to continue doing something unprompted when it makes us feel good. 

Thankfully, there are many intrinsic motivators that can apply to any behaviours, amongst them: a sense of achievement or fulfilment, a feeling of being in control, creative, important or independent; self-esteem, and of course; feelings of happiness or contentment!

Understand your client’s personal drivers

It’s too easy to see things from our perspective; how we would feel in that situation. But we are all different, with very disparate drivers. Let’s look at encouraging someone to be more mobile: 

A person who is fiercely independent will enjoy doing something that will enable them to feel self-sufficient. If you want them to be more active, try incorporating independence into your argument. “Just think, once you’re up and about again, you’ll be able to do that yourself”. 

Someone who prides themselves on their looks will be motivated by the feeling of doing something that will improve their self-image. “What a change I’ve seen in you since you’ve been in the garden more. You have a real rosy glow to your face!” 

Any social butterflies may be persuaded to go out for a coffee with “Why don’t we ask (Jenny) if she’ll be there? I know she’s hoping for a natter with you”,  rather than, perhaps “Let’s go for a coffee – the walk there will do you good”. 


you get the picture!

As care workers, most of us likely do this naturally without thinking; but knowing what’s behind both types of motivation can help you to hone your powers of persuasion to better effect. So, find out what your clients’ key drivers are, mould their wellbeing activities around them 
and, who knows, you might just see a few ‘sticks’ turn magically into ‘carrots’!

Diary of a Care Worker: Family Dynamics

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Parents know how to say the right things. And if there’s nothing that can be said, a cup of tea is often next up!

So it can be hard on the children of elderly or vulnerable parents in later life when things change. Families have spent a lifetime learning all the little quirks of their loved ones. They know their ‘tells’; when they’re in a good mood – and when to run for cover 🙂 

But medications, conditions and loss can change a person, their preferences and importantly, their needs. That’s tough enough for some. And then there’s us – the care workers – in the mix, too. Sometimes we’re considered ‘angels’ – other times we’re not! However, we learn to take it all in our stride – mostly … 

Mothers and Daughters – and Care Workers

I used to work with a lovely lady, Elsie, and we got on well. Having broken her leg, Elsie’s had her daughter come to stay with her for a few weeks. She had told me that her daughter was ‘a bit of a worrier’, and so I left it to her to share that she had been up a step ladder, trying to dust the lampshade when she fell. 

As soon as her daughter arrived, I understood what Elsie meant. 

‘She needs more pain medication – what on earth will paracetamol do? Are you in pain mum?” 

“No, I’m fine, darling” 

“She always says that”, her daughter said, protectively: “She needs more pain medication”. 

And so it went on, with “She likes both sides buttered.” and “She drinks coffee, not tea”. Elsie was cutting down on butter for her cholesterol and had stopped drinking coffee to avoid nightly trips to the loo, so these were choices she had made. However, I understood that her daughter probably felt insecure about a stranger looking after her mother, and did my best to reassure her. 

After a week of trying to strike a balance, though, it was getting quite tricky: 

“She does the crossword on the back of the Sunday paper – doesn’t she get one?” 

Possibly tired of the questions, Elsie fired back: “Here’s a clue. Four letters; stresses me out when someone makes a lot of it. Rhymes with ‘bus’.” 

I admit I gasped a little. But in an effort to relieve the tension, I pulled a pile of Sudoku books out from Elsie’s drawer. “Your eyesight’s not as sharp as it used to be, is it Elsie? – but you go through these Sudoku puzzles like there’s no tomorrow!”. 

I like to think Elsie’s daughter realised then, that we really were on top of things – as the rest of her stay seemed to go pretty smoothly.

Finding a happy medium 

It can be hard to get the balance right when your client’s personal wishes and those of their loved ones don’t align. My advice to anyone starting out as a care worker is not to take things personally, and to think about what’s going through the mind of the family member, which could be anything from guilt, to worry and frustration – or something completely unrelated. Many of us would be exactly the same. 

At the end of the day, we are there for our client’s wellbeing, and when family members are there, we do what we can to help make things go smoothly. Niggles are usually ironed out when families see that their loved ones are well taken care of, and that they can trust us to do our job well. But if not, we have our own team to guide us on how best to handle such situations. 

There will always be challenging moments, though. On the morning Elsie’s daughter left, I found a Post-it note stuck to the fridge.

“Please leave the Sudoku books on her bedside table. She can’t see them in a drawer!” 

At this point, my own mother’s favourite phrase came back to me – right before I’d hear the kettle being filled for a cuppa:

“Keep the heid, darling; keep the heid.” 

