Evolve Care Group Invites Over 500 Team Members to Training Academy

Evolve Care Group recently delivered their latest in-person training for team members across their homes in their Bristol-based training academy (Evolve Care Academy).

The group has care homes across Devon, Somerset and South Wales, offering a place to call home to people living with a varying range of needs, from dementia and complex care to residential and respite support.

The training sessions ran across four days so that all team members from the homes were able to take part.

The training covered a wide range of learning, including Evolve’s practice frameworks, shaped around the work of Thomas Kitwood and Carl Jung, dementia-friendly language, clinical knowledge, and ways to build connection with people living at the home who may find communication or engagement more difficult because of their cognitive journeys.

In one exercise from the day, small bags containing five random objects were placed on each table around the training room. Team members were invited to take out one item at a time and create a story inspired by it with the rest of the group.

The exercise encouraged creativity and storytelling as a way of connecting with others, using everyday objects as a jumping off point for conversation. The stories could be personal memories, stories heard from others, or completely imagined. What mattered most was the act of sharing and creating something engaging.

For people living with a Dementia or are on a cognitive journey, being asked direct questions can sometimes feel overwhelming or confusing. But if a story is being shared, it may evoke recognition or familiarity and encourage sharing of their own life experiences.

Something as simple as picking up a beach towel and talking about a sunny holiday in Spain may encourage someone else to speak about their own experiences of travelling, holidays or time spent with loved ones, bringing comfort, familiarity and positive feelings into the conversation.

Another part of the training included exploring a number of simulated environments built within the training room. Bedrooms, living rooms and dining rooms were set up as examples of inviting and colourful environments that encouraged stimulation, alongside environments which felt uninviting, dull or institutional, to show the impact and importance of creating spaces that feel positive, homely, engaging and personal.

Eve Carder, Clinical Lead of Evolve Care Group shared, ‘We are not creating institutions, we are creating homes, places of safety, of creativity and hopefully magic.’

Established in 2015, the groups care academy was born out of a realisation that outsourcing e-learning alone was not enough to upskill teams to provide the emotional support needed for individuals living in Evolve’s care homes.  Recognising the limitations of standalone digital learning, Evolve embraced a holistic approach that combines e-learning with interactive face-to-face courses and hands-on experience gained through understanding the lived experiences of people living in their homes.

To read more about training, learning and development provided by Evolve Care Group in their Evolve Care Academy, visit https://www.evolvecareacademy.com/

Apples, Broccoli, and the Impact of Touch in Care

Evolve Care Group has been delivering its own bespoke training programme for over 800 team members through their Evolve Care Academy since 2015. The academy recently continued its year-long training series, "The Alice Years," with its third course, focusing on "Touch" and manual handling. Drawing inspiration from Alice in Wonderland, this engaging and immersive programme aims to deepen understanding and practical skills while ensuring that the training feels meaningful and impactful. The previous course in the series, titled “Control,” has now been CPD accredited, further highlighting the group’s commitment to quality and continuous development. Evolve’s approach is centred on enhancing care through thoughtful and accessible training, built with the unique needs of its residents, who are referred to as family members, in mind.

The course which was repeated over 4-days to ensure all team members could attend started with Clinical Director, Eve Carder, highlighting the significance of touch in care settings, particularly for family members living with a Dementia. She posed thought-provoking questions: Is touch merely a task? Is it something we “do” to someone? Team members were reminded that every interaction could feel like the first time for individuals living with a Dementia, and it’s essential to approach them as though they've just stepped into their own "Wonderland", and to join them in their world.

The session delved deeply into the principles of manual handling, by highlighting the importance of maintaining a person’s mobility. Far from being a mechanical task, proper movement helps people keep their "world and wonderland as big as possible for as long as possible." Team members were asked to reflect on the profound impact that declining mobility has on an individual’s world, likening it to a bridge gradually shrinking, which in turn, affects mood and well-being.

The Science of Touch

The training also touched on the scientific research around the critical role of human touch. Beginning from infancy when skin-to-skin contact helps regulate a newborn’s vital functions and emotional state, the natural interaction lowers blood pressure and cortisol levels while triggering the release of oxytocin, nurturing emotional bonds (Ferber, Feldman, & Makhoul, 2008). In care environments, the right touch can provide similar benefits, helping family members feel grounded and connected.

Bruising, Broccoli and Apples

The delicate nature of supporting individuals living in a care home was crucial to the training day, particularly regarding bruising. MAYBO certified trainers for Evolve Care Group, Mark Reed (COO) and Jay Carder (Social Care Trainer), emphasised the importance of using flat hands rather than fingers when moving family members, comparing it to the difference between gently holding an apple versus bruising it by squeezing too hard. Never one to shy away from making training unique, 800 apples were purchased as a concept idea to emulate a person's body.

Broccoli was also used to represent capillaries under the skin during the training. This visual made it easier to explain how capillaries can be compressed and damaged, causing them to break and blood to pool, which then leads to a bruise. Mark and Jay both demonstrated this by gently running their hands over the top of the broccoli, making some of the florets break off and fall onto the table, showing exactly how a bruise forms.

Effective Touch

The team practiced touch and safe manual handling using beds, armchairs, and low-friction sliding sheets, focusing on techniques to prevent bruising while ensuring safety. The day ended with shared experiences and discussions, leaving team members with a stronger sense of responsibility and confidence in using touch effectively.

Mark Reed closed the day by asking, “When designing our training, we always ask ourselves how would we want our own parents to be treated if they were in this situation? This simple yet powerful question serves as the ultimate standard, guiding us to create training that emphasises dignity, compassion, and the highest quality of care.” With this approach, we are hoping to improve emotional well-being, physical health, and mobility, as well as developing awareness around how bruising can occur through touch and how taking time is not a cost but an essential investment in care.

 AN EVOLVE CARE GROUP MEDIA RELEASE

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 For information about Evolve Care Group’s career opportunities, please visit www.evolvecaregroup.com/contact-us.