WHAT IS VOLUNTEERS’ WEEK? Volunteers' Week takes place 1 – 7 June every year. It's a chance to celebrate and say thank you for the contribution millions of volunteers make across the UK. During the coronavirus pandemic, many are focusing on supporting volunteers to take on coronavirus-related volunteering roles to help communities cope with the many consequences of coronavirus. Although it is more important than ever for us to recognise support volunteers across the UK, we’ve decided it would be inappropriate to go ahead with many of the things we would usually do around this time.
WHY IS VOLUNTEERING IMPORTANT? As well as helping others, volunteering has been shown to improve volunteers' wellbeing too. It’s human nature to feel good after helping someone out. Volunteering can also help you gain valuable new skills and experiences, and boost your confidence. Although it is more important than ever for us to recognise support volunteers across the UK, we’ve decided it would be inappropriate to go ahead with many of the things we would usually do around this time.
Time Credits are run by Tempo (formerly Spice), a charity that started in Wales in 2008 and now works across the UK. Our vision is for strong, connected communities where everyone’s time is valued, and we set up Time Credits networks to help achieve that. Time Credits are a way of recognising the amazing things people do in their communities. If you’re in an area where we work, through giving time to your community you can earn Time Credits – which you can spend on hundreds of activities across our national network. Everyone’s time is worth the same with Time Credits, and as well as spending them yourself you can take friends or family with you or give them some of your Time Credits to spend themselves. There are lots of ways to earn Time Credits across your community, and hundreds of ways to spend them across the country. Have a look around our website for spending opportunities near you, and in other regions of the UK. You can find more about Time Credits at www.wearetempo.org.
Time Credits can be spent on any online course. Due to direct costs incurred by Ajuda, these are available at 50% of the course cost plus the appropriate number of Time Credits. Courses 60mins / less – 1 Credit, Courses 61-120 mins – 2 Credits, Courses 121–180 mins – 3 TCs and so on. Contact Ajuda, stating you wish to use your Time Credits and they will take your booking.
Places near Cardiff where you can earn credits: View the full list here Keep Grangetown Tidy Repair Cafe Cathays & Repair Cafe Splott Global Gardens in Roath Techniquest in Cardiff Bay Promo Cymru Breakfast Clubs (Various Locations) Friends of Rhiwbina Library Vale of Glamorgan Housing Each activity is worth a different amount of time credits, which can be seen on the website. Tasks range from customer service, cleaning, administration work, gardening and more.
We have many many courses to suit all of your training needs click here and find the ideal course for you
Use Time Credits at Ajuda
We really hope you find the perfect volunteering opportunity for you on the Tempo website, and hopefully we will see you spending some of your credits at our fantastic training academy in the near future.
Author: Sales Team
International Women’s Day – #EachForEqual
Happy International Women’s day to all of our customers and readers – we hope you have the opportunity to share this day with the wonderful women in your life.
This year’s International Women’s Day Theme is #EachforEqual, promoting equality among every single walk of life.
Their official website reads:
“An equal world is an enabled world.
Individually, we’re all responsible for our own thoughts and actions – all day, every day.
We can actively choose to challenge stereotypes, fight bias, broaden perceptions, improve situations and celebrate women’s achievements.
Collectively, each one of us can help create a gender equal world.
Let’s all be #EachforEqual.”
Equality is such an important and crucial virtue we must all strive for in our world to ensure everyone has the opportunities they deserve.
Our director Dawn, is a prime example of someone who always grasps every opportunity she discovers and has achieved a fantastic amount in the past few years, and over her entire career. Some highlights of recent successes are highlighted here.
Dawn has become an author!
Dawn has recently published the first book in her exciting new Children’s Book Series – AJ and Uda’s First Aid Adventures!
Dawn decided the create the AJ and Uda book series to introduce first aid to young children in a fun and easy-to-understand way – and the first book in the series has proven to be hugely popular!
The series follows the adventures of two young siblings, AJ and Uda, as they travel around the country and find themselves using their life-saving first aid skills wherever they go. In each book in the series, AJ and Uda will discover a casualty and will need to use a different life-saving skill to help the person affected.
Reached the Mount Toubkal Summit
The ABF Soldiers’ Charity is one very close to Dawn’s heart, and she regularly fundraises for them in a variety of different ways including her events. In September 2019, Dawn took on another big challenge for ABF Soldiers’ charity – climbing Mount Toubkal in Morocco.
