Guide to finding meaning in ageing

Spiritual care in ageing peak body Meaningful Ageing Australia has co-developed a guide with seniors to help them gain a sense of meaning around ageing.

Spiritual care in ageing peak body Meaningful Ageing Australia has co-developed a guide with seniors to help them gain a sense of meaning around ageing.

MAA has launched a crowdfunding initiative to publish and distribute the resource called The Map of Meaning and Ageing: a self-reflection guide, which canvasses a range of topics related to ageing.

Ilsa Hampton

The guide is the next phase of MAA’s See Me Know Me campaign, which aims to help aged care organisations respond to clients’ pastoral and spiritual needs and empower consumers to access suitable aged care services.

Meaningful Ageing Australia CEO Ilsa Hampton said the guide provided an opportunity for individuals or small groups to work through what getting older means for them.

“We know that people can have difficulty engaging with the whole idea that they’re ageing. But it is of course a natural part of life, and we really want to encourage people to use the evidence-based guide to improve on that experience of ageing by engaging with it in the context of meaning,” Ms Hampton told Australian Ageing Agenda.

“It’s really important for older people to feel more equipped to engage with their own ageing to understand themselves better and to connect with others better,” she said.

Meaningful Ageing Australia’s crowdfunded
self-reflection guide

“[It] also puts them in a stronger position if they ever need to call on service providers. They’ll have a clearer idea about the kinds of things that they need from that service provider to be able to offer.”

The guide was written by MAA using the work of New Zealander and septuagenarian Lani Morris, who has been using the map with individuals and groups for the last few years.

Ms Hampton said the guide has finished its final review and will be published and distributed in October if MAA can reach its crowdfunding goal of $10,000.

The campaign, which ends on 28 September, has raised $4,288 to date.

Find out more information and support the crowdfunding campaign here.

*This story first appeared on Australian Ageing Agenda.

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