Secure & Prison Settings
Protecting dignity and safety for people with dementia in custody.
What if staff could balance safety with understanding every time?
The number of older people and individuals with cognitive impairment in secure and prison settings is steadily increasing. Dementia-related distress in these environments is often misunderstood, with behaviour interpreted without access to a shared understanding of cognitive impairment, distress or underlying need.
Without specialist knowledge and shared frameworks, responses may escalate unnecessarily, increasing risk for both individuals and staff. Common experiences include:
The 6D Dementia Approach
6D Dementia provides staff in secure and custodial environments with a psychologically informed framework to distinguish distress from intent, interpret behaviour in context, and respond safely and appropriately.
Using the shared structure:
The framework supports consistent decision-making across teams, helping staff to balance safety, security and operational requirements with dignity, understanding and compassion for individuals.
How We Deliver Training
Training is delivered through flexible, CPD-accredited, digital learning, designed to fit operational demands in secure and custodial settings. The content is structured to align with security requirements, safeguarding standards, and organisational policies, supporting psychologically informed practice within existing routines and procedures.
Impact & Evidence
The 6D Dementia approach is informed by research and practice evidence from health and care settings showing that psychologically informed responses can:
- Improve understanding of vulnerability and distress
- Support calmer, more proportionate responses under pressure
- Reduce unnecessary escalation and reliance on restrictive interventions
- Support staff confidence, wellbeing and retention
In secure and custodial settings, the approach is intended to support safer, more consistent decision-making by helping staff recognise when distress or cognitive impairment may be contributing to behaviour, while continuing to prioritise security, safeguarding and appropriate escalation.
Explore whether the 6D approach may be suitable for your setting
Get in touch to request further information.
