Hundreds of families set to benefit from new dementia training in Rochdale, Heywood and Middleton

emPoWereD Conversation leads Dr Phil McEvoy and Emma Smith

A new dementia training programme that has been funded by the Big Lottery Fund is set to help hundreds of families across Rochdale, Heywood and Middleton.

The free emPoWereD Conversations training will be rolled out across the area and the other nine boroughs of Greater Manchester to family carers and professional carers to enable people to communicate better with loved ones living with dementia or with those in their care.

emPoWereD Conversations was founded by Dr Phil McEvoy from social enterprise Six Degrees, who wanted to develop a training programme that focused on communication.

Now the course has been able to get off the ground thanks to £348,735 from the Big Lottery Fund.

He said: “Communication is a core aspect of human life and influences the quality of our lives. It shapes our sense of who we are and how we connect with our social world. Dementia disrupts our interactions, potentially leading to frustrations, misunderstandings and alienation.

“emPoWereD Conversations aims to alleviate that by helping family carers and professionals to improve relationships, giving practical ways to connect and stay connected. The course helps people to work through breaking down barriers to communication and ultimately realise there is more to a conversation than just the words.

“I am delighted the Big Lottery Fund saw the benefit of our training programme that will help thousands of people living with dementia and their loved ones in Rochdale, Heywood and Middleton and across Greater Manchester.”

Dementia is caused by diseases of the brain and just over 2,100 people are estimated to be living with dementia in Rochdale, Heywood and Middleton, with almost 30,000 across Greater Manchester.

Everyone lives with their dementia differently but symptoms can include memory loss, mood changes and problems with communication and reasoning.

Joe Ferns, Big Lottery Fund UK Knowledge and Portfolio Director, said: “Six Degrees has done some fantastic work delivering innovative mental health services throughout Greater Manchester. We’re very happy to support the growth of this important project that will help family and professional carers to listen, learn and connect with people living with dementia.”

Six Degrees, based in Salford, is interested to hear from local services who can signpost people on to the free course and a small number of places for professionals on each course.

For more information on courses in your area and how to enrol email ecs@nhs.net or call 0161 212 4981.