Training for Meeting Centre Staff and Volunteers
If you are looking for training around Meeting Centres, the Association for Dementia Studies has three options available for you.
- Training for staff/volunteers
- Training specifically for volunteers
- Training for students on placement at a Meeting Centre
Please see the relevant section below for more details.
Meeting Centre training course for staff/volunteers
A 5-week fully online course is available to help staff/volunteers understand how to develop an enjoyable and flexible Meeting Centre which is key to the development of a successful Meeting Centre. This free training is specifically to support frontline staff/volunteers who will have day-to-day responsibility of running a Meeting Centre but may also be of interest to Trustees/other supporters.
This course will support you to consider the different elements that make up a Meeting Centre and explore the practicalities of implementing it. This will include looking at:
- The Meeting Centre ethos
- The Essential Features of a Meeting Centre
- The Adjusting to Change model and how this model can be used in practice to support both members with dementia and family carers
- The physical, social and psychological effect of movement on individuals, with the opportunity for staff/volunteers to start to consider how this can be incorporated into the Meeting Centres programme.
Whilst we do not expect staff/volunteers to have in-depth knowledge of dementia, we do expect that they have some understanding, we therefore request that all those attending have investigated becoming a Dementia Friend.
The course includes weekly scheduled 'live' online sessions where you will meet your tutor and fellow students, and independent study which you will complete at your own pace. Typically, you should spend approximately 3-4 hours each week working through this course. Please note that attendance at the live sessions, particularly the first one, is very important and failure to attend will impact your ability to complete the course.
As a fully online training course you will require a reliable computer/laptop and internet access. You will require audio and video capability for the live online sessions so that you can connect with your tutor and fellow students.
We aim to run this course three times a year with dates to be confirmed in due course. Each course will be facilitated either by ADS or by Kirrie Connections. For courses facilitated by Kirrie Connections please see their website for more details.
For courses facilitated by ADS:
- Step 1: Email meetingcentres@worc.ac.uk to confirm that the training will be suitable for you to attend, and to check that there are still spaces available.
- Step 2: Approximately 2 weeks prior to the course starting you will be sent joining instructions (keep an eye on your junk folder as emails can sometimes go there!). You will need to use these instructions to enrol on the course to be able to access the content.
- Step 3: Ensure that you can access the course, make note of the dates, and work through the course content when it is made available. Links to join the live online sessions will be found within the course, so make sure you know where to find them!
Meeting Centre training specifically for volunteers
While volunteers are welcome to attend the full training, we recognise that not all volunteers can commit to a 5-week course. We have developed a 3-week version of the course specifically for volunteers.
If you have a group of volunteers within a Meeting Centre (or in your local area) and you feel comfortable to facilitate the course yourself, you can set up your own group and run the course at a time that suits you. This gives you control over when and how the two live sessions take place, as you can choose to do them online or as a group in person. We recommend that the course facilitator is a Meeting Centre manager or similar, and has undertaken the fully training course as this means you will be familiar with the content and activities. Advice and guidance for a facilitator are provided within the course. To access the course, you can enrol via this link (be aware that this link is also the one volunteers should use to access the course).
Meeting Centre training for students on placement at a Meeting Centre
If you have students undertaking placements at your Meeting Centre, you may find it useful to encourage them to go through a short course we’ve developed to help them get a better understanding of dementia and Meeting Centres. The course covers key topics and activities from the full training course, but can be accessed at any time for students to work through at their own pace. It is entirely self-guided and does not have any ‘live’ sessions. To access the course, students can enrol via this link.