This workshop provides an introduction to normal cognition, age-related changes, and changes that may come from a disease process. We’ll examine dementia as a syndrome that may be caused by a wide variety of conditions, discuss the symptoms and general approaches to client support.

This workshop will help your staff:

• understand the impact of common factors on cognitive ability
• discuss common symptoms (memory loss, lack of insight, inability to process information, etc.)
• discuss delirium as distinct from dementia
• identify and apply approaches to minimize impairment and enhance client function where possible

This workshop is typically offered as a 3-hour session but if you prefer a longer or shorter duration, it can be customized to fit your organization's specific requirements.

For more information, please contact us at info@capacitybuilders.ca.

Dementia reduces the filters that adults develop to shape what is considered appropriate in social situations. Socially inappropriate behaviours may range from largely insignificant to those that negatively affect people around the person (sexual overtures, voiding in public, etc.). This workshop will focus on sexual disinhibition as well as other socially inappropriate behaviours and explore potential triggers and productive responses for support workers.

This workshop will help your staff:

• define what is meant by socially inappropriate behaviour and distinguish it from behaviour that may be personally uncomfortable
• identify possible triggers for socially inappropriate behaviour
• apply positive approaches in response to these behaviours
• share observations and approaches with other members of the support team.

This workshop is typically offered as a 3-hour session but if you prefer a longer or shorter duration, it can be customized to fit your organization's specific requirements.

For more information, please contact us at info@capacitybuilders.ca.

This interactive workshop focuses on physical and verbal behaviours that are, or may be seen, as aggressive. We'll discuss aggression in clients with dementia, its causes and how to respond to it.  We'll explore situations that may spark aggression, including those related to environment, approach and perspective. Your staff will have the opportunity to apply problem-solving processes to real-world aggression situations and to gain skill in responding to aggression in their clients.

This workshop will help your staff:

• understand the difference between assertiveness, abruptness, aggression and anger - and the risks associated with labelling behaviour
• appreciate the factors that may spark aggression; apply a problem-identification and response approach to resolving the issue
• contribute relevant information learned to the client’s support plan and communicate to the team
• identify risks to the support worker’s own boundaries and well-being, and strategies to address them

This workshop is typically offered as a 3-hour session but if you prefer a longer or shorter duration, it can be customized to fit your organization's specific requirements.

For more information, please contact us at info@capacitybuilders.ca.

​​This workshop will help PSWs and other front-line healthcare staff understand that there is meaning behind challenging behaviours and develop useful skills to prevent or de-escalate these behaviours. The workshop will include an introduction to understanding client behaviours and then we'll focus on two-three specific behaviours that pose challenges for your staff, as determined by you and our trainer in a pre-session consultation call. Your staff will learn about triggers and warning signs for the specific behaviours they find challenging and gain numerous strategies to effectively respond to those behaviours.

Common behaviours include:

• resistance to care
• exist seeking
• repetitiveness (physical and verbal)
• wandering
• sundowning
• appearing to live in the past or looking for people who are no longer alive
• rummaging through possessions
• collecting/hiding items/guarding

This workshop is typically offered as a 3-hour session but if you prefer a longer or shorter duration, it can be customized to fit your organization's specific requirements.

For more information, please contact us at info@capacitybuilders.ca.

The last stages of life are different when a person has dementia. Cognitive and physical changes in the last stages make it difficult for the person to share what they are experiencing—and make it difficult for support workers to respond. This workshop will highlight common symptoms people experience, how they may present and how staff might best respond to the needs identified. We will also discuss the ethical and support challenges when providing support to the dying client with dementia.

This workshop will help your staff:

• identify and discuss the ways in which late-stage dementia impacts the dying process (swallowing impairment, loss of verbal communication, etc.)
• describe observation and assessment approaches to identify the changes a particular client may have
• discuss best practice approaches to supporting  clients
• discuss the ethical issues raised in providing support to clients

This workshop is typically offered as a 3-hour session but if you prefer a longer or shorter duration, it can be customized to fit your organization's specific requirements.

For more information, please contact us at info@capacitybuilders.ca.

This customized program provides PSWs and other front-line support staff with an in-depth understanding of dementia, its impact on clients, and skills to better relate with and support their clients. We’ll work with you to select topics that meet your organization’s specific needs and create a comprehensive program that builds confidence and practical skills. 

Capacity Builders’ specialist certificate programs are typically 12 - 18 hours in length and include extensive hands-on learning (the program does not have to be delivered on consecutive days – we’ll work together to determine an appropriate training schedule for your staff).  We welcome the opportunity to work with single organizations, multiple providers, collaboratives or networks.  

A certificate identifying participants as Specialists in Dementia is awarded to those who successfully complete the program.  For more information, please contact us at info@capacitybuilders.ca.