On the 24th September 2014 Nayland Care asked Training 2 Care UK (the only company in the UK licensed to deliver the course) to come and deliver the increasingly popular Virtual Dementia Tour to our staff. Our team of support workers didn’t know what to expect and I cannot reveal too much about what happens during the tour but the feedback we had from the experience was very positive and we will definitely be running it again soon.
The VDT (Virtual Dementia Tour) isn’t a classroom based course where support staff learn about what dementia is and how it can affect the brain; it is actually a virtual experience of what having dementia might be like. Using specialist equipment the facilitator guided us through the tour and observed our body language and behaviour and afterwards we were shocked at how we responded to the experience. Our staff all commented that it was a unique training experience and has completely changed how they perceive the condition and feel better placed to be able to support individuals from a more empathetic approach as well as understanding why people with dementia exhibit certain behaviours.
We will be running this again and we will be offering it to our staff who were unable to attend the last session and also to all of the relatives and carers of the individuals we support. Its an absolute must for anybody involved in the circle of support for a person with dementia.