Standing at 4,167m, Mount Toubkal is the highest peak in the Atlas Mountains and the tallest mountain in North Africa.
Dawn took on the challenge accompanied by her husband, Ianto, who both served in the army for a combined total of 45 years. Together they smashed the challenge, and also raised an amazing £4,132.33 for the charity.
Dawn launches Mental Health & Wellbeing Show
To highlight the importance of the mental health and to increase the awareness about this topic we created a separate full-day event. Mental Health & Wellbeing Show is taking place on 21st of May 2020 in Cardiff City Stadium. This is the show dedicated to mental health and aiming to promote positive mental health through open conversation, promoting awareness and sharing real-life experiences. Our seminar speakers focus on topics such as coping with mental illness, ways to promote positive mental health, and how to support people around you who are suffering with ill mental health.
Find out more about the event on our website: https://www.mhwshow.co.uk/
Became FSB’s Inclusion and Communities Lead for Wales
As experts in business, FSB offers members a wide range of vital business services, including advice, financial expertise, support and a powerful voice in Government. Its aim is to help smaller businesses achieve their ambitions.
For Wales, Dawn has been recognised as the Inclusion and Communities Lead for Wales and is always available to support businesses looking to become more inclusive and involved in their local communities.
The Ajuda team are so very proud of all of Dawn’s achievements, and can’t wait to see what she is set to achieve in 2020, which will no doubt be amazing as always!
AJ and Uda Book Series Officially Launched for World Book Day
The team at Ajuda are very pleased and excited to announce that the official book launch party for the AJ and Uda’s First Aid Adventures book series just in time for World Book Day! AJ and Uda at the Safari Park is now available to order on amazon here.
The launch took place at Cardiff’s Virgin Money Lounge last night, with author Dawn Evans doing a book signing for our lucky guests along with a reading from inside the book.
The AJ and Uda book series was created by our director Dawn to address the need of better first aid education for young children. Although there are plans to introduce First Aid training to the school curriculum, this has yet to be confirmed, and is a very crucial skill for anybody to have at the earliest age possible.
Dawn decided the create the AJ and Uda book series to introduce first aid to young children in a fun and easy-to-understand way – and the first book in the series has proven to be hugely popular!
The series follows the adventures of two young siblings, AJ and Uda, as they travel around the country and find themselves using their life-saving first aid skills wherever they go. In each book in the series, AJ and Uda will discover a casualty and will need to use a different life-saving skill to help the person affected. In the first book of the series, the young first-aiders teach our readers about the Recovery Position.
The 10-part book series features different key topics which are found on the Emergency First Aid at Work Syllabus, including choking, anaphylactic shock, head injuries and more.
Work is already well underway for the second book of the series which will focus on epileptic seizures, and Dawn can’t wait to educate as many people as possible to save lives.
Dawn said; “I am so pleased to be introducing these exciting new books into schools and on children’s bookshelves across the county. Basic first aid is such an important skill for everyone to have, as you never know when you will need to save a life.
I hope my books will help educate children on these crucial skills and give them a better understanding of what they can do in emergency situations.”
Dawn’s second book will be published very soon, keep checking back on our social media pages and blogs for more information!
Principles of Communication
Course information
When working in the adult social care sector, communicating is essential to develop your understanding of a service user’s needs, so you can provide them with the support they require. If the information exchanged is inaccurate or misleading, mistakes can be made which can result in ineffective care and a negative view of the service. Professionals will form many different relationships in their work. Some will be formal and others more informal.
Whoever you are communicating with and whatever the method you use it is essential that you make sure your communication is appropriate and effective.
This course covers some of the different ways of communication, how to identify barriers to
communication and how to reduce these, making sure the person you are communicating with understands what you are communicating, how to get help with communication issues and much more.
Number of modules: 7
Course Duration: 75 Minutes
(Note: This is based on the video content shown and is rounded off. It does not account in any way for loading time or thinking time on the questions)
Course Price: £25
Person-Centred Care
Course information
What do we mean by Person Centred Care, well the term originated in the 1940s and proposed taking a holistic view of service users in care settings. This means getting to know the person and then tailoring their care as much as possible to meet their specific needs. Person centred care is now a key principle outlined in current legislation and it plays an important part in the standards that they set out which must be followed by all care professionals working in this country.
This course will give you an understanding of person centred approaches for care and support, and how to implement a person-centred approach in an adult social care setting.
