Ageing Better in Camden

Ageing Better in Camden (ABC) 2015-2022, was a partnership of older people and Camden organisations, working together to tackle social isolation and loneliness. The programme was one of 14 ‘test and learn’ Ageing Better areas supported by The National Lottery Community Fund to develop creative ways for people aged 50 plus to be actively involved in their local communities.

We are proud to highlight key strands of Ageing Better in Camden’s work which enabled ABC and partners to find, engage and support older people from diverse communities to participate in social activities, to make stronger social connections and to increase their sense of belonging.

Our Ageing Better programme ended on 31 March 2022, but our learning and legacy live on. If you would like to learn more about our programme, research, and learning, or to access free training and support, please contact Jo Stapleton, Ageing Better in Camden Good Practice Mentor, Outreach Specialist: E joanne.stapleton@ageukcamden.org.uk or T: 0207 239 0474

Ageing Better in Camden: the impact of working in partnership 2015-2022

Free training, learning and resources

Our outreach appraoch

Our outreach team trialled innovative approaches to proactively finding, meeting and engaging older people out on the street and on the doorstep. These individuals are the people less likely to be known to, or to access and say yes to formal services, community activities and support.

We successfully found and engaged with 1000s of older people via street outreach, door-knocking and hosting informal pop-up events.  23% of those engaged through outreach activity went on to attend an outreach stepping-stone event and over 10% to embed in ongoing activities. This outreach approach also helped to find and connect individuals to their local communities and help older people to establish their own informal social networks.

Read more about our model of skilled outreach working to find and engage the hidden group of socially isolated and lonely older people who are reluctant or unable to access community activities, formal services or support.( Working with Older People Journal, 26 January 2023)

Free, one-hour, zoom workshops to support community groups and organisations across the UK to find and engage the people less likely to access formal groups and activities

Our series of workshops bring together insight from older people less likely to access formal groups, activities and support (e.g. older men and people from BAME communities) with practical approaches to address 'it's not for me', barriers to participation:

Topics include:

• Understanding and addressing barriers to engagement via comms

• Hosting informal pop-up events in neutrals spaces as a steppingstone to engagement

• Identifying and responding to isolation during everyday conversations

For more information and availability, please visit our Eventbrite page:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/jo-stapleton-good-practice-mentor-outreach-specialist-57275188343

FREE bespoke and group training, outreach guidance and support

Free bespoke and group training is also available to support organisations, frontline staff and volunteers working anywhere in the UK, to find and engage the older people they may not be reaching, including:  

• Street outreach skills

• Door knocking and working in housing settings

• Hosting and promoting informal pop-up events to find and bring local older people together.

• Setting up informal outreach walks

• Outreaching to engage with older men

• Understanding and overcoming barriers to engagement via a transactional language and coms approach.

For more information and to discuss your requirements, please contact our Good Practice Mentor, Outreach Specialist, Jo Stapleton: joanne.stapleton@ageukcamden.org.uk

Insight and learning from the older people ‘no-one knows’

• Document: Outreach learning report: Connecting older men to their communities

• Document: Outreach learning Report: Enabling resident engagement and community building within sheltered housing communities.

• Document: It was a day of friendliness. Older People’s views on outreach in sheltered housing

• Document: Short-term outreach to foster social connections away from formal settings: Men talk about their experience of informal walking groups.

Outreach – ‘Practitioner guides’

• Document: Doorstep Outreach Report: A Practitioner’s Guide

• Document: What we have learnt about street outreach with older people

• Document: Toolkit for providers who want to engage with older people: street outreach and informal pop-up events

Warm Welcome Approach

What is a Warm Welcome and why does it matter to older people? Throughout our programme, older people have told us that being welcomed (or not) to a community activity has a big impact on their wellbeing and on whether they will return. We found there were ten main elements for creating a Warm Welcome which encouraged social connection and a sense of belonging.

• Document: The Warm Welcome Toolkit. Ageing Better in Camden

BAME Micro-funding model

To reach and address social isolation amongst older people from underserved smaller BAME communities, ABC commissioned a BAME led micro-funded partnership. Partner organisations were uniquely placed to work with older people from their communities but faced systemic barriers to obtaining funding and building capacity. ABC commissioned independent research to evaluate the impact of this approach upon the older people supported and the organisations involved:

• Document: Before this I had nothing. A report on the development an impact of a BAME-led partnership for tackling social isolation amongst older people in Camden.

Weblink: ‘Funding black-led, micro-organisations in England (Voluntary Sector Review)

If you would like to learn more about anything we have shared here or to access any other reports or documentation from the programme, please contact Jo Stapleton, Ageing Better in Camden Good Practice Mentor, E joanne.stapleton@ageukcamden.org.uk or T: 0207 239 0474