How to be more Disability Aware in Everyday Life

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When we talk of someone with a disability, what image comes to mind? Is it someone in a wheelchair? Disability comes in many guises, seen and unseen – and becoming more informed can help us to discern between what we think we know and what we should know about disability. 

As care professionals, we practice access and inclusion in our everyday lives. But is there more we can do to promote disability awareness? 

The answer is ‘yes’. But first, a very brief social theory lesson:

The Social Model of Disability suggests that a person is not disabled by their disability – but by society – in that it fails to meet their needs. This means that there are solutions out there – we can all do something to help improve how our society supports people with disabilities. 

But don’t get your picket board out of the cupboard just yet; think smaller, everyday things that we can all do easily. Here are some of them 
 

Watch your language!

Of course, we all know the obvious things not to say – often bandied about in school playgrounds. But here are a few terms that you may not know about 
 

  • Disabled toilet – the toilet is not disabled! Use ‘accessible toilet’ 
  • Disabled people – people are people first and foremost. Use ‘people with disabilities.
  • Wheelchair-bound – this is disempowering and suggests the person is ‘caged in’ when the wheelchair actually provides the freedom to get around. Use ‘wheelchair user’.  
  • Deaf – Deaf with a capital ‘D’ is often used by someone who identifies with the deaf community and may well use sign language, whilst ‘deaf’ may represent deafness and those with a hearing loss or who are hard-of-hearing. We tend to use ‘hearing impaired’, although this has problems too (see ‘impaired’) 
  • Blind – ‘Visually impaired’ is the term we tend to use, but not really preferred by the Blind community for the same reason as above. 
  • ‘Suffers from/afflicted with’ – again, disempowering. Simply say ‘has’ or ‘experiences’. 
  • ‘Impaired’ – this is a term used in the ‘medical model’ of disability. Although it’s widely used (visually impaired, hearing impaired) it’s best to find out what the person prefers to use. 
  • ‘Crazy/insane/mad/lunatic’ – Offensive. We never know what mental health issues someone we’re talking to may have; stay away from these words. 

Things to be aware of 
 

Hidden Disabilities 

It’s common to hear tuts at accessible parking bays (again, not a disabled parking bay) and accessible toilets when someone who doesn’t ‘seem’ disabled uses them. But disability comes in many shapes and sizes, and are also the business of the person with the disability – no one else’s! Don’t judge without the correct information.  

Making Assumptions 

Stroke, epilepsy, diabetes and other conditions can sometimes make a person appear to be drunk without having had a drop of alcohol. Bear this in mind if you see someone struggling.

Someone with an amputation may have had a long time to work around everyday challenges. Ask or wait to be asked for help – don’t rush in with what you think they need – this can be disempowering and offensive, well-meaning as it may be. 

Someone who is deaf may have lost their hearing at an early age, recently – or simply never had it. Some may sign, some may lip-read and others may use a BAHA (bone-anchored hearing aid), have a combination of all – or none. Ask about their preferences – don’t launch into BSL or start speaking in slow motion!

Dos and Don’ts 

DON’T 
 


Over-e.n.u.n.c.i.a.t.e if someone is a lip-reader. Just speak normally and clearly. Also, be aware that beards can make things very difficult for a lip-reader – as can face masks!


Finish the sentences of a person with a speech impairment. Wait patiently, and make them feel at ease whilst you do so. 
 


Propel a person in a wheelchair (for example, across a street, over a curb) unless they ask you, or you have asked them if they need help.  
 


Talk down to a wheelchair user; speak to them at eye level, if you can; crouch beside them, kneel or pull up a chair 
 


’Manhandle’ someone with a disability who has asked to be guided. Hold them (if safe to do so) by the arm and elbow; this allows them to sense your own body movement and to be more confident in their steps.

DO 
 


Ask! Many people with disabilities want to make it easier on others who fear ‘getting things wrong’, and will tell you their preferences.  
 


Educate others! This is the one thing we can easily do to help make long-lasting shifts in how we see disability. 
 


Consult first with any friends with a disability if you’re organising a day/night out to ensure you meet their access/dietary needs, and to avoid embarrassment for the person if things need to be changed on their account later.  
 


Always talk to a person in a wheelchair first if they have an assistant. NEVER talk over them. Sadly, this still happens a lot!

These are just little changes that we can make – but even small things can make a big difference for people with disabilities – and sharing your knowledge of disability awareness with others is a great start. 

Let’s make it happen!

February Newsletter

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Listen to this newsletter as a podcast instead

Hi Everyone 

Here’s the latest news in 60 seconds. 

COVID

As the number of positive cases continues to reduce, restrictions are being lifted.  As of April 1st, all testing is planned to finish.  Exceptions to this will include social care staff and those who are deemed at risk.  This does not mean that COVID has gone, nor does it reduce the importance of immunisation.  Similar to influenza, COVID will continue to mutate and keeping your vaccination status up to date will help protect you from the worst of its effects. 

