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As part of a whole new programme to support health and social care professionals, as well as the public, to better understand and support people with dementia at the end of life, we’re running a three-day introductory course.
Dementia is complex, especially at the end of life, and many people affected by dementia, including professionals, are reluctant to seek help and support or don’t know where to find it.
Learning outcomes:
Course tutors
Maaike graduated from the KATHO (Roeselare, Belgium) in 2002 as a general and mental health nurse. She started her professional career working on mental health A&E units in Belgium and then moved to Aruba (Caribbean) where she worked on a mental health A&E unit and the local prison. After working there for 3 years she moved back to Belgium and continued working in A&E and Nursing Homes.
Maaike moved to the UK in 2006 and has since worked in Nursing Homes and Greenwich & Bexley Community Hospice where she developed a palliative care service for care homes and then also developed and established an education department. Maaike has experience of working in palliative care, mental health, dementia, prison, care homes and education and has completed various post graduate education including a PGCert in Higher Education and a MA in Education.
Maaike has previously been seconded to the University of Greenwich as a senior lecturer and now works for St Christopher’s Hospice as Senior Educationalist where she alongside her senior leadership role leads on curriculum development and delivery.
Helen is an Independent Nurse Lecturer specialising in palliative care, end-of-life care and dementia care. Before that she was a Palliative Care Nurse Lecturer and a Practice Development Clinical Nurse Specialist in the Care Home Project Team at St Christopher’s Hospice, London.
Previously, Helen was the Editor of End of Life Journal, the British Journal of Nursing and was Managing Editor of the International Journal of Palliative Nursing.
She is co-founder of a theatre-in-education group ‘Stories That Speak’, which provides communication skills training for people working in palliative care, end-of-life care and dementia care, via drama, role play and personal narratives.
This course is designed to help address many of the myths and misconceptions about this illness that is only increasing in prevalence, and to help nurses, Health Care Assistants and Allied Health Professionals working in any setting feel more confident in meeting the key challenges affecting people with dementia as they approach the end of life.
Learners will enjoy three four-hour live online sessions as well as have access to additional recorded material and resources on the St Christopher’s Online Learning Platform.
The recordings will include interviews with patients and families sharing their experiences and the challenges they face. Members of the St Christopher’s Community Action Team will also provide their perspective on supporting people with dementia. As well as these non-clinical elements, the course will also feature expert input from our team of specialist clinicians and external dementia practitioners – reflecting the holistic approach necessary to provide quality end of life care for this and every patient group.
Attendees will also be asked to complete an assessment to demonstrate their knowledge and learning.
If you have any questions about this or any of our other courses, please contact the Education team who will be happy to help
At St Christopher's, a registered charity, it is important for us to maximise any surpluses to reinvest in the objectives of the charity.
Unfortunately, the manner in which we undertake our training currently means we are not able to invest as much of our surplus as possible, therefore from the 1 December 2017, St Christopher’s Education Centre will charge VAT at the standard rate on our training courses, the reason for this change in pricing is twofold:
i) We want to be able to reinvest any surpluses made from training back into all of our charitable objectives rather than only Education
ii) We want to be able to reclaim the VAT on costs relating to developing and running the training courses