16th October 2024
Lincoln: A Beacon for Intergenerational Living
A Personalisation Huddle report by Kirsteen Redmile, Lead Change Manager, It's All About People Personalisation Programme.
Our It's All About People Personalisation Huddles are a regular online get-together where you can hear fellow health and care professionals and people with lived experience, talking about how they are bringing personalised and strengths-based approaches to life.
For our Huddle on Friday 20 September, we were joined by Cat Hall, an Intergenerational Practice enthusiast and advocate. Cat is also the Community Projects & Wellbeing Hub Lead at St Michael's Church, Waddington, and a Registered Mental Health Nurse.
Ten minutes before the Huddle was due to start, I met with Cat and we discussed her passion for intergenerational living, but neither of us really knew what to expect from the session to follow and who might attend.
Within five minutes of starting, however, over 50 people had joined the session from a wide range of organisations. And over the next 90 minutes, Cat delivered a fantastic presentation, sharing her personal experiences and motivation around the value and potential of intergenerational living and the impact it can have on all ages.
To download Cat's presentation, see the side panel.
What was so exciting about this Huddle was the discussions and conversations it generated with people who clearly shared Cat's passion and enthusiasm. Participants were keen to tell the group about their experiences and examples of intergenerational work taking place across Lincolnshire and beyond, such as:
- Holbeach Meadows Care Home have started an intergenerational therapy group every week with childminders around the area. https://www.tanglewoodcarehomes.co.uk/intergenerational-therapy-at-holbeach-meadows/
- YMCA Communities team worked with four communities across the county to explore the heritage of their area through bespoke intergenerational projects. "Our Community Development team worked with groups in Woodall Spa, Lincoln, Sutton-On-Sea and Gainsborough to explore events and moments from their history with both younger and older residents resulting in a shared understanding and love of their place." https://www.lincsymca.co.uk/in-your-community/history-her-story-my-story-our-story/
- History, Her Story, My Story, Our Story - YMCA Lincolnshire
And these were just some of the comments from people at the Huddle:
- We don’t stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing!
- Thanks for reminding us that age is just a number! And only a small part of who we are.
- Fantastic! Such a lot to think about and to aspire to. Heart-warming, emotional, and thought-provoking. Thanks Cat!
- Thank you for a truly inspirational and moving presentation.
I think it's fair to say that by the end of the session, Cat was overwhelmed by the response and the support for the work she’s doing. She’s going to take some time to reflect on what she heard but is very keen to stop talking and get on and do some doing!
If you didn’t get the chance to join the session, you can watch the recording on our Vimeo channel.
And if you’d like to know more and get in touch with Cat, email lhnt.itsallaboutpeople@nhs.net
