good life, good death, good grief

Scottish Compassionate Communities Toolkit

Coach 4 Care

Coach4Care is an initiative which enables people who are currently caring for someone who is very ill and dying, to learn from people who have already gone through that experience.

The idea is that that experienced carers are best placed to support people who are caring for a dying person because they truly understand what it is like. Coach4Care trains ex-carers as coaches, so that they can then work with current carers and help them to improve their resilience and wellbeing by developing positive coping strategies.

The idea is that carers know their situation best and that they will learn best from drawing on their own experience rather than being given advice. They also have the best chance of coming up with solutions that will work for them, and coaches can help unlock the answers within them.

Establishing Coach4Care in your area

Coach4Care was established by the Innovation Unit as part of a year long Innovation program called Better Endings that sought to design new solutions in end of life care. This involved bringing together end of life care experts, members of the community and private sector organisations to design solutions that improve the lives of people living and dying in Lambeth and Southwark.

They have made all of their materials open source so any organisation can start their own Coach4Care service, if they would like to. Any interested organisation can contact the Innovation Unit for more information.

Coach4Care can be facilitated by any organisation that has some experience of supporting carers, in partnership with a coaching organisation. In this model, the coordinator and skilled coaches run coaching training for ex-carers to help them to develop their previous expertise and learn coaching skills. Coaches can then use the Coach4Care coaching tools to support carers through their caring journey.

More information is available here: Coach4Care

Text size:AAA
Loading
*