NEW DATES* for 2025

Our next Introductory Course for Professionals will be:

Online Course Dates – delivered via Zoom:

January 6th, 9am – 1pm

January 15th, 9am – 1pm

January 23rd, 1pm – 5pm

February 12th, 9am – 1pm

February 20th, 1pm – 5pm

Cost: £75

Local courses – delivered at our Centre of Excellence, Bruern Home Farm Yard, OX7 6QF

Local Course Dates: dates coming soon

To book your place on a course please contact training@contenteddementiatrust.org

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Our courses for professionals are designed for:

  • health and social care professionals whose work brings them into contact with people with dementia, whether in community, hospital or care home settings
  • those who train, support and / or manage professional carers working directly with people who have dementia
  • any person working as part of a multi-disciplinary team
  • any person whose work in the local community is likely to bring them into contact with people with dementia

Our Introduction to the SPECAL Photograph Album for professionals is one half-day session which provides the essential first step for anyone interested in promoting and supporting a sustainable sense of well-being for the person with dementia and their family.

Attendees will learn about:

  • Every human being’s need for a sense of well-being
  • An understanding of the impact of a diagnosis of dementia
  • The need for a post-diagnostic step change from a medical model to a disability management model led by the family
  • The SPECAL Photograph Album – an analogy to explain:
    – How normal memory works
    – Universal age-associated problems
    – Dementia – a single change
  • The consequences for the person with dementia
  • The reason why common sense does not work in response
  • The need for a SPECAL sense response from other people
  • SPECAL’s Three Golden Rules
  • The concept of working positively with dementia, once diagnosed, rather than trying to defeat it
  • Explore a starter set of counter-intuitive skills and techniques to re-instate and sustain well-being for the person with dementia
  • Understand how to practise these skills and techniques
  • Formulate a personal action plan to ensure maximum benefit from the session

This introductory session is designed for mixed audiences of professionals from all walks of life.

A basic understanding of the SPECAL approach to dementia management, as outlined in this session, will enable anyone coming into contact with a person with dementia to bring about an immediate improvement in the quality of life not only of the person with dementia but also all others concerned with their care.

Workshops are offered to professionals who would like to further develop their skills and techniques in the SPECAL method, once they have attended an Introductory session. For more information on workshops please contact training@contenteddementiatrust.org.

Further Training & Courses for Professionals

Information on the SPECAL Professional Accreditation can be found here.

Professionals wishing to explore the SPECAL method in more detail are invited to discuss the SPECAL Academy Professional Accreditation Pathway and its associated training programme on completion of this introductory presentation of the basic SPECAL theory.
For more information, please contact training@contenteddementiatrust.org