Face to Face Carers Skills Workshops

How will face-to-face workshops benefit me?

As a carer you will want to provide the best support for the person you care for. Specific face to face workshops may help you better understand the needs of the person you are caring for and how you can best support them. Devon Carers have face to face workshop opportunities to help you with your caring role.

The courses enable carers to develop new skills and knowledge that they need to be more confident in their caring role, and meet other carers and be able to share similar experiences. Increasing your skills will help you grow in confidence and reduce your stress levels.

All Carer Skills Workshop courses are free to adult carers of adults, and in some cases travel and care costs may be available.

Please ensure that you give us a minimum of one week’s notice when self referring for a course.

Carers Skills Workshops

We run a wide range of face to face courses which are free to adult carers of adults registered with Devon Carers.

If you are referred for a course after a Carers Assessment, our workshop team will contact you to discuss available dates. If you would like to self-refer for a course please contact the team via workshops@devoncarers.org.uk or call our Helpline 03456 434 435 to leave a message for them. It is essential to book your place on a course. No booking is guaranteed until you have received confirmation from our training team. Please ensure that you give us a minimum of one week’s notice when self referring for a course.

Would you like to become more assertive in how you communicate with people?

This workshop will give you practical skills and tools to help you become more assertive.

In this face-to-face session we will:

  • Help you understand why we communicate the way we do
  • Eliminate resentment in your communication
  • Give you practical skills to speak out
  • Talk about how to deal with confrontational people
  • Help you to eliminate the need for others’ approval
  • Discuss how to take control of your life and your choices
  • Set boundaries without confrontation or guilt

Dates, times & locations

Day/Date: TBC

Time: TBC

Location: TBC

Caring for someone can be a worry if the person you care for suddenly becomes ill or has an accident. This practical and interactive session will focus on life threatening conditions.

In this face-to-face session we will:

  • Inform you of how to safely approach a scene
  • Complete a casualty assessment, place someone in the recovery position and understand why we do it
  • Perform CPR and treat a choking casualty safely and effectively
  • Discuss common injuries; bleeds, fractures and burns
  • Give you time to ask Q&A’s

Dates, times & locations

Day/Date: Thursday 25th April

Time: 10am to 12.30pm

Location: Exeter Community Centre, 17 St. Davids Hill, Exeter, EX4 3RG

This course is aimed at unpaid carers to help them manage their caring role and stay well. Carers will discover what type of carer they are and how this impacts on their caring role. It will help carers to manage stress, look at the impacts of caring and find coping strategies to maintain a better life balance. Carers will be able to put together a contingency plan. Carers will also look at their communication styles and develop assertiveness techniques.

The course will:

  • Identify the type of carer you are and how this impacts on your caring role and relationships
  • Look at and identify the stress in your life and how it affects you – do you look after your own needs?
  • Discover how coping strategies can help manage the stress in your life – what you do now and what you could develop
  • Look at how to communicate with others – is it always effective?
  • Learn new ways to communicate and be assertive
  • What is a contingency plan? Do you have one – find out and start to plan your own

Dates, times & locations

Day/Date: TBC

Time: TBC

Location: TBC

Session 1 – Being a carer

  • Looking after yourself as a carer
  • A balancing act and keeping all wheels turning
  • Keeping your thoughts positive
  • Looking at your goals and how to achieve them
  • Relaxation

Session 2 – What we say … and what we mean

  • What stops us saying what we mean?
  • How we communicate
  • Knowing our limits
  • Working in partnership with healthcare services
  • Relaxation

Session 3 – Thoughts, feelings and behaviours

  • The effects of stress
  • Influencing our thoughts, feelings and behaviour
  • Challenging difficult thoughts
  • Action planning

You are encouraged to attend all of the sessions but as each is self-contained there is no obligation to attend all three or do the sessions in a set order. Please note that this course is not available in your area if you are registered with a GP funded by Torbay and South Devon CCG, therefore please contact Torbay and South Devon NHS service to attend ‘Help Overcoming Problems Effectively’ (HOPE) which is a similar course. https://www.torbayandsouthdevon.nhs.uk/services/carers-service/courses-for-carers/

Dates, times & locations

Day/Date: TBC

Time: TBC

Location: TBC

Being a single parent and an unpaid carer can present its own unique set of challenges.

