When we work as AC's with the elderly we must always remember to see the PERSON with the dementia and not the person with the DEMENTIA.
The Butterfly Approach is often over looked and we encounter it regularly in our job roles, and interaction with our residents.
Butterfly moments are fleeting moments of engagement with you. With a 'moment' you can touch a person's life and change a day doing small things.
It makes all the difference to the well being of the resident and is a bridge you can both meet on to create more butterfly moments.
It's based on a model created by David Sheard in 1995, called Feelings Matter Most.The Feelings Matter Most model centres on eight key components:
BEING person centred involves helping staff to shift their focus from only doing ‘tasks’ to being able to reach people on the inside.
ENABLING quality of life starts with really seeing, hearing, feeling the lived experience of people. This also involves measuring the minute by minute experiences of people and being determined to improve the moment.
INSPIRING leadership means guiding people away from detached management to a new professionalism of attached leadership. Attached leadership is where people lead from the heart and not just by the hand.
NURTURING staffs emotions in dementia care, recognises the need to support peoples emotional labour. This centers on fostering positive team relationships whilst requiring the development of an emotion led organisational strategy.
GROWING training that works signals a move away from tick-box courses and awareness level competency training. The new focus is on the development of peoples emotional intelligence through reflection, modelling and coaching.
ACHIEVING real outcomes is all about focusing on policies, procedures and systems as the secondary focus. Balancing and measuring quality of service and quality of life as the primary goal becomes the new focus.
SUPPORTING nurses in dementia care to modernise and to restore compassionate cultures of care is critical. This involves nurses being developed to merge clinical best practice with the new focus of nurses knowing how to lead and personally model person centred care and relationship focused support.
MATTERING in a dementia care home involves centering on the core skills in staff of Feel, Look, Connect and Occupy whilst creating culture change through developing a community based on Share, Reach, Relax and Matter.
As an AC I do believe in the main part that we naturally do a lot of the above as we have the time in our interaction with our residents but it is a cultural shift in a care home that has to happen .
But if we can focus on the butterfly moments of engagement we encounter, record them and build on them, we will enrich our resident's life for the better.
Butterfly moments matter! It can be anything from a squeeze of a hand to sharing poignant moments doing a life story book. If you get the minimal engagement , you have had a butterfly moment and have done your job well.
I want you to know no matter how small, it all counts to the welfare and well being of the person who expressed it!Record them.
And those who have now entered the later stages of dementia using 'coma work' , this can help you create butterfly moments with them.
Coma Work is an approach to working with people in withdrawn states, such as coma to people in later stages of dementia.The approach requires you to pay particular attention to the non-verbal aspects of a person's communication: their breathing,their eye movement,vocalizations such as repeated noises and the general atmosphere and mood surrounding the person. The key thing is to watch for any signs of any kind of activity from the person with dementia and be led by these rather then taking over and dominating communication themselves.
One lady who cared for her mother did this and found her mother began to speak more.
I do hope this has been useful to you.. Do you like what I have shared? Let me know.
I have created an online AC Academy that gives you support with all the challenges you face. Why don't you take a look and join www.actasticacademy.com.
Don't Be Alone!Come connect with me on FB and be part of my online community of fellow AC's at www.facebook.com/groups/lovejoycentregroup
Until next time keep shining and remember your worth.
Love,
Ann Marie x
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