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See Me. Know Me.

See Me. Know Me.

Status: Ongoing

Evaluated

Australia Australia
Print this page Practice started in 2019

Summary

See Me. Know Me is relevant to people who are ageing or for those who have ageing parents/ loved ones, and it offers an opportunity to strengthen connections with friends and family. It is designed to help seniors reflect on what is meaningful to them, articulate what gives them a sense of purpose and ultimately to empower them to find aged care services that will truly tune in to them as a whole person. We have free resources available to download, including posters, conversation starters, ‘purpose’ thought-starters to guide personal reflection and Top 10 questions to ask aged care providers. These resources are available in English, Simplified Chinese, Italian, Greek, Arabic, Spanish and Khmer.

Website: https://seemeknowme.org.au

Key facts

Main target group: Both younger and older people (i.e. intergenerational)

Sector(s): Health, Other

Other sector(s): Aged Care

Desired outcome for older people:
Learn, grow and make decisions

Other issues the Age-friendly practice aims to address:
  • Ageism
  • Ageing in place
  • Healthy behaviours (e.g. physical activity)
  • Intergenerational activities
  • Inclusion
  • Participation

Contact details

Name: Hampton, Ilsa

Email address: ihampton@meaningfulage.org.au

Preferred language(s): English

Age-friendly practice in detail (click to expand):

Engaging the wider community

Project lead: Social or health care provider

Others involved in the project:
  • Local authorities
  • Older People’s Association
  • Volunteers

How collaboration worked: Our resources were formed in collaboration with generous older people in the community, who volunteered their time and shared their personal stories for the campaign promotion. Many local councils got behind the campaign too and used the campaign materials in different ways. A great example comes from Cessnock City Council, who used the Conversation-starters to guide a community arts project with older people. This work was part of the seniors festival in February 2020. The See Me. Know Me. campaign was funded by the Australian Government Department of Health.

Older people’s involvement: Older people were involved in the age-friendly practice at multiple or all stages

Details on older people’s involvement: The See Me. Know Me. posters, postcards and video stories all come from older people in the community. Many older people have attended events where the ‘conversation-starter’ cards guide table discussions. 150 older people attend theatre events called ‘A live exploration of ageing’, where stories from the audience were brought to life by the actors on the stage. Many aged care organisations have used the poster templates to share the stories of their residents.

Moving forward

Has the impact of this age-friendly practice been analysed: Yes

Was the impact positive or negative:
Positive

Feedback:
“This gave me a venue to voice out my thoughts and I feel much better by just brewing all thoughts inside” – Chinese seniors group participant “I attended (the See Me. Know Me. High Tea event) along with my 69yo sister and 89 yo mother… we found the questions on the cards provided to be very thought provoking and gave us opportunity to reflect meaningfully upon our lives and have a different from usual conversation. We will use the question cards at a larger family evening meal, and possibly even at ‘girls afternoon tea’ with friends at home”

Looking back

Challenges:
Some of the challenges included finding willing participants from diverse backgrounds. We contacted leading associations for different CALD groups and they were able to put us in touch with some older people who were willing to be interviewed and photographed for the campaign. There was some difficulty with language barriers during the interview process, so we arranged to have translators present. It was challenging translating many of the resources into languages other than English, and we addressed this by working with FECCA, the national multicultural body representing Australians from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. We also had contacts in the community who were able to proof some of the translations and offer further assistance when required.