In this face-to-face session we will:

  • Give you time to identify the personal challenges you face
  • Discuss strategies and hints and tips with other carers in the session, to look at how to manage and potentially improve the challenges you face

Dates, times & locations

Day/Date:

Time: TBC

Location: TBC

Caring for people with dementia can be difficult as we see them struggle with everyday tasks. But to communicate with the person you care for more effectively, we need to improve our own interpersonal skills.

The course will:

  • Look at five different types of dementia
  • Discuss problems with communication and how to avoid miscommunication issues
  • Chat about problems experienced by asking questions

Dates, times & locations

Day/Date: TBC

Time: TBC

Location: TBC

 

People living with dementia can be affected by environmental factors.

The course will:

  • Look at the environmental factors that affect people with dementia
  • Discuss problems with depth perspective e.g. why a person can’t see the food on their plate/patterned carpets
  • Talk about stored and working memory
  • Discuss the importance of routine and sleep

Dates, times & locations

Day/Date: TBC

Time: TBC

Location: TBC

Does the person you care for have trouble sleeping?

The course will:

  • Discuss the importance of sleep and what happens to sleep patterns for someone with dementia
  • Look at how sleep varies when we age
  • Chat about which food and drink can affect our sleep
  • Offer strategies to help improve sleep patterns

Dates, times & locations

Day/Date: TBC

Time: TBC

Location: TBC

Are you an ex-carer no longer caring due to bereavement? This two-part course has been devised to support you.

In this face-to-face session we will:

Part 1 – Guided by the trainer look at feelings that you as an ex-carer may be experiencing. It considers which feelings are entirely normal whilst going through the bereavement process. We will look at what professional help and support is available if needed

Part 2 – Look at the way forward. What do you want to da as an ex-carer? Accepting that life has changed; looking at ways to try and find more enrichment in your life

Dates, times & locations

Ex-carers looking for a way forward Part 1

Day/Date: TBC

Time: TBC

Location: TBC

 

Do you have a tablet or laptop that you would like to use, but lack the confidence to do so? In this small group workshop, you will receive individual tutored support, to help you use your device more confidently.

In this face-to-face session we will:

  • Allow you to bring your own IT device and discover how to use it to communicate with friends and family (through email or video call) or to search the internet
  • • Explore the topic that you want to be able to master, for example; online shopping

Dates, times & locations

Day/Date: Tuesday 16th April

Time: 10am to 12pm (Carers will request an hour’s slot)

Location: Exeter Community Centre, 17 St. Davids Hill, Exeter, EX4 3RG

 

There are a wide range of anxiety symptoms and people can exhibit different behaviours at different times, which can make it hard to understand. This two-part workshop offers an opportunity to explore anxiety disorders openly and safely, in a small group. We look at ways we can help and care for someone, and importantly, take time to explore ways we can take care of ourselves.

In this face-to-face session we will:

Part 1 – Understanding anxiety disorders: 

– Give an overview of different anxiety disorders, including Generalised Anxiety Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

– Discuss the link between trauma and anxiety disorders

– Look at experiences and perspectives of a person with an anxiety disorder

Part 2 – Responding to anxiety disorders: 

– Give you supportive ways of responding to and caring for a person who has an anxiety disorder

– Discuss how to help when someone doesn’t want to be helped

– Chat about looking after ourselves as carers (self-care tips and techniques)

– Identify further help, support and resources

Dates, times & locations

Day/Date: TBC

Time: TBC

Location: TBC

 

Are you getting your relationship 5-a-day?

This two-part workshop will explore the changing nature of carers’ relationships; with the cared for, family and friends.

