UNIR Cuidadores, the training and assistance company for family and professional caregivers of older people and people with disabilities and/or dependency, promoted by UNIR, the International University of La Rioja, and Alares, the Spanish leader in private assistance for people in their homes or workplaces throughout Spain and Portugal, with more than 15 years of experience, have signed a collaboration agreement.
The agreement’s main objective is to provide comprehensive, high-quality training to the entire community of home caregivers in the social and healthcare field, domestic workers in Spain, and families who have dependent people or people requiring care in their lives. UNIR Cuidadores’s entire current training offering will be made available to Alares, while UNIR will gain access to all of Alares’s accumulated experience. New subject areas will be developed as needed to meet the training requirements of all the groups mentioned and, together, to promote training and professionalization in the sector.
The current catalog, which includes a wide range of training options, is available both on the UNIR Cuidadores website and on the Alares website. It covers more than 90 subject areas, with online classes, courses, and professional certificates in the social and healthcare and domestic service sectors. Training is available for periods ranging from 1 to 600 hours, the number required to obtain professional certificates in the social and healthcare field.
UNIR’s online training methodology is used—the methodology of the University on the Internet—in which practically 100% of students who start a course complete it, and 98% recommend it.
The training platform is simple and intuitive, allowing students to interact with classmates and professionals through the courses’ forum and chat. In addition, both the courses and classes include a tutor who supports students throughout their learning period, resolving their questions and fostering their motivation. In this way, students learn from the best professionals while saving time and money on travel, regardless of where they live, making training accessible to anyone with an Internet connection.
In addition, the signed agreement includes measures both to improve the sector’s positioning and image and to increase the employability of people who wish to work in care and support services for older and dependent people.
Aurelio López-Barajas, CEO of UNIR Cuidadores, states: "Making Alares’s and UNIR’s experience available to the entire caregiver community, together with UNIR’s extensive catalog and training methodology, will professionalize the role of caregivers and domestic service personnel, improving their employability and the quality of life of the people they care for."
Javier Benavente Barrón, president of Alares and Fundación Alares, states: "Training is essential to providing people in their homes with an outstanding, high-quality service. Therefore, investing in training is key both for people who feel vocationally called to work in this sector, for those who are already doing so and need to update their skills, and for companies operating in the sector that are interested in remaining in it.
The success of Alares and of the "Alares Method" of personalized individual assistance has always been based on continuously "listening" to new needs, developing new services and making them accessible to as many people as possible, maintaining quality in service delivery as a fundamental principle, constant innovation, and, above all, the ongoing training of its collaborators."
