Liferoots
Liferoots innovative dementia coaching, training, and consultancy develops an individuals’ skills and abilities - inspiring them to be the best they can be. This transformational approach for professional and family carers, developed by dementia specialists, enables participants to strengthen their capability, manage change and positively shape their future. There are three strands to our service provision- coaching, training and consultancy - all of which are underpinned by our unique positive person-centred approach; Coaching for Compassionate Care. We offer accredited and vocational programmes for organisations, groups and individuals. For example, the accredited RSPH and Alzheimer’s Society Level 2 Award in 'Understanding Dementia', demonstrates a baseline qualification for care staff, is informative to those with an interest in dementia and is a great next step for those who have become ‘Dementia Friends’. For family and friends of those living with dementia; our flexible courses provide support at an emotional time - we work with people to tackle the changes and impact of dementia together. We are really pleased to have had a very positive impact on our participants lives. Participants have said, ‘The course has been an eye opener for me - I look at things with more confidence. I feel a lot more settled with coping with my husband and also coping better at home on my own. I look at life a lot differently.’ B. Bedford ‘I’ve got a greater understanding of using comfort and touch and being non-confrontational. I don’t feel as emotional now’. S. Leeds ‘A very enjoyable course with lovely tutors – it was most valuable, and it has made me think of the future and how I should make plans to help my family in later life’. A. Bedford ‘I feel like a different woman now - a weight has been lifted from my shoulders – I can recognise my ‘self’ again’. K. Luton We also work with health and social care professionals and managers to support improved practice through workplace training. Participants’ on these courses have said, ‘The training was delivered well, easy to understand, very useful would recommend to others’. ‘Very clear and well thought out approach and good informal approach prompted good involvement from learners’. ‘Useful course, variety of participation tools, enjoyable as well as educational!’. ‘by confirming theory through the sharing of personal examples clearly proved an effective method of helping individuals to relate with both theoretical models and each other’. We offer a consultancy service; this incorporates established and emerging theories, practical techniques, and constructive feedback. This includes supporting care homes to improve the quality of their service and systems including CQC inspection outcomes. To conclude, our aim is to provide holistic person-centred programmes that improves the wellbeing of carers and people living with dementia.
- Updated:
- 4 December 2018
- Location:
- East of England
- Sectors:
- Other
- Local Alliances:
- Luton Dementia Action Alliance
1. Action Plan
1. The National Dementia Declaration lists seven outcomes that the DAA are seeking to achieve for people with dementia and their carers. How would you describe your organisation’s role in delivering better outcomes for people with dementia and their carers?
The I-statements are central to the philosophy of Liferoots – coaching for compassionate care – our drive is to enable others to recognise and support individuals affected by dementia to live their life as fully as possible in the way that they want to. We support I-statements by providing positive dementia awareness and understanding through our empowering coaching, training and support programmes.
Our work derives from the views of People living with dementia and their Carers, current research and best practice, and is delivered by specialist facilitators. Their role is to increase knowledge, inspire practical solutions and embed learning into practice. This enables participants to heighten their motivation, improve communication and enrich their performance whether in the private, public and or voluntary sectors resulting in positive cultural change.
Throughout all our training we respond to the uniqueness of each participant, whatever his or her background and experience; this is at the heart of what we do.
2. What are the challenges to delivering these outcomes from the perspective of your organisation?
Engagement; is sometimes difficult with people who might benefit from our training, especially in hard to reach communities and those in crisis– so we will continue to link with other agencies, build partnerships to address stigma and increase dementia awareness in these communities.
Time; for family carers is always a problem, especially if they are caring for someone at home – to address this we provide short, modular and blended/distance learning.
On the other hand, family carers of people with dementia who are living in care and nursing homes often have more time available and can feel lost and vulnerable during this time of transition. We can alleviate this by empowering key staff to cascade our engaging and informative training and support programme to relatives, as a cost effective and sustainable way of helping families at a difficult time.
We respond to a diverse training landscape – enabling access, recognising and positively developing participants’ experience. We recognise that it is rapidly changing with advances in new technology and the impact of reduced budgets, time and other resources. To mitigate this our courses are innovative and interactive to encourage involvement, and we use various delivery techniques, including; blended learning, peer support groups, webinars, experiential learning and connecting with emotions.