In this face-to-face session we will:

  • Look at relationships over time – an everchanging situation
  • Discuss communication vs connection – mistakes people make
  • Chat about your family history and how you relate
  • Manage conflict, crisis, and change
  • Discuss forgiveness with family and friends
  • Look at loneliness within a relationship
  • Plan for an uncertain future and going forward

This workshop will be informative and fun, with no requirement to share personal stories, in a safe and supportive environment.

Dates, times & locations

Day/Date: TBC

Time: TBC

Location: TBC

 

Carer’s lives are punctuated with challenges and issues. Some changes will be welcome, but others need adjusting to, and may lead to feelings associated with grief.

In this face to face session we will:

  • Look at pre-grieving and adapting to change
  • Discuss that grief is not always about death. It also occurs when life changes – both expected and unexpected

Dates, times & locations

Day/Date: TBC

Time: TBC

Location: TBC

For many carers dealing with the mental and emotional changes in their cared for can be the most challenging aspect of their caring.

In this face-to-face session we will:

  • Give you the opportunity to meet with others experiencing similar issues
  • Discuss ways of coping
  • Look at how your own wellbeing can be supported or improved

Dates, times & locations

Day/Date: TBC

Time: TBC

Location: TBC

Caring can be rewarding but also stressful at the same time. We will look at stress, its causes, symptoms and a variety of ways of limiting its effect. We will use techniques to find methods that work for you.

In this course we will:

  • Discuss stress, its symptoms and how it affects us
  • Develop and understanding of mindfulness and resilience
  • Equip you with coping strategies to help you manage stress
  • Identify the point when further assistance may be needed
  • Discuss what further support and advice is available if you are feeling overly stressed

Dates, times & locations

Day/Date: TBC

Time: TBC

Location: TBC

It is important to look after your own health when looking after someone.

In this face-to-face session we will:

  • Discuss how to protect yourself in terms of back injuries
  • Assess the risks involved when manual handling in your care role
  • Look at falls, getting in and out of cars etc
  • Pick up particular individual manual handling issues that carers might have

Dates, times & locations

Day/Date: Thursday 11th July

Time: 10am to 12pm

Location: Exeter Community Centre, 17 St. Davids Hill, Exeter, EX4 3RG

 

Caring for others can be stressful but with the added mental and physical pressures of the menopause, it can make coping even more challenging.

In this face-to-face session we will:

  • Allow you to talk about the issues that you face with the menopause
  • Discuss strategies to cope with the identified issues and how this will enable you to cope with your caring role

Dates, times & locations

Day/Date: TBC

Time: TBC

Location: TBC

 

Caring for someone can be very difficult at times, and it is important to practice self-care.

In this face-to-face session we will:

  • Discuss what is self-care?
  • Highlight that you need to be able to look after yourself, to the best of your ability, both physically and emotionally
  • Look at how this workshop can help you to care for your cared for person
  • Help you to gain a better understanding by learning coping strategies and managing stress levels

Dates, times & locations

Day/Date: TBC

Time: TBC

Location: TBC

 

Would you like to enjoy the beauty of nature whilst learning relaxation and mindfulness techniques?

In this face-to-face session we will:

  • Include a guided meditation
  • Give you strategies to help you let go of your worries and find peace and joy in the moment
  • Offer you time to reflect and share your experience with others

Dates, times & locations

Day/Date: Tuesday 21st May 

Time: 2pm to 4pm

Location: Simmons Park, Okehampton, EX20 1EA

 

Have you ever given yourself the time to sit and think about your thoughts and feelings on being a carer?

In this live, real-time Zoom or face-to-face session we will:

  • Give you space to talk about your thoughts and feelings on being a carer

Allow you to explore the challenges you face and look at strategies to help you manage those challenges.

Dates, times & locations

Day/Date: TBC

Time: TBC

Location: TBC

 

Do you have trouble sleeping? This workshop will enable you look at improving the quality of your sleep patterns to chat through related issues with other carers.

In this face-to-face session we will:

  • Allow an informal discussion to identify sleep problems
  • Find solutions that carers need to get a good night’s sleep

Dates, times & locations

Day/Date: TBC

Time: TBC

Location: TBC