After taking stock a couple of weeks ago, it’s time to look forward and think about some of the things we’ve got coming up in the next few months – although I’m very aware that the last time we tried this back in February it didn’t quite work out as planned!
Post Graduate Certificate and Award
Back in March we had three online modules running, and due to Covid-19 and the vast majority of our students working in roles that made it impossible for them to have time to study, they were all put on hold. These will all be restarting this month, together with our new module about ‘Enabling Environments for People with Dementia’, and we’re really looking forward to welcoming everyone online.
We’re also working hard to develop our new modules which will be starting in January, producing content despite the challenges of remote working. To find out more about these modules have a look at our website.
Research Projects
As a result of the pandemic, two of our research projects where we are working closely with care home staff understandably had to be postponed. We’re cautiously looking at resuming our work on both CHARM and Wear to Care, being mindful that staff may still be in a difficult situation and adapting our approach as necessary.
Our work around Meeting Centres is also continuing, as we provide support to Meeting Centres during the transition back to face-to-face sessions or as they use a hybrid approach in the interim. We’re also looking to open applications for funding for new Meeting Centres in Worcestershire in the near future, after this was delayed by Covid-19. Online training sessions for Meeting Centre staff are also being developed to replace (for now at least) the face-to-face training that we already had in place.
Education
Beyond our online modules, we also deliver training and education courses for health and care providers and organisations. Previously, these were all delivered in person, but we’re working with individual providers to consider what options are now available and what will work best for both us and them. This includes running sessions online, which we have been piloting in a couple of cases during the past few months. With the constantly changing landscape of local lockdowns and restrictions, it’s important to be flexible and responsive, so this is an area we’ll be working on for a while.
Enhancing the Healing Environment tools
Our work to review and refresh the Enhancing the Healing Environment assessment tools is nearly complete with just a few final touches to be made. We’re hoping to re-launch these soon, for care homes, housing, health centres, hospitals and wards. As a separate but related piece of work, we’ll also be looking at a tool for assessing outside spaces, but this is still in the early stages.
Events and conferences
We’re still looking to host events such as the Namaste Care workshop, but need to consider the safest and most appropriate way of doing this. After a short summer break though, our Meeting Centre ‘Bring Your Own Lunch’ webinars will be resuming on the last Friday of each month. Keep an eye out for updates about the next one on 25th September.
Although most – if not all – conferences have moved to being online, we’re still going to be involved with some in the coming months, either via posters, pre-recorded presentations or online platforms live on the day. Ones we know about include:
- Care in the Age of Outrage – a poster about our UK Meeting Centres Support Programme
- Virtual Alzheimer Europe Conference – presentations about Meeting Centres, implementation and impact of our Namaste Care Intervention UK, Dr Isabelle Latham’s recent PhD around learning to care
- Journal of Emerging Sport Studies’ Digital Symposium: Power at Play – presentation about Becky Oatley’s PhD around sport reminiscence and dementia
There are also a few more we’re waiting to hear about, so fingers crossed.
So although things have been affected by the past few months, we’re still going to be busy!
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