We provide a free consultancy service (including a training needs analysis) to establish individual/ organisational needs. This may uncover emerging difficulties including regulatory requirements and funding restrictions – we can support organisations to address these issues and enable positive change in practice
Our collaborative approach with those working or caring for people living with dementia means we provide accessible, high quality programmes whilst offering great value.
Member website
www.liferoots.co.uk2. Actions
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We will link with others to help build an efficient and supportive dementia network
We will continue to link and develop partnerships with members of the DAA and other networks. In addition, we are working in partnership with a leading Health and Social Care training company, carrying out a research project funded by the Education & Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) and Department of Education (DoE) called the ‘Flexible Learning Fund’. The aim of our project is to assess and develop innovative ways to deliver training within the care sector. This means that we will be working with local care providers to explore new ways of helping staff to engage with learning and improve their care practice. Please contact us if you would like to be involved in this project.
- Status:
- Being implemented
2018 - Third Quarter Update
Over the past year, we have forged further links and partnerships with organisations, care homes and charities; sharing ideas and good practice.
We have delivered training to volunteers, care professionals and the family and friends of those living with Dementia, signposting participants to appropriate agencies who offer further support, or with whom they might build additional networks.
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Support the Dementia Friends and Dementia Action Alliance movement
We will continue to integrate this approach throughout our work with all groups; whether participants are care professionals from the business sector, communities, or are the family and friends of those living with dementia.
- Status:
- Being implemented
2018 - Third Quarter Update
We have encouraged and enabled people to become Dementia Friends, promoted the work of the DAA and contributed to Luton becoming a Dementia Friendly Town.
All our participants’ become Dementia Friends or have been informed about the aims of the Movement, and the positive impact that individuals can make. These discussions, together with signposting to the Dementia Friends website (and informative resources there in), has supported those keen to learn more about Dementia, and promoted on-line registration.
Our Dementia Friends Champion has provided Dementia Friends Sessions to a wide range of people, from cub scouts and family carers to volunteers and care professionals within Care Homes, as well as the wider community.
All our trainers are now Dementia Champions.
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We will support the provision of person centred care
Our focus is enabling the delivery of compassionate care and support using a person-centred philosophy. We work with families, professional carers and service managers to develop a deeper understanding of dementia, how it effects individuals and how communication changes as the condition evolves.
Programmes for Relatives and Friends of People living with dementia:
We will continue to offer training to organisations in Luton, including Dementia Cascade and Coaching courses: which provide key people with the skills, understanding and resources they need to deliver our programmes directly, making them available ‘where, when and to whom’ as required.
We will continue to deliver training that is smart and integrates meaningfully with organisational strategy and framework - courses can be mapped to relevant areas of development to ensure that any overlap is identified and the impact optimised/reduced. Courses can also be contextualised to incorporate/enhance policies, procedures and working practices.
- Status:
- Being implemented
2018 - Third Quarter Update
Our flexible and holistic programmes provide support at an emotionally charged time when changing circumstances were challenging for families. We provide knowledge of the condition, help participants to understand what this might means for them and how this links to providing person centred care. With emotional support and planning built in, participants on our courses reported greater consideration for their own health and wellbeing, increased emotional resilience, and improved confidence and self-awareness.
We have developed and piloted an entirely new flexible development model where the training modules are delivered within a group and individualised coaching takes place between sessions – enabling a person centred approach for all Participants. This has been well received and had very positive outcome for those involved. One lady said,
’Just wanted to say thank you for yesterday’s session. When I started on a course on dementia I didn’t know I would be exploring myself and getting lots of tools and info to try and work through how to do things better within myself, and therefore be able to help others more...’.
Accredited and vocational courses:
Participants’ from care homes, charities, volunteers and families and friends of people living with dementia have taken the RSPH & Alzheimer’s Society Level 2 Award in ‘Understanding Dementia’ – and achieved a 100% success rate – everyone who has taken the award passed.
We have worked with leaders taking qualifications from level 3 to level 5 Higher Apprenticeship in Care and Leadership and Management, and promoted dementia support and Dementia Friends throughout.
Programmes for Care Professionals:
We have delivered programmes that are designed to encourage heightened motivation, improve communication, enhance performance, and ensure better person centred outcomes for the person living with dementia. Courses also assure compliance with aspects of the Care Act 2014 and CQC outcomes. Examples of bespoke vocational courses, include; Dementia Awareness, Responsive Behaviours, Person Centred Assessment, Chairing Best Interest Meetings; Mental Health in Older Adults Safeguarding and DOLS, Creative Conversations, and Team building.