From the Editor: The importance of supporting relationships in care
The Care Home Environment Magazine
The Care Home Environment is the leading business information resource focusing on the build and equipping of care homes
Entering a care setting – a care home, for example – does not have to mean giving up on love and intimacy. With this in mind, Skills for Care , working with Supported Loving, has launched training materials to guide care workers in supporting people with their personal and sexual relationships.
The aim of this new training is to ensure that care workers have both the skills and the confidence to have open conversations with the people they care for – providing support to people with their romantic and sexual relationships, which are, of course, an vital element of most people’s lives.
Produced by Supported Loving, a human rights-based campaign hosted by charity Choice Support , the new training has been commissioned and published by Skills for Care , following on from the 2021 publication of its?Supporting personal relationships?guide. Both the guide and the training are supported by the Care Quality Commission , complementing its guidance around inspection in the area of relationships and sexuality in adult social care services.?
Focused on enabling social care providers to offer support in a way that respects people’s choices and values while keeping them safe, the training covers:
Skills for Care CEO Professor Oonagh Smyth said: “Everyone has the right to enjoy personal relationships and we are proud to have been part of the development of this much-needed resource which will help to make that possible for everyone.
“We know that supporting with sex and relationships is an area which some people may not currently feel comfortable with, and so this training is intended to provide not only the skills but also the confidence that care workers need to be able to support people with this important element of their lives.
“Ensuring that care workers are equipped to provide the best level of support in this area is a key part of providing person-centred care which allows everyone to live their lives as they choose.”
Supported Loving leader Dr Claire Bates commented: “At Supported Loving we were delighted to be commissioned to develop the training resources. We believe that supporting the intimate relationships and sexuality needs of people is fundamental as an intrinsic part of being human.
“Our academic research demonstrates that social care staff are already recognising the need but can lack the training and resources to be confident and competent in this area. These resources will bridge the gap and enable organisations to upskill their workforce which will improve the lives (and relationships) of the people they work with.”
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