It starts by explaining what we mean by person centred care and where this term originated. It then goes on to analyse the values represented by person centred care and explains why care should be as much as possible tailored to each service user. Finally it will give you an overview of care plans, daily reports, the importance of obtaining consent and much more.
Number of modules: 6
Course Duration: 45 Minutes
(Note: This is based on the video content shown and is rounded off. It does not account in any way for loading time or thinking time on the questions)
Course Price: £25
Handling Information in a Care Setting
Course information
When working in a care setting it is so important to build positive relationships with care users. Confidentiality and the correct handling of personal information are vital for trusting relationships and a breach in this may lead to a service user becoming unwilling to cooperate with their care providers.
This course provides an introduction to the concept of handling information in care settings. At the end of the course you will understand the need for secure handling of information and you will know how to access support if you have any questions regarding access to information. The course will cover the important role confidentiality plays in developing trusting relationships with the people in your care and it will define key terms such as ‘need to know’ and ‘consent’. It also touches on the legislation that is in place relating to the handling and storing of information and the obligations each person has under these laws.
Number of modules: 2
Course Duration: 20 Minutes
(Note: This is based on the video content shown and is rounded off. It does not account in any way for loading time or thinking time on the questions)
Course Price: £25
Nutrition & Hydration
Course information
If you are part of a team responsible for people’s nutrition and hydration, it’s important that you understand the terms that are being used, the nutritional requirements of the service users and the possible consequences of getting it wrong.
This course will start by defining the various terms used when talking about nutrition and hydration in care environments, the basic elements of nutrition and eating a healthy balanced diet, identify the reasons why vulnerable people might suffer with dehydration and the tools you can use to identify people that are at risk of malnutrition and the steps you can take to deal with this condition.
Number of modules: 7
Course Duration: 65 Minutes
(Note: This is based on the video content shown and is rounded off. It does not account in any way for loading time or thinking time on the questions)
Course Price: £25
Dignity & Privacy
Course information
There are two crucial attributes you must have when working with people in a caring, supportive environment. First, all service users must be treated with dignity and the second crucial attribute is privacy.
The course will start by defining dignity and privacy within the healthcare sector, and will explain how the two are quite often linked. It will then go on to give you a range of useful professional tips about setting up the right working relationship with your service users, and discuss some of the issues that can arise when dignity and privacy are not respected.
Number of modules: 7
Course Duration: 50 Minutes
(Note: This is based on the video content shown and is rounded off. It does not account in any way for loading time or thinking time on the questions)
Course Price: £25
Prevent Duty
Course information
Intelligence indicates that further terrorist attacks in our country are ‘highly likely’. Experience tells us that the threat comes not just from foreign nationals, but from terrorists born and bred in Britain. It is therefore vital that our counter-terrorism strategy contains a plan to prevent radicalisation and stop would-be terrorists from committing mass murder.The Prevent strategy, published by the Government is part of the overall counter-terrorism strategy.
This course starts with an overview of the Government’s Prevent strategy, and then looks at some of the reasons people become extremists. It goes on to cover the objectives of the Prevent strategy, how to base your actions on a risk based approach, what to do if you are concerned and much more.
Number of modules: 8
Course Duration: 65 Minutes
(Note: This is based on the video content shown and is rounded off. It does not account in any way for loading time or thinking time on the questions)
Course Price: £35
Your Personal Development
Course information
A key part of your progression within the adult social care sector will be focused on your personal development. In a number of sectors it is even a legal requirement to continue to develop your skills and knowledge and it is essential to ensure you are working to the most up to date standards and guidance.
The course will start by looking at the way standards are set, monitored and regulated for social care organisations and workers throughout the UK. It then goes on to cover the codes of practice and legislation, reflecting on your work to ensure continued improvement, communication, feedback and much more.
Number of modules: 8
Course Duration: 35 Minutes
(Note: This is based on the video content shown and is rounded off. It does not account in any way for loading time or thinking time on the questions)
Course Price: £25
Mental Capacity & Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards
Course information
This course describes in detail the many facets and procedures of the Mental Capacity Act. This includes who the act affects, when it applies, how to assess capacity and the procedures that can be put in place in the home or workplace to ensure best practices are followed and people are treated fairly at all times.
