The Language of Feelings and Emotions

This learning package aims for you to:

• Understand the need to see the person first, not their dementia
• Recognise that dementia causes cognitive impairment which affects reasoning and the ability to communicate in ways that are difficult for others to understand
• Understand that coping strategies are learned during our lives to deal with stressful situations, these coping strategies will be affected by the experience of living with a dementia
• Know that as human beings we all experience emotional hurt, but we can use logic and reason to help us to cope. People living with a dementia will find using logic and reason increasingly difficult and rely more upon their feelings and emotions
• See that we need to focus our support on people’s feelings and emotions first, not their behaviours.
• Know it is okay to feel that care work is complex. No-one has all the answers. Only by supporting one another can we make sense of this complexity.

How long does it take?

Duration: 1 hour

• The video presentation and debriefing questions will take approximately 1 hour.