Offering free Dementia Skills Sessions that are designed to help you think differently about dementia and give you practical guidance to help you in your supportive role.
You can safely connect with qualified dementia trainers and other dementia carers, learn more about dementia and receive practical tips.
Courses are via Zoom and are FREE to attend but booking is essential. Details of how to book are on website.
All Future Learn courses are free to use once – there is the option to pay for extra benefits such as access to this course for as long as it’s on Future Learn and a print and digital Certificate of Achievement on completion.
Current courses available at Future Learn:
Gain a unique insight into dementia through the stories, symptoms and science behind four less common diagnoses. This course covers four less common diagnoses of dementia the symptoms and science behind familial Alzheimer’s disease, behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia, dementia with Lewy bodies and posterior cortical atrophy.
An award-winning course, to help carers stay connected to loved ones, manage stress at home, and defuse difficult situations.
Discover better ways to support people with dementia. Explore signs and symptoms, interventions, support networks and more.
Explore, challenge and shape your perceptions of dementia through science and the creative arts.
Understand the needs of people with dementia, and how to better support them and enhance their wellbeing towards the end of life.
Better understand effective dementia care and how dementia progresses and prepare for the future with this award-winning course.
Produced by The Open University, a world leader in open and distance learning, all OpenLearn courses are free to access. They offer nearly 1000 FREE courses across 8 different subject areas.
The courses are available to start right away and be completed at any time.
Interactive quiz with film and information about what music means to us personally and how it can be used to trigger memories, emotions and communication between people with dementia and their families and carers.
Family homes were not designed for people with dementia, so some adaptation is needed. Although featuring care homes, this course gives advice and some ideas that can be transferred to family homes. Carers may find it useful to read the advice, watch the first film (Elmhurst) and do the last activity of adapting a bedroom and bathroom.
Explores why exercise, particularly outdoors is good for cognitive functioning, physical and emotional health and better sleep. A good piece to inspire carers to keep encouraging people with dementia to go outdoors.
Open Learn articles on various aspects of dementia. Mostly aimed at health and social care professionals or volunteers. E.g. What happens in the brain; modelling good care in care homes.
MOOC stands for Massive Open online course. It is an online course aimed at unlimited participation and open access via the internet.
There are a number of places that provide MOOCs and there are countless topics you can learn about.
University of Tasmania have provided some Dementia focused MOOCs for people to learn. The courses are free and have unlimited spaces, but you do need to book your place. You do not need any prior level of knowledge, and we hope to provide useful information to people at a range of educational levels.
The courses vary throughout the year but the link will take you to what is currently available and you will be able to see what is upcoming.
Participants in the free Understanding Dementia MOOC will gain an increased knowledge of dementia, including its causes, symptoms and ways of responding to the needs of people living with the condition. Course lasts 7 weeks, available from from 7th July 2020.
Participants in the free Preventing Dementia MOOC will learn about the risk factors for dementia from leading world experts. With the ageing of the world’s population, dementia is becoming the public health issue of the 21st century. Examine the evidence and reduce your risk. Course lasts 4 weeks, available from 4th October 2020.
Social Care Institute for Excellence provide information, guidance, resources and accredited training for anyone supporting people with dementia. It is a resource used by professionals in care homes and social care providers for staff and can provide information to help carers at home.
The course is free but you will need to register to download resources and access the e-learning.
An e-Learning course which seeks to improve the wellbeing and experience of people with dementia and of the care staff working with them. It should improve your confidence in managing situations you find challenging.
The Northern Devon Healthcare Trust have developed a series of short videos on Vimeo to be used as training to support carers of people living with dementia. They are free and readily available to access any time.
Top tips on learning how to communicate with people living with Dementia.
Provides ideas for carers living with people with Dementia.
Introduction to Dementia: Being ready for unusual behaviour – advice and information to highlight the importance of awareness of unusual behaviours. Useful for carers of those who are living with a new diagnosis.
Tips on how to create a supportive and accessible environment for people living with Dementia. Useful for carers of those who are living with a new diagnosis.
An overview of how Dementia can affect the way people approach food. Explores the benefits for the person living with Dementia eating finger foods.
A brief explanation of how Dementia can affect eating habits, and provides useful advice on how to encourage eating with someone with Dementia.
Explanation of how someone may experience Dementia. Gives tips on how to care well with someone with Dementia.
Gives insight to how there are different ways of communicating with people with Dementia. Makes people aware of non-verbal communication (such as tone of voice and body language) is just as important as the words used to communicate.
Government updates position of unpaid carers to receive vaccine5th January 2021
Devon Carers support Carers UK calls for the UK Government to prioritise unpaid carers for the COVID-19 vaccine9th December 2020
Support to Devon Carers is recognised nationally. “It’s already a winner,” says Lead Councillor18th November 2020
Replacement Care Innovation Fund23rd October 2020
