#wellbeingateveryage

29 November 2021

Categories: OUTREACH

We know from national research and we see in our own referrals, that people aged 65 and over are less likely to contact services like ours for support for symptoms of common mental health problems, even though talking therapies like CBT have been shown to work well for older people, and IAPT services make adaptations when needed to support older patients.

This is why we are working to raise awareness of mental wellbeing in later life, and improve understanding of how services like italk can support mental wellbeing at every age. To help us achieve this, we have designed a social media campaign that will launch today (Monday 29th November).

You can get involved by following us on Facebook and Twitter, and sharing and commenting on our posts using the hashtag #wellbeingateveryage

Helping the helpers

We know it's often a friend or relative who notices a change in our mood before we do. Their support and encouragement can help us to take that step to contact a talking therapy service like ours.

This campaign is for those friends and relatives. We’ve heard that myths and misconceptions around mental health in later life, and differing age criteria across services can make it more difficult to know how to help when the person you’re supporting is over 65.

So, over the next few weeks we'll be answering common questions like:

• Does italk have an upper age limit? (no!)
• Does talking therapy work as well for older adults? (yes!)
• Isn't it just a normal a normal part of ageing to feel low? (no!)

Follow our campaign at #wellbeingateveryage

Wider work

This campaign is part of our wider work to improve access to our service for older adults. Our work is informed by the IAPT older adults positive practice guide, alongside research by respected organisations such as Age UK, and our own conversations with people in our community.

Our work includes:

• Multi-channel promotion. We know that the stereotype of older adults not wanting to use technology is a myth, but that this age group will benefit from us ensuring our paper leaflets and printed resources remain available. Research shows that use of technology is strongly linked to health and wealth, and the connection with age is down to older adults being more likely to have lower incomes and poorer health. For this reason, we promote our service in both print and digital formats, and focus our printed materials on raising awareness of our italk Health pathway.
• Supporting Signposting. This campaign #wellbeingateveryage is part of our wider strategy to reach further into the community through the friends, relatives and professionals who have opportunities to signpost people to our support. This campaign is being launched close to the festive period, when people are most likely to visit older relatives and neighbours.
• Improving service accessibility. We know that around 40% of adults over 50 have hearing loss, and around 20% of adults aged 75 and over will be living with sight loss. This year we conducted a review into the service’s accessibility, and are now working on our action plan to ensure all aspects of our service are accessible to people with a sight or hearing loss, or any other accessible information or communication need.   

Get involved

If you’re part of an organisation or community group that shares our goal to improve access to mental health support for older adults, we’d love to hear from you and explore opportunities to work together. Contact our outreach team at italkoutreachcoordinator@solentmind.org.uk