Develop support for those affected by a dementia
Boost your confidence and develop dementia-inclusive practice for your befriending service with our practical, supportive online course and resources.
Rated 4.88 out of 5 by past participants
No experience necessary
Live Zoom Workshop
Delegate Pack of Resources
Learn from peers
Free Follow-Up Session
What you’ll learn
Dementia and Befriending was developed in response to strong demand from befriending organisations. It builds confidence in handling dementia referrals, supports the development of in-house dementia training, and helps create a dementia-inclusive service using good practice guidance. Learning objectives include:
- Create or review appropriate befriending policies and procedures.
- Design or develop dementia-inclusive befriending training.
- Demystify dementia to better understand how you can provide support.
- Understand befriending and its role in dementia support.
- Develop empathy for those diagnosed and those in care-giving or support roles.
- Address stigma and the representation of dementia in the media.
- Build communication skills that break barriers.
- Build skills to support relationships with carers.
- Identify procedures for reacting, recording and reporting change.
Sign up now
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Good Practice: Dementia and Befriending
Monday, 8 March 2027
10:15 – 13:45 (GMT)Great session and really appreciate that we were offered a free follow-up session – great to get a few weeks…
Details
“The presenter was delightful, and I made great connections with organisations across the UK which I have already followed up. Also, some amazing new insights into Dementia, especially regarding communication. There was also a lot of interaction/participation; the resources are brilliant- so informative. Prior to this training with Victoria, I was running Dementia training for volunteers, but I felt it wasn’t very good. Since doing the training with Befriending Networks, I have now got hundreds of new ideas of how to improve our training to volunteers; it’s now a question of narrowing down what to use!”
— Dementia and Befriending participant
Dementia and Befriending Content and Structure
Our Good Practice course, Dementia and Befriending, is divided into five key elements. Allowing opportunities for class participation, independent learning, and additional support from Befriending Networks.
Dementia Training Toolkit
Resources, activities, and information to train staff and/or volunteers to better support people with dementia. All materials and training activities may be used, altered, or incorporated into your project as you see fit. The training toolkit can be adapted to accommodate in-person and distance befriending.
Good Practice Guide
Supporting People with Dementia: Guidance on running a befriending project that supports service users with dementia. This includes risk assessing a home and befriending match for dementia, recruiting and training dementia befrienders, and more. This Good Practice Guide is exclusive to this course.
Virtual Workshop
Participants engage in activities and discussions from our Dementia Training Toolkit, developing their knowledge and understanding while accessing a Train-the-Trainer session. This is a great opportunity to share and learn from others’ experiences.
Follow-up Session
Participants are invited to a 1-hour follow-up session, where the class can reunite, share learning and ideas, reflect on course materials, ask questions, and more. This is typically 3-4 weeks after the virtual workshop, allowing participants time to process the information and consider or implement any changes.
Delegate Pack
All participants receive access to a delegate pack with resources, video tutorials, and exclusive materials, including the Dementia Training Toolkit and Good Practice Guide. The pack also includes research on the positive impact of befriending in dementia care. Access is provided for approximately one month, and training participants are encouraged to download and save resources during this time.
Needing something else?
We also learn from our participants. If elements or themes are raised that are not in our delegate pack, we try to create resources. This has led to recent additions such as:
- Being a Dementia Befriender
- Impact of Befriending in Dementia Cases
- Understanding the Sensory Changes in Dementia
- Risk Assessing a Home for Dementia
Why participants love this course
Tailored to the voluntary sector
Our courses are built for the voluntary sector. No corporate jargon here, just the skills and knowledge you need to keep making a difference.
Discussion groups
Discuss common challenges and needs in a dementia-inclusive service and befriending operations.
Practice with your peers
Share knowledge and approaches, learn and grow with others through discussion, practice and feedback.
Receive 1:1 support as needed
There are no silly questions! Ask for help at any time throughout the course or attend a 1:1 support session.
Medium group sizes
Each Dementia and Befriending run has a maximum of 20 participants, with a minimum of 3. This helps ensure you can compare practice with other services.
Apply learning in practical tasks
Consolidate your new knowledge straight away by practising your approaches and receiving feedback.
Flexible learning to suit your schedule
The live session on Zoom has a fixed date and time, but our resources can be accessed at your own pace and convenience, as your capacity allows.
No experience necessary
If you’re completely new to learning about dementia, this course will help boost your skills and your confidence so you’re ready to support those affected by a dementia.
Is this course right for me?
Dementia and Befriending is perfect for you if any of these statements apply:
- You work in the voluntary sector and support staff or volunteers.
