Navigator
Alan Gilmour
5 December 2023
Aim: To inform dental practitioners about the Navigator service. To impart wisdom from a lived experience of the terror people can be living with and the vulnerability they can feel in a dental chair. To make dental practitioners aware of the key role they can play in a persons’ recovery. To learn the detrimental impact a negative experience can have on a patient. To learn how manner and a gentle way can transform the experience into one with trust. The learn the value of taking time to reset between patients.
Learning objectives:
- To understand how dentists may be perceived by a vulnerable patient and how best to behave in order to gain trust
- To understand the impact behaviour and manner can have on a patient and the knock-on effect that may have in their lives
- To understand the importance of resetting between patients
Navigator
Navigator is a support programme based in the Emergency Department. Navigators provide psychosocial support for a wide range of issues; these include violence, alcohol or drug issues, mental health issues, domestic abuse, homelessness, social isolation and debt issues, and sadly often a combination of these things. Working with the individual they help them to connect them with services, both statutory and third sector that will help them to stabilise their lives and to move forward.
Alan Gilmour
Regional supervisor for Navigator & Youth Navigator & Medics Against Violence
Alan gained his Degree in Community Development from Glasgow University in 2015. He was one of the original Navigators in the pilot of the program at Glasgow Royal Infirmary in 2015. He used his life learning to bring an empowering process into the Navigator strategy involving a partnered approach across all sectors. He is passionate about bringing empowerment to those who need to cross the bridge into a fulfilling life.