Balfour+Manson commits to dementia training for all staff
Legal firm Balfour+Manson has committed to a training programme in dementia awareness right across its 134 staff.
The Edinburgh and Aberdeen practice is marking Dementia Awareness Week (4-10 June) with the pledge to ensure all employees receive the training to become Demtia Friends, provided by Alzheimer Scotland.
Research suggests that one in three babies born in 2015 will go on to develop dementia in their lifetime.
Balfour+Manson has a Client Welfare team led by two experienced care professionals, who work alongside the firm's solicitors to ensure clients’ needs are appropriately met.
Around half of its employees have already undergone the training, including receptionist Madeline Begg, who said: “I was really pleased to do the Dementia Friends training and I’ve found it very useful already. It gives you an insight to what it’s like to live with dementia and a better understanding of how to deal sensitively with people who have dementia.
“I also found it very interesting to see how other workplaces, retailers, and so on deal with the issues whether face-to-face or on the phone, and how important it is to remember that dementia doesn’t define people; they are still independent individuals just needing perhaps a little more patience and assistance.”
Executive chairman Elaine Motion commented: “We have a lot of clients who either have dementia or have family members with dementia and our Client Welfare team provides excellent services to both, alongside our legal team.
“We take dementia and its ramifications seriously, and we are committed to ensuring that our staff have a good level of awareness of how best to deal with the issues that people living with dementia face. This is a mainstay of what we do as a firm, and will only expand as demographics continue to change and more people are being diagnosed and living longer with dementia.”
A spokesperson for Alzheimer Scotland responded: “As we mark Dementia Awareness Week 2018, Alzheimer Scotland is delighted that so many individuals, groups and companies have committed to improving their understanding of the little things we can all do to help people with dementia. We now have 60,000 Dementia Friends across Scotland – a fantastic achievement!”