Friendships play an important role in the quality of life, especially for residents living in residential care homes. Social relationships make one feel a sense of belonging and helps one to avoid loneliness and improve their emotional well-being.
Residential care homes are a great place to build and maintain friendships. Through thoughtful planning and activities, care homes can help residents nurture their bonds.
This blog will explore the ways in which residential care homes Petersfield, care homes Hampshire, and residential care homes Waterlooville, can help the residents to build and maintain friendships.
Importance of Friendships in Care Homes
Friendships are very important to us. We as humans love to interact and create bonds that later turn into special friendships. At care homes, elderly residents at their age need more care and comfort. They look for other elders who can keep them company to share their journeys and special moments in their life.
At an older age, elderly residents tend to get isolated and feel lonely. To avoid loneliness, it is important for residents to live in a friendly and inclusive space; a safe space that makes them feel happy and satisfied, to form new bonds, and build meaningful relationships.
One of the major benefits of building and maintaining friendships is that it positively influences the psychological wellbeing of the elders. Friends reduce the feelings of loneliness and help maintain their cognitive functions.
Creating Opportunities for Social Interaction
Social interaction based activities are a perfect opportunity for the residents to actively mingle and have fun with other residents. This encourages teamwork and shared interests which helps the residents connect meaningfully.
Social Spaces and Communal Rooms
Care homes can designate communal spaces for relaxation and socialisation. Common rooms are a great space for residents to gather, engage in conversations, and participate in daily activities. To promote interaction, care homes can make use of lounges and even outdoor gardens.
Providing comfortable seating arrangements for casual conversations and quiet areas for one-on-one conversations can help build deeper connections between residents. Care homes can also make sure that the common areas are well-designed to accommodate the residents interests.
Group Activities and Shared Interests
There are a lot of fun and exciting activities to provide opportunities to bond and form lasting friendships. These activities can be planned according to the resident interests based on their tastes and preferences.
Arranging craft sessions provide opportunities for residents to interact and bond over arts and crafts. It can be creative sessions like painting, knitting or scrapbooking. Other than crafts, games and puzzles are another type of fun-filled activity that can make residents work together and enjoy each other’s company.
Scheduling exercise classes like group yoga or fitness sessions can promote social interaction as well as improve their physical health.
Encouraging Communication and Trust Among Residents
Encouraging communication between residents is easily possible with the help of caregivers. Open lines of communication play an active role in developing friendships based on trust and shared experiences.
Caregivers and staff can organise icebreaker activities to initiate conversations among new residents. They can also keep track of how residents interact with others and offer support when needed. Encouraging group discussions where the residents talk about their hobbies, memories, and experiences will help them to know each other.
Encourage Shared Experiences
Shared moments play an important role in establishing lasting bonds. Staff in residential care homes can assist and provide a variety of shared experiences for residents for them to connect on a deeper level.
Some of the opportunities that can be created for shared experiences are movie nights, storytelling sessions, and outdoor events. These experiences bring the residents together to enjoy and share stories from their pasts. Outdoor events like group outings or garden parties can encourage teamwork and effective communication.
The Role of Family in Building Connections
Residential care homes Hampshire and similar facilities know the value of ensuring the emotional and social needs of residents. But the involvement of a resident’s family can make a big difference. Inviting families to care homes and encouraging them to engage with residents can strengthen existing bonds and build new friendships.
Family members can facilitate friendships by joining residents in social activities and events. Hosting family dinners, group visits, family days and cooking classes or games can create an opportunity for residents to introduce their family members to new friends.
Spending time with multiple family members and residents together can create more opportunities of social interaction and togetherness.
Maintaining Friendships Over Time
We talked about how residents can build friendships at residential care homes. But what’s more challenging is to maintain the friendship for a long time. It requires an ongoing effort. It is important for residential care homes to responsibly nurture relationships through ongoing opportunities for connection and engagement.
Encouraging residents to take part in group activities, celebrating their birthdays or anniversaries, and so on can keep the spirit of their friendship alive.
Supportive peer groups are a great way to form a resident community where they can openly talk about their experiences and support each other. Staff should be prepared to assist and accompany residents to sustain those relationships when the residents face loss or difficulties in life.
Building Strong Bonds at Forest Brow
Creating meaningful opportunities for friendships among residents is what we strive for. To provide opportunities, we need the support of our resident community. Building and maintaining friendships is not easy. At Forest Brow, we make sure all the residents live a peaceful and interactive lifestyle at their old age.
Our staff, residents, and their family work together to nurture and cultivate these friendships. Forest Brow, thus, becomes more than just places of care – they become places where friendships between residents grow and stand the test of time.