Introduction to Namaste Dementia Care for carers

This introductory course is intended for unpaid carers, caring for people who are living with advanced dementia, across West Essex and East Hertfordshire.

The Namaste Care Dementia Support project has been made possible thanks to funding from the Essex Community Fund. This pilot project aims to train and empower both unpaid carers and paid care staff to deliver high-quality, compassionate care to local people living with advanced dementia.

Namaste Care is an internationally-recognised care programme which teaches you to use simple activities that include sensory stimulation of our five senses (touch, hearing, sight, smell and taste) to help people with dementia connect and engage with others. The word ‘Namaste’ is a Hindi greeting that means to ‘honour the spirit within,’ and is the guiding principle of Namaste Care. Multi-sensory activities can involve music, food and drink and can also include therapeutic touch and massage. These basic principles are simple to learn and easy to put into practice when caring for someone with dementia.

• Insight into how to support people with advanced dementia to live well, and with dignity, until the end of life

• Techniques to help carers offer and provide Namaste Care to the people they support• An opportunity to meet and connect with other carers

• Ongoing support, and monthly meetings with Namaste Champions and peers from the training course

• Advice and guidance from trained Namaste Champions at St Clare Hospice

Following on from this introductory course, attendees will be invited to join a Namaste Network Group, where they will be able to share their experiences, and successes from putting Namaste care into practice.

Our project is primarily aimed at people living and working in West Essex and East Hertfordshire, however we are happy for others to join the learning but the ongoing network will only be operational and supported our catchment area (West Essex and East Hertfordshire).

There will also be 'Namaste starter kits' available following on from the training. We have a limited supply of these, so will only be able to distribute those to a fixed number of participants; we will have to focus on those located in West Essex only. However, we can supply a list of what will go in them, so that people can create their own starter kits.

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