Courses

FIOP develops and delivers a range of courses which are offered both generally or which can be tailored to the specific needs of each group in terms of the number of sessions and particular content.

The following courses are available on request:

Carers and Visitors

This is a four-session course aimed at increasing the support to visitors.

Spiritual Care and People with Dementia

A six-session course aimed to support the ministry of pastoral care teams and clergy by providing factual and technical information to increase understanding of what it must feel like to be the person with dementia.

Loss and Bereavement

A four session course aimed at developing a better understanding of the issues facing family and carers.

New Developments

Courses are being devised on Visual & Hearing Impairment issues for Older People and on End of Life Issues concerned with topics such as wills and funerals.

Workshops to develop Creativity and Spiritual Care are being devised and will be presented in the Spring of this year.

If any of the above courses are fully booked they can be offered again on request.

Costs and further details of all these courses can be obtained by contacting the FiOP office.

For further information or for discussion on current courses or on the potential of other topics, please contact the Training Co-ordinator.

Recent Activities

Faith in Older People and Healthcare Chaplains

In May 2008, Faith in Older People ran a very successful workshop with healthcare chaplains across Scotland.  This was funded by the Chaplaincy Training Unit headed by Rev Chris Levison.  FiOP was delighted with the response which meant that more than 40 participants arrived for the workshop. The day commenced by thinking about our own ageing and then what we might mean by successful ageing.  We then linked these two discussions and thought about the spiritual aspects of ageing and what that might mean for those who care for older people, particularly in the hospital setting.  There was a particular focus on the importance of story telling and listening and how this in itself is a spiritual task which gives great comfort to both listener and teller.

FiOP Course Leaders: Dr. Harriet Mowat and Mary Moffett

A number of issues arose from the course which received very good evaluations from the participants and these included:

• More consideration of the spiritual tasks of ageing, successful ageing and the spiritual journey
• How to develop worship with people who have dementia
• Involving a multi-disciplinary team in spiritual care

Faith in Older People will be developing further courses.

"Superb speakers. Quite a riveting experience"

The Celebrations and Challenges in the pastoral care of older people held at the Eric Liddell Centre, 13.11.07

Click here to read the full conference report

The conference was attended by people from the Catholic Church, Scottish Episcopal Church, United Reformed Church, and Church of Scotland, and the Baptist Church and included ministers and chaplains as well as visitors and carers from within those denominations.   The feedback from those attending was very positive and the issues and proposals will be of great assistance to FiOP in developing its future work.

Faith in Older People held a training day for Healthcare staff at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital - Once you were strong and in control, now you are old and dependent - ever wondered how it feels

Faith in Older People were represented by Alison Newell at a conference for the Department of Spiritual Care in Ashludie Hospital, Monifieth where she spoke about Spiritual Care for People with Dementia.

In the past, Malcolm Goldsmith has also run two "day seminars" in England and another in Scotland for Catholic nuns on Spirituality and Dementia and he is continuing work with the Sisters of Mercy in England on this topic and also with the Methodist church in Edinburgh.

Events Elsewhere