WELCOME

I would like to welcome all the new staff joining us.  As life starts to get back to normal, I hope we will see more people joining our award-winning team.  Why don’t you take some time to introduce yourself to new staff and welcome them aboard with coffee and a chat. 

ADVOCACY

Martin is our service user advocate, due to COVID he has been unable to progress as many initiatives as we would have liked.  Now with the lifting of restrictions Martin is keen to get more people access to smart tech via EHSCP.  If you would like to find out more about this please CLICK HERE to see Martins video. 

OPEN DAY

We would love for you to join us at our Quartermile Office between 1 and 3 pm on Wednesday the 2nd of March. The open day will give you the chance to meet the team as well as join us for drinks and snacks. 

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Whistle While you Work: The Power of Music in the Care at Home Setting

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Music is well known for its therapeutic qualities; we all know it can soothe, motivate, and lift mood. But what happens to all of those wonderful musical memories if we can’t access them? They may lie dormant; rekindled only by a chance airing, maybe on the TV or radio. Such a shame!

We tend to stream our music now; CD sales are declining, and record players largely only the domain vinyl enthusiasts. Sadly, unless a person knows their way around mobile apps, access to their favourite tunes can be difficult. For most of us, we just wouldn’t be without music, but it has even greater importance for those who are vulnerable or spend most of their time at home. 

Music as Therapy

Music can not just be uplifting – it can have a powerful effect on our mind AND body. If you have ever watched ‘Awakenings’, you may have heard of Oliver Sacks, a respected neurologist, and prolific neurology writer. He was the doctor that Robin Williams played the part of in the film. Astonishingly, he discovered how music can help people with Parkinson’s disease-related conditions regain limb function by listening to music, which he termed ‘kinetic melody’. There has been ongoing research into the therapeutic power of music since, with well-known charities working to extol the virtues of a good tune, particularly for people with dementia and other life-limiting conditions.

Care workers have the power (and tech savvy!)

If you haven’t already, it’s a great idea to ask those you support about their musical preferences and if they have access to music. Perhaps there’s a CD unit or even a record player gathering dust in the house – lying dormant for the simple reason that it’s not plugged in! Furthermore, those who have a phone or iPad may only use it for making calls and don’t know that they have a world music library at their fingertips. Spend a little time helping them get their favourite tunes on, and well, if you know the words, have a sing-song whilst you work!

If you think this is something you can add to your wonderful list of talents as a care worker, check out Playlist for Life, a Glasgow Charity that seeks to help those who support others with the gift of music. 

Here at SCA, we say: “Bring back those warm memories of heydays, young love and boogie nights at the Palais!”

3 Key Qualities of an Inspirational Care Worker

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Do you remember that special teacher? The one who went the extra mile with you, maybe gave you a few words of encouragement when you were struggling? Their name probably springs to mind straight away, regardless of the years that have passed since. We don’t forget these things.

As a care worker, you have the opportunity to be that person, every day. Maintaining a person’s wellbeing is not just about tending to physical needs. How we feel about ourselves, our situation and our circle of support are crucial to our mental health. And nowhere is this more true than in the case of those we support. 

Here are 3 key qualities that we think, make an inspirational Care worker.


Takes time to offer choice

Choice, when we have it, gives us a sense of control over our environment. For someone who may have less control over their daily lives due to illness, mobility issues or memory impairment, even little choices – like activities, what to eat, and what to wear – can nurture and maintain that all-important sense of independence and with it, wellbeing.

  • Take time to offer choices wherever they arise. By investing a few more moments of your day to respect changing preferences, you reinforce the sense of agency of those you support.


Makes the effort to build trust

At any age, we gravitate towards those we deem reliable and trustworthy. And feeling that someone is there to really listen to you, and to understand your needs is vital to our sense of self and self-worth. Perhaps it’s knowing how someone likes a biscuit to dunk in their tea, or that they always like their slippers next to the radiator before bed. Consistency is key! 

  • Be consistent in your approach and the support you give, wherever possible 
and when you can’t, explain why and give reassurances for the next time.


Brings a smile and a positive mindset

It sounds obvious – but make your visit a welcome one, where people know that they will be greeted with a smile and a friendly voice. Whilst we can all have ‘bad days’, it should never spill over into the care we give others. We are there to tend to the needs of those we support, and lending a friendly ear for a few minutes can help them to feel ‘heard’ and valued. 

  • Your pearly-whites and positive attitude can bring a little sunshine into a person’s home on darker days. Show them off – even when you don’t feel it:)

So, there you have it! Small things, perhaps, but these qualities make the difference between a good care worker, and someone who chooses to be inspirational in this incredibly important role. 

