A day event for anyone involved with Pastoral Care of older people
Why
Listening to our older people is especially important in our society that remains focused on activity and achievements and does not value quality of life experience and the wisdom that comes from living a long life.
Yet our older people do face real challenges of increased frailty; loss of friends; disappointments through life and often lack of choice in current forms supported care.
What
So what have each of us learnt from the older people we have lived alongside? What has listening to them taught us about listening well and ageing well? We will listen to one another and gather our experiences and reflect upon the richness of the life experience of the elderly and how to listen to them and bring them compassion and valuing. We will tackle some of the more difficult issues, how to bring hope when older people feel hopeless; how to bring questions of faith into the conversation; how to work out what lifts their spirits?
A simple framework will be offered to help you reflect yourself on your visits in a focused way. The exercises we use you can replicate with others who are also caring, potentially giving networks of learning and support at home.
Aim
The intention of this day is to allow us all to appreciate the power of listening well; so that listening can be both ordinary and extraordinary.
Above all it is about reflecting on how to listen so that those we listen to, most especially the elderly, experience affirmation, appreciation, understanding and so given life.
The beauty of listening well is that it is reciprocal process so that the benefits are mutual, thus making our gift of time and listening life-giving for us, too.
Jenny Williams
December 2015