How a Lifestyle Coordinator brought Cognitive Stimulation Therapy to her Social Support Groups
3 min read
We caught up with Tracey Frochot, Lifestyle Coordinator at Bendigo Health, to talk about her experience introducing Cognitive Stimulation Therapy to her organisation’s social support groups.
Tracey attended one of our Cognitive Stimulation Therapy for Social Support Groups workshops. She took what she learned in the workshop and applied it immediately.
Image supplied by Bendigo Health
Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (CST) is an evidence-based therapy for people with mild to moderate dementia. CST sessions actively stimulate and engage people with dementia. They provide a very good learning environment with the social benefits of a group. CST can be delivered by anyone who has been suitably trained, including social support group and allied health staff.
When you booked into the workshop 3 months ago, did you imagine you would be where you are now?
Tracey: No. Never! I've done a lot of education over the years, but this was the one where I came back and implemented it just about straightaway. During the workshop I could see CST working for our groups. I felt what I was learning was achievable.
After the workshop, what were your first steps?
I got the go-ahead from my manager to try CST with our groups. I told my team and they were enthusiastic. So we put it on the calendar and started within a few weeks.
What kind of social support groups do you run?
We have a dementia group and groups with various cognitive states.
Did you introduce CST to all your groups?
Yes, I did the whole lot. I felt strongly it would work for all our groups.
Image supplied by Bendigo Health
What’s been the response?
The first day we did it, we just got amazing feedback. Our group members were saying…
“I really enjoyed the day.” “The life story template was a good way to find out about how everyone lived.” “It was different and stimulating and good for the brain.”
You could see in their eyes they were engaged.
Participants at our CST workshops receive a manual & practice activities they can take to their groups.
What activities have you been doing with the groups?
(The manual Tracey received at the workshop includes activity templates.)
We do the current affairs activity. Each client has a newspaper and we talk about the topics. We get the papers from the library to save on costs.
We did one on childhood. We gave each of the members a template and they went around the table and talked about their childhood. They really were engaged. Everybody listened to each person and let the next one have their turn. And it was very, very good. It's amazing!
We did one on Bendigo because a lot of our members have lived here all their lives. We put photos on the big screen. They really enjoyed that.
I made some of the activities a bit simpler for the dementia group. You have to be able to tailor it a little bit to what people are interested in. The templates are a great help and then you can put your individual stamp on to suit your clients.
Image supplied by Bendigo Health
What was your biggest concern before you started?
I knew it would be right for the dementia group. The big question was… could we tailor it to suit the other groups?
It’s working really well with all our groups.
What would you say to somebody who’s considering using CST in their groups?
Go for it because, as you know, aged care is changing. It’s not about doing bingo anymore.
It's totally about engaging the clients. And it's competitive out there now. It's going to get more competitive. You need to have activities that make people want to come back.
Thank you, Tracey, for sharing your experiences. We’re so impressed with how you and your team implemented what you learned in the workshop. And how your manager and organisation supported you.
If you’re inspired by Tracey’s story and interested in bringing CST to your organisation, we’ll be running more workshops soon. To find out when the next workshops are on Subscribe to our newsletter, visit the SSD Connect training calendar and follow us on LinkedIn.