Staff training


The importance of intimacy and relationship training


Julie Booth, head of quality at specialist nursing care home provider Exemplar Health Care, explains the importance of intimacy and relationship training within care homes and demonstrates what the company is doing to normalise the topic among staff


Everyone has the right to enjoy a range of relationships and express their sexuality as they wish, and this should not be any different for those living in care homes. Intimate relationships can take many different forms, and sex or physical intimacy is not necessarily important for everyone. Love, friendship and simply being together are just some things that people enjoy in a relationship, and everyone should have the opportunity to experience these things. Exemplar Health Care is a leading


provider of specialist nursing care for adults living with a range of complex and high acuity needs, arising from neuro- disability, brain injury, spinal injury, stroke, mental ill-health, physical disability, learning disability and/or autism and complex dementia. We have 35 care homes – and counting


- across Yorkshire, the Midlands, north- east England and north-west England, that provide person-centred care and rehabilitation in a welcoming and supportive environment. We are investing in new complex needs care homes across the UK so that even more people can receive the care that they need, close to


their home, family and friends. In 2019, Exemplar Health Care worked


with Leeds University to research the extent to which people’s needs were being met around personal relationships, intimacy and sexual expression. In response, we commissioned


national charity, Enhance the UK, to develop a training programme for its colleagues to help normalise discussions around sex and disability and give them the skills and confidence to support people with this aspect of their life.


Research about people’s sexual needs The idea for the programme stemmed from an Exemplar Health Care Service User Council meeting where a service user told the group that he wanted to have a sexual relationship and asked how the care team could help him achieve this. This inspired the clinical team at


Exemplar Health Care to contact Leeds University to commission a piece of research into how service users felt about the support offered in this area. The research explored what extent people’s needs were being met around personal


relationships, intimacy and sexual expression within the care home they live. The results revealed that many people


who live in care homes thought that they were not allowed personal relationships. Some people wanted a relationship, some a friendship and others just wanted to feel good about themselves. The research highlighted that many


residents have low self-esteem as a result of their disability, with one participant saying, “Why would anyone want to be with me?”. Some service users felt having an intimate relationship “wasn’t allowed” in a care home, and some people felt that it was not an area open to discussion or exploration once they required full-time nursing care. The study also highlighted that


service users missed the company and social interaction that many of us take for granted each day. Many wanted companionship, someone who was there through choice rather than being there because it was their job. These findings reflect wider issues


that disabled people face around having equal rights to have autonomy over their choices about their sexuality and sexual expression. Following the research, Exemplar


Health Care shared the results with Enhance the UK, a national charity run by disabled people for disabled people, who are passionate about equal rights. We went on to commission Enhance the UK to design a detailed training programme for its 3000-strong workforce to attend.


Training for care home colleagues The training aims to change perceptions around sex and disabilities, breaking down both the physical and emotional barriers that people in care homes face when it comes to having intimate


November 2021 • www.thecarehomeenvironment.com 19


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