Students join the effort to tackle dementia during health & social care session

Students at The Manchester College with ambitions of working in health and social care have become ‘Dementia Friends’ as part of their course.

A total of 37 of the College’s level three, first year Health & Social Care students took part in a training session with Dementia Friends – the Alzheimer’s Society’s biggest ever initiative, which seeks to change people’s perceptions of dementia. It also aims to transform the way the nation thinks, acts and talks about Alzheimer’s.

The purpose of the session was to make the students aware of dementia and to explore ways to support and understand the emotions of a person with dementia. The students are due to start studying Dementia Care at College as part of their Health & Social Care level 3 course.

During the session, students participated in interactive tasks and discussions and signed up to be a ‘Dementia Friend’ and were all awarded certificates and badges for taking part. The activity will also count towards the students’ unit achievement and be evidence of professional practice, which will benefit the students when applying for jobs in the health and social care industry.