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Showing posts from September, 2023

Dementia difficulties

  Social Work is a job where no 2 days are the same. However you definitely see a theme in terms of the types of cases we get. Sometimes you can predict what will happen when you have barely begun because although people are individuals and have their own wishes, views and feelings certain aspects appear over and over again. The geographic area that we cover means that a lot of the people we support are older people because of the locations we have. Other local teams get a lot more cases involving drugs and alcohol or additional needs. I see a lot of people on my caseload with either a Dementia diagnosis or suspected Dementia. When I had the opportunity to attend some training on Dementia this week I took it. It was split into 3 sessions, the first two were more what I am used to in terms of training. Here is the information, what are your views, how would you manage this situation etc. Whereas the third session was delivered by Palliative Care nurses and talked about End of ...

What does wellbeing mean to you?

  What does well-being mean to you? I was in some Care Act training this morning run by The Mental Capacity Cat and was reminded about the first principle of the Care Act. It is the well-being principle. We talk about well-being a lot in Social Work but it is really hard to define because it means different things to different people. It is made up of so many parts of somebodies life and experiences. What one person feels is important to their well-being might not be something that other people even do. For example working out may be a major factor for one person but other people do not do it at all because it isn't for them. It is not as simple as self care it also includes engaging with the local community and activities. This is what can become difficult in our assessments because what we see as important is not what other people need. The way that somebody lives may be their choice and would not work for us but it does for them. It is where you cannot let your own viewpo...

What do I want?

  Age does not automatically equal inability or mean that someone doesn't know what they are doing/thinking.  A specific diagnosis does not cause a blanket inability. Someone can have a dementia diagnosis and still be able to make their own decisions and choices. They can still know where they want to live or what they do and do not want with their care.  I have a lot of conversations with family members telling me what the person needs and sometimes actually what they are telling me is what they need to make it easier. For their worry to decrease. I understand this from their perspective but also I am there to do the best thing for the person. I am there to advocate on their behalf. If they don't want to be in care and I can do something to support this then I will.  We work to a home first model in my area and i got into a conversation with someone at a care home about this. They asked me whether that's the best thing for everyone and my response was tha...