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Ageing Well UK is a health promotion program that trains and places volunteer Senior Health Mentors, older individuals acting as health counselors, to support their peers. The program delivers various activities such as physical activity sessions, relaxation therapies, reminiscence therapy, and discussion groups on specific health topics. The Sefton model focuses on visiting residential homes and providing information on relaxation, diet, exercise, and facilitating access to services and leisure activities. The Braveheart Project in Central Scotland works with heart patients, empowering them to take control of their recovery through diet and exercise. Benefits include community development, empowerment, and improved dialogue between older people and health professionals.
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Ageing Well UKA Health Promotion Programme Senior Sports Conference Berlin, May 2004 Carolyn Robertson ActivAge Unit, Age Concern England www.ageconcern.org.uk
Ageing Well UK -Distinguishing feature is concept of training a network of volunteer Senior Health Mentors -Older people acting as health counsellors to their peers
How are projects delivered? • Volunteers 50+ are recruited • Trained to national standards • Placed in a wide range of community based initiatives working directly with peers • Supported and supervised by Project Coordinator
Activities Senior Health Mentors are involved in: • Physical activity and exercise sessions • Relaxation and alternative therapies • Reminiscence therapy • Discussion groups on specific health topics, such as blood pressure, healthy eating, cardiac care etc.
Ageing Well activities take place in many different settings • Lunch/Social clubs • Doctors’ surgeries • Health centres • Health shops • Leisure Centres • Healthy living centres
Model of Project: Sefton (Northern England) • Senior Health Mentors (43) visit residential homes, nursing homes, day centres and sheltered housing schemes • Provide information on relaxation, diet and exercise • Raise awareness of the range of services and leisure activities available and facilitate access to these • Bring news of the outside world to people in the community who are confined or isolated
Sefton (cont’d) • Qualified instructors (which include Senior Health Mentors) facilitate Tai Chi, massage and gentle chair exercise sessions • Provide befriending, sing-songs, art & craft • Reach approximately 100 people a week
Senior Health Mentor Story – Braveheart Project – Central Scotland • Project works with people recovering from major heart problems, has involved some 400 patients, 60+ from Falkirk & District Royal Infirmary • Jim never smoke or drank yet had triple bypass surgery at only 59 • After rehabilitation, Jim felt there was no ongoing support from the hospital, so he focused on reviewing diet and increasing exercise levels • Joined Braveheart which he says ‘changed his life’. “With Braveheart, Jim and his colleagues are putting continuing recovery back into the hands of people who most need it. He is very proud of what they do.”
Benefits of Senior Health Mentoring • Promotes community development by encouraging participation, collaboration and mutual aid • Empowers older people to identify and take control over their own health needs • Facilitates greater contact, understanding and dialogue between older people and health professionals