Like to know more about working with Social Care Alba? Why not get in touch!

Care Training, Workshops and Qualifications at Social Care Alba

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Care worker? Love Learning? Then you’ve come to the right place! 

Working in care, you’ll encounter many scenarios where clients have a wide range of needs and preferences. Knowing how to work around these needs some quick thinking at times – and a firm knowledge foundation to work from!

At Social Care Alba, we provide a comprehensive range of social care courses and workshops – all to ensure that our staff are best equipped with the skills needed for their role. If you are thinking of applying to join our team, here are some of the learning opportunities we offer.

E-LEARNING: ONLINE CARE TRAINING

We offer a range of 30 e-learning modules to choose from. These courses are carefully selected to deliver 360Âș training on all aspects of care provision from a practical, values-based, and psychological perspective. We firmly believe that the best carers don’t just know ‘how’ to provide excellent care, but also the ‘why’ behind what they do, providing a safer and happier environment for both the client and for themselves as care professionals. Below is a list of our current e-learning modules 


SCA Courses

  • Infection control
  • Medication
  • Moving and Assisting
  • Nutrition
  • Food Hygiene
  • Promoting dignity
  • Communication
  • Adult protection
  • Record keeping
  • Person-centred care
  • Health and safety
  • Diversity and equality
  • Dementia
  • Continence promotion
  • Confidentiality
  • Assessing needs
  • Understanding challenging behaviour

IN-PERSON CARE WORKSHOPS

In addition to our online training, we also run in-person workshops to help staff build their care skills. Our staff find these sessions to be a great place to share their knowledge and experience with others as they learn. Current care workshops include topics from continence, dementia and medication, to moving and assisting, and are continually being reviewed.

CARE RELATED SVQ QUALIFICATIONS

Social Care Alba offers the opportunity to take on SVQs as you work with us, and we aim to be as flexible as possible to allow you to work around your studies and gain your SVQ qualification. Contact us to find out more about how we can support you to further your care skills.

HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE: OPEN UNIVERSITY COURSES 

Staff can work and study locally with Edinburgh Napier University, The University of Edinburgh or Queen Margaret University depending on the courses they want to take.  (Current staff are doing degrees in Social Work, MSC in Social Care, MSC in Physiotherapy and many more!). We also link with the University of Tasmania for in-depth Dementia training. 
Social Care Alba aims to provide access to health and social care training that fits fully with the needs and career aspirations of our staff. If you’d like to get ahead in your care career, come work – and train – with us. Get in touch today!

Diary of a Care Worker: Dementia and Confabulation

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I had just started out as a care worker, but the following story has stayed with me throughout the years as a warning never to make assumptions!

After a night of Googling, printing and cutting out pictures of a particular vintage car, I was quite pleased with myself. I had grabbed my new role as a personal care assistant with both hands, and was loving it. That day, I had found a nugget of new information from one of our lovely clients, James – a client with dementia; and I was excited to share the pictures with him.

Nurturing the Memory 


He had told me he used to own a very old vintage racing car, and described, with loving detail, the fenders on the side, the convertible roof, the outside spare wheel, and how he would pick up his girlfriend – later to be his wife – for a night out on the town. James was in his late 90’s and was lovingly referred to as a ‘cheeky chappie’ – always up for a little banter, but I hadn’t heard him speak of this car before, so I was naturally keen to nurture the memory.

I came in that morning, put the pictures in the photobook that a few of us had made as a visual aid, and made him a cup of tea. As he leafed through the pictures, he told me more stories of his adventures with this vintage vehicle, his wife of 60 years, and the fun times they had when they were courting.

Soon after, his wife returned from a grocery shop. She saw the photobook open on the table, displaying the pictures of this mean 1920’s dream machine.

“Why are these in here?”

I told her of our chat the day before, and how he had described days out with her on picnics, picking her up for nights in the dance hall, and driving through the countryside together in this wonderful car. 

She turned to me, with a hint of a wry smile.

“I think he’s talking about the car from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, dear’.

Note to Self (and other care workers:)

Dementia can cause memories of people and places to become fuzzy, so the brain attempts to fill in gaps with relevant or similar memories. This can lead to false memories (confabulation), perhaps of well-learned facts or strong images from movies or books. It can be hard to strike a balance between ‘going along’ with what you suspect are false memories, and supporting them to find the ‘right memory’. But it’s all part of the learning curve as a care worker 
with some steeper than others!

Strike a chord? Work and train with us! Social Care Alba is hiring.

Need Dementia support or to learn more visit Alzheimer Scotland or Dementia UK