- Your befriending project currently accepts befriending referrals with a dementia diagnosis (or suspected).
- Your project is considering accepting referrals with a dementia diagnosis (or suspected).
- You want to learn more about how you can support those living with a dementia.
- You want to learn more about how you can support those affected by a dementia.
- You are a volunteer whose befriending match has been diagnosed with dementia.
- You wish to operate dementia-inclusive events and services.
- You are seeking ideas and resources for training others in dementia.
What our past participants say…
“The friendly, collaborative and interactive nature of the session and sharing experience and understanding of the topic with others whilst being excellently facilitated by Victoria”
— Dementia and Befriending participant
“Always good to learn in an environment where there is an element of peer support learning, great to meet with others with varying degrees of experience and understanding, one of the participants was able to reflect on her lived experience of dementia which was really insightful.”
— Dementia and Befriending participant
“The friendliness of the facilitator and how well the session went; she made it fun, informative and very interactive! I didn’t want it to end.
— Dementia and Befriending participant
Frequently Asked Questions
Dementia and Befriending costs £117 for non-members, with a 25% discount for members of our network (£87.75). This includes the workshop on Zoom, access to the delegate pack and resources, 1:1 support and a follow-up session to address any gaps in learning, questions or development needs.
The training workshop is 3.5 hours in duration. This includes discussion, interactive activities, and key theory on befriending people with dementia and running a dementia-inclusive service. Due to the level of detail and information within the delegate pack, a complementary one-hour session is arranged within one month of the class. This is optional and designed to support further discussion and questions.
- Service user referral and assessment.
- Volunteer recruitment and selection.
- Training volunteers.
- Supporting volunteers.
- Creating connections between volunteers, community members and activities.
- Facilitating dementia-inclusive events.
- Ending support relationships.
- Supporting service users through transitions.
- Monitoring and evaluating impact.
- Demystifying dementia.
- Understanding befriending and its role.
- Putting yourself in their shoes.
- Representation of dementia in the media.
- Communication and breaking barriers.
- Building relationships with carers.
- Reacting, recording and reporting.
- Getting support.
- Includes facilitation guidance for both virtual and in-person training sessions, including training handouts for in-person delivery.
- Being a Dementia Befriender: This booklet includes guidance on communication, activities, and the impact of befriending.
- The impact of befriending in dementia cases – what the research demonstrates. This resource helps advocate for the powerful impact of befriending and meaningful connections on those living with a dementia. This booklet aims to support projects with volunteer recruitment and retention.
- Telephone Befriending Guide. This is a fantastic resource from one of our members, Time to Talk Befriending, providing advice for creating meaningful connections with people with a dementia over the phone.
- Training Handouts. The course materials also provide training handouts for activities within the training toolkit. These could be used as individual or group activities.
Yes. If several members of your team want to complete Dementia and Befriending, it may be more cost-effective to book a private run. Email Victoria for prices and more information.
We want our training to be available to everyone. Dementia and Befriending has been designed to be as accessible as possible, including:
- Downloadable PDFs of resources, with plain text version available on request.
- Audio narration and subtitles on videos.
- Alternative text on all images.
- Live captions on Zoom sessions.
If you have any additional accessibility requirements, please get in touch with Victoria on victoria@befriending.co.uk to discuss your needs.
If you have any questions, please feel free to email Victoria or schedule a 1:1 meeting.
“Loved the part on the representation of dementia in the media – the whole toolkit addressed issues I am aware of, but the course amplified my awareness – great food for thought, and I feel I could train volunteers now.”
— Dementia and Befriending participant
Meet your facilitator
Victoria Galloway, Learning and Development Manager
Victoria has been working at Befriending Networks since 2018 and has grown their knowledge and understanding of befriending and community development through this time.
Previously working within primary schools, secondary education, and university settings, Victoria draws on her understanding of education and adult learning to create training resources that are inclusive of diverse learning styles and targeted at reducing barriers to learning.
Having worked with those in the care system, the prison system, and secure units within hospitals, Victoria is competent in discussing mental health and wellbeing, trauma-informed practice, and safeguarding procedures.
As a media graduate, Victoria applies her understanding of communication to build resources that are comprehensive, efficient, and engaging. As a recent graduate of the MSc in Social Innovation, Victoria works with a passion for the power of volunteers and community-led positive change in society.
“[Victoria] strikes the perfect balance between being casual, friendly and welcoming with truly knowing her stuff, knowing how to pace content and deliver it in a range of different ways to account for different learning styles to ensure we’re constantly engaged and learning.”
— Train the Trainer participant