It also introduces the deprivation of liberty safeguards. These safeguards provide a framework for approving the deprivation of liberty for people who lack the capacity to consent to treatment or care in either a hospital or care home setting
Number of modules: 4
Course Duration: 75 Minutes
(Note: This is based on the video content shown and is rounded off. It does not account in any way for loading time or thinking time on the questions)
Course Price: £25
Take Care of Your Mental Health this Christmas
We are in this time of year when everyone starts running out of time to find the perfect presents for their relatives and friends. Although it is one of the most festive and positive months, many of us may not see it that way. Christmas might be an extremely rough time for people suffering from mental health conditions. We gathered some useful tips to help you manage with all sorts of Christmas problems and hopefully lower the pressure you put on yourselves.
1. Don’t waste your time
Have you ever run out of tasks and end up sitting purposelessly at work? Yes? That’s great news! You can use this time to think about your Christmas presents! But don’t make them a priority and postpone your tasks to do it. You need to prioritise all your commitments and after fulfilling them (or during the lunch break) you can plan your presents.
2. Wrap up your work
During one of the busiest times of the year everyone is overloaded with work either in their workplace, at home and often both! It is important for you to know your limits. You don’t need additional tasks before Christmas if the deadline is long after the festive period. Make a list of all your work commitments and put them in the order according to their deadlines. This will help you focus on the most important tasks instead of starting for the ones that you won’t be able to finish. If you have too many tasks assigned before Christmas, try to speak with your manager to come up with some solutions.
3. Time to relax
We all need time out regardless of what’s going on in around us. It’s completely fine! You don’t need to worry about everything this Christmas. Ask your family and friends for help or, if you don’t want to ask them directly, try to convince them using some Christmas movies. Prepare a simple movie night (no special dishes – just popcorn and hot chocolate) and relax with your loved ones. After such a night you might suggest that would be fun to try out some of the movie ideas and voilà! You’ve got some voluntary help from your loved ones and priceless time you spent together.
4. Drinking – Keep an eye on that!
Don’t fall into the illusion that alcohol makes you happy and that all the problems seem to fade away after a glass of wine. The fact is that alcohol can make you feel relaxed but it’s just temporary. Your problems won’t disappear and postponing them won’t help you deal with stress. In fact, it’ll leave everything on the last minute and your stress scale might just blow up. Don’t fall into this trap. Stay with the recommended limits or just go out with your friends to reduce the stress instead of sitting at home with a bottle of wine.
5. Food Fight
Christmas time is a perfect excuse for all-day meals. We don’t do breaks. The temptation to overindulge with food is enormous and that is the reason to stop and think. Our diet has a huge impact on our mood, and this may cause some mood swings during Christmas as we all want to put the diet aside. But we need to remember that maintaining a balanced diet is extremely important to prevent irritability and to maintain stable mood.
6. Sleep Tight
With all the responsibilities and Christmas rush, people tend to disrupt their sleeping patterns to make sure that everything is perfect. But sacrificing the sleeping time just to achieve a perfectly decorated house might not be the best idea. You should have enough sleep because if you don’t, you put your mental health at risk. Divide the Christmas task between members of your family this year and make sure that all of you, including yourself, are having enough sleep during this festive time of the year.
7. Socialise
Feeling lonely can also have an impact on your mental health. For some people Christmas might feel like an emotional tornado while for others this might be the loneliest time of the year. All of us should keep in touch with our loved ones but also find it as a chance to meet new people to socialise with. Go out for the Christmas Market or Christmas Wonderland and have fun! That’s your chance to join the random choir singing Christmas songs or bump on some stranger with whom you can later go for a hot chocolate. Don’t miss out!
8. Exercise
Winter cold and exercises? It doesn’t sound like a good motivation. But that should become your routine especially during this festive time. Sport makes a huge difference for our mental health. That doesn’t mean you have to get up at 4 and go for a run so you can still stick to the schedule. Dancing around and singing also qualifies as exercises! Choose something you enjoy, and start to feel the difference in your life as this becomes routine.
9. Stretch your mind
Apart from physical exercises, you should keep your mind on track, as well. Ajuda offers a vast variety of courses including Mental Health training courses. You can increase your awareness to help yourself and others. Don’t miss out on the Mental Health & Wellbeing Show which takes place in May 2020. Christmas time is the best opportunity to offer mental help and this show might be your perfect gift for your loved ones.
Christmas time might be the most dangerous time of year for people struggling with mental health issues. Don’t underestimate it. Make sure that you, your family and friends are aware of this problem. Spread the word to make Christmas special for all people in your surroundings. Be the one that makes a change! And most importantly, be the one who cares for himself before you decide to take someone else’s problems on your shoulders.
Find time for yourself – take a long bath or go on an errand. Even five minutes for yourself might be helpful to keep your life balance.