Cuimhne Carers
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One of our presenters: Admiral Nurse Joan Devenny
Zibiah Loakthar, our Cuimhne Coordinator writes:
As part of our Cuimhne Carers work supporting people caring for people living with dementia, over the last couple of months Irish in Britain has run a series of webinars on a range of topics aimed at supporting family carers.
Recordings of these webinars, each an hour long, are all now available to watch through our website HERE.
Beginning with an introduction to understanding dementia by our Cuimhne Patron Dr Mary Tilki, the webinars can be watched in sequence or dipped in and out of at people’s own convenience.
Some webinars focus on the very practical, such as tips for promoting better sleep and eating patterns, strategies for communicating with people living with dementia and strategies for dealing with difficult behaviour.
Others such as for instance the webinar “You Can’t Pour from an Empty Cup” focus on self–care and promote better community understanding of the diverse situations that many carers may find themselves. They look at the practical things that people might do to support not just the person living with dementia but those who are caring for them too.
Webinars entitled “Legal and Financial Considerations”, “Difficult Conversations: Thinking Ahead” and End of Life Care may provide a useful talking point resource to help families start their own discussion about how best to care for someone living with dementia.
We have been delighted to work with and engage people with different expertise in delivering these webinars including those with backgrounds in nursing, social work and Irish community development work. We have experimented with different presentation styles, some webinars delivered with slides, some more conversationally and each of the webinars include questions to the speaker at the end.
PERSONAL EXPERIENCES
A number of presenters have been able to share personal experiences of supporting people within the Irish community living with dementia. Listeners have told us these personal stories have helped make sessions accessible and engaging. Hearing stories that we may relate to as family carers reminds us that there are so many carers out there.
Caring, especially during these times of physical distancing with the Covid–19 pandemic, can be lonely. But carers are not alone in their experiences. Irish in Britain has developed an online forum for family carers to provide a means for people to connect virtually in a safe space with other carers to share different experiences and feel less isolated.
The subject matter of dementia with topics such as “end of life care” can feel hard to think about. Our speakers have all taken a sensitive but matter of fact, down to earth approach. Listeners have commented positively:
“a really good webinar on end of life care – so very well done… I thought it would be difficult and morbid but it wasn’t”.
“conversational and personal”
“so practical and inspiring”
“lots of useful tips and things that I will now think about”
“I didn’t want to think about these things like end of life and power of attorney – they still feel far ahead – but actually I realise it is better to think ahead about the possible choices that you may be able to make, rather than not be prepared and then miss out on being able to advocate for the choices that might best suit the person you love”
Irish in Britain would like to thank the Department for Health and Social Care in partnership with the Race Equality Foundation, Irish Community Services in Greenwich, Bexley and Lewisham, Together In Dementia Every DAY (TIDE), Dementia UK Admiral Nurses, Age UK Enfield and St Joseph’s Hospice for supporting these sessions.
Special thanks to our guest speakers Jo Higgins, Kate Reader, Amanda McCarren, Jean Tottie, Emily Oliver, Joan Devenny and Collette O’Driscoll and to all those who tuned in to the sessions and are helping to spread the word about these recordings to others.
We hope many of you will listen to the recorded sessions and encourage you to share the link with family carers in your networks who may find these especially useful.
As always, we welcome your feedback and suggestions. Please do email champions@irishinbritain.org with any comments or thoughts that may help inform our planning.