Two Assistant Psychologists (APs) at HC-One Scotland’s Darnley Court care home, in Glasgow, believe that young people working in social care is “essential” for supporting the complex needs of an ageing population.
Following the launch of the care home’s ‘Carmichael’ Specialist Dementia Care Community (SDCC) earlier this year, colleagues at the home have implemented a more therapeutic approach to dementia care, placing young Assistant Psychologists like Maria and Abigail at the heart of the solution.
As psychology graduates who aspire to become Clinical Psychologists, Maria and Abigail require experience before they apply for training courses to get their appropriate qualifications.
Working with residents directly in an innovative SDCC environment has not only provided them with an excellent opportunity to learn and develop within a care home environment, but their contributions and efforts have been to the benefit of many residents.
Maria McGinlay, Assistant Psychologist at Darnley Court care home, said:
“Young people in care are essential as they’re the future. With an ageing population and even more people in care homes affected by dementia over the next ten years, we need even more young people to get involved in the sector.
“I have personal experience with dementia in my own family and I think this not only helps drive me to do everything I can for the care of every resident, but it also means that I can use what I learn at work when I’m supporting members of my own family.
“At HC-One, everything that I’ve said has been taken on board and I feel valued, and we feel as though our work is having a real impact on the lives of the residents.”
Working closely with Darnley Court’s Dementia Specialist Lead, Rosamma Matthew, the young APs have been integrated as part of the core care team, observing behaviour and recording distress to discover what might trigger or cause each person to feel upset or angry. Subsequently, the APs use this information for de-escalation intervention to prevent this from occurring.
People living with dementia may become frustrated by not being able to verbally communicate well, being frightened by misinterpreting a situation and upset by their loss of independence. This can then make them become physically or verbally defensive, or sometimes withdrawn.
Through their observations, the young APs can enhance the way the home supports people who display distressed behaviour. As core members of the care team, they help design bespoke wellbeing interventions, as well as engaging them in everyday opportunities such as reminiscing, giving them a relaxing hand massage, playing familiar songs or going for a walk in the garden to help or stop someone from becoming stressed or distressed. This is completely unique to the SDCC model, and it means that every resident’s care plan is personalised and clinically evidence-based.
Professor Graham Stokes, Director of Dementia Care at HC-One, commented:
“Assistant Psychologists enable us to bring to life our commitment to understanding why people we care for in our SDCCs are distressed, present with behaviours that carers find challenging and concerning, or present as disengaged and apathetic.
“Attracting these young graduates to HC-One not only means we’re tapping into new ways of psychological thinking but we’re also gaining a fresh set of eyes that can question accepted practice and bring new insights.”
For young people like Abigail and Maria, both 23-years-old, entering these roles early in their careers in social care, to support an SDCC model will help them develop within a framework that enables them to learn how to engage compassionately with residents and build confidence in handling complex behaviours.
In Scotland alone, It is estimated that between 2019 – 2040 there will be a 104 per cent increase in the number of people living with severe dementia meaning that care homes will need to introduce new ways of supporting those experiencing symptoms of dementia.
The SDCC model is just one of the pioneering ways in which dementia care can be advanced for its residents. By using a person-centred approach, every care plan or document associated with resident is made with their desires and best interests at the forefront.
This approach values the person with dementia while striving to maintain and support the abilities that they possess while helping the resident in situations where things are becoming trickier. When faced with more difficult situations, an AP’s job is to look deeper into the behaviour and not just see the situation as it was, but to look further something that comes naturally to the young and curious minds of HC-One’s Assistant Psychologists.
Abigail Graham, Assistant Psychologist at Darnley Court care home, stated:
“We differ a lot compared to other services because at HC-One we have more responsibility and opportunity to see residents before they come in and have a say in if they should be admitted into our homes.
“We use our pre-assessment tool which we’ve been using a lot recently as we welcomed our first resident at the start of September. We do data analysis and interpretation, which we will do more and more of as we get to really know the residents in the home.
“As young people, we can add a new perspective in social care on how to understand people and that helps everyone in the care home especially residents.”
The relationships that the young care workers form within the home are particularly pertinent. Maria is often called a “pal”, demonstrating the bond that can be struck within the community.
At HC-One, the young APs have been provided an opportunity to gain valuable work experience in social care, as well as by working with people with chronic and enduring dementia care needs.
While the experience is particularly valuable to the young APs, their ability to offer a new perspective and inject fresh ideas into the care home has helped Darnley Court and others to offer even more exceptional and kinder care to all residents.
