Course delegate
Building on the meaning of the word ‘Namaste’ – ‘to honour the spirit within’ – we have developed a study day covering key elements of the Namaste programme through compassionate care and practice.
This introductory course will support you to and enrich the lives of all, including people living with dementia. At St Christopher’s we have adapted the Namaste programme to include a compassionate care approach to a broad range of conditions including people who are ‘locked in’, agitated and/or anxious, frail and elderly and for all those with palliative care needs.
All staff in care homes, health and social care support workers, registered nurses, managers of hospital wards and volunteers.
Course tutors:
Sarah Guyan has practiced bodywork for over 15 years, initially training in massage, reflexology meditation and shiatsu. This interest in complementary therapies motivated her to travel throughout India, Nepal and Central and South America, exploring different practices within these traditions. Sarah’s interest in Eastern medicine inspired her to volunteer as a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) apprentice in a South London practice whilst attending university to gain a degree in Chinese Medicine Acupuncture. She returned to India to volunteer at an acupuncture clinic near Calcutta after completing her degree.
Sarah worked in private practice before joining St Christopher’s. She leads the team of Complementary therapists, has developed a drop-in acupuncture clinic and delivers bodywork to patients, family members and carers. Prior to this career change, Sarah was a senior manager working with children and young people with challenging behaviour.
Andrea graduated from UCL – Institute of Education as a Primary school teacher in 1996. She has worked in a range of schools (in the UK and Spain) as class teacher; curriculum coordinator; department and a senior leader for over twenty years. Andrea has been a local authority advisory teacher in Kensington and Chelsea, Kingston and Lambeth. She is experienced in supporting adults to deliver best practice and assisting educational settings (with poor Ofsted ratings) to raise standards.
Andrea worked as a tutor and lecturer for primary initial teacher trainees at UCL – Institute of Education from 2016 – 2021. The role involved supporting teaching practice through observation, formative assessment and awarding qualified teacher status. Andrea supported academic progress by planning and delivering teaching sessions and marking assignments.
Andrea has been a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) since 2018. Fellowship is awarded to professionals who meet the criteria of the UK Professional Standards Framework (UKPSF) for teaching and supporting adult learning (in higher education). She has excellent understanding of effective approaches to learning and teaching support, as a key contribution to high quality adult learning.
She now works for St Christopher’s Hospice as Virtual Communities Lead where she facilitates learning virtual and face-to-face learning experiences for a range of learners.
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.
Attendees will learn the key elements of the Namaste programme, which include how to cater effectively for physical, sensory and emotional needs.
There will be a focus on compassion, empathy and kindness. We will explore compassion as a part of successful social interaction. The differences between empathy and compassion will be identified and we will consider the positive impact this can have on our professional practice.
| 10.00 | Welcome and Introductions – Andrea Mills |
| 10.25 | Case Study – Sarah Guyan, Helen Scott and Andrea Mills |
| 11.30 | Break |
| 11.40 | Kindness and Compassionate Care – Sarah Guyan |
| 13.00 | Lunch |
| 13.30 | An Introduction to the Namaste Care Programme – Helen Scott and Sarah Guyan |
| 14.30 | Discussion on the challenges of implementing Namaste Care – Helen Scott and Sarah Guyan |
| 14.50 | Evaluation – Andrea Mills |
| 15.00 | Close |
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