Is POVA Training For You?

If you work with vulnerable adults the chances are that POVA training is for you. POVA stands for Protection of Vulnerable Adults and the training you get is designed to help you to protect the adults in your care, or those you come in regular contact with, from harm.

It covers a surprisingly wide spectrum of subjects from protecting mentally disabled adults from physical, emotional or mental abuse to protecting the old and infirm from injury due to slips or falls.

Which POVA Training Do You Need?

Because POVA training comes in all shapes and sizes you have to look at each course and decide on whether it is relevant to you. However, anyone who works with vulnerable adults will benefit from a general POVA course. A general POVA course examines the way in which you look at the adults in your care and helps you to see where you may be failing to recognise dangers and protect the adults in your care from those dangers.

Without realising it our own upbringing often stops us from seeing someone as vulnerable and paying enough attention to them as a result. For example many people who care for the elderly perceive men as strong and able until they begin to actually look infirm. Just because an elderly man walks well without the aid of a stick over a reasonable distance does not mean he can still look after his own garden. In fact, he could injure himself whilst trying to do so. This is an example of where our own perceptions make us blind to the needs of adults in our care. Basic POVA training challenges the way we look at things and makes us more aware and alert.

If you work with the elderly a POVA course covering avoiding trips, slips and falls and a dementia course is a good idea. For someone who looks after the young disabled a dementia course is of little value, but a course covering dignity in care or one covering the management of infection risk would be beneficial. You have to decide which courses are relevant to you.

Additional articles about Safeguarding

About the author

Safeguarding Adults EA offer a wide range of POVA courses. Their courses are designed to be done on-line, but to give you a recognised certificate at the end of it.

Please Rate This Article

Select Rating Excellent Very Good Interesting Fair Could Use Improvement

Number of ratings: 0
Rating: 0