Mind and Age UK Sutton

MIND

Wise Age met with and gave a presentation to colleagues in  MIND – the mental health charity – last week, which; lasted 2 hours and was well received. Besides talking about myths and prejudice facing older people seeking work and outlining the realities and benefits that older people and age diversity offer to organisations from the voluntary sector. 

We also talked about ways that voluntary organisations can both become more age-friendly themselves as employers, in managing volunteers and being more accessible and supportive to potential older clients. 

Finally, we had a wide-ranging and very interesting discussion around particular mental health issues facing older people and how they are exacerbated by unemployment, poverty and social isolation and the reasons behind a lot of older people not wishing to discuss emotional or mental health issues. We now look forward to working with MIND to develop more age-friendly practices, outreach to older people and refer relevant clients to one another.

Wie Age is happy to meet with other charities and voluntary and community organisations to see how we can help in a similar way. If your organisation is interested in this please email us at contact@wiseage.org.uk

AGE UK SUTTON

Wise Age is pleased to announce that we have now agreed on a partnership approach with Age UK Sutton to help older people in the borough find jobs and promote age diversity and its benefits to local employers. We agreed to wait until the May local elections before really promoting our work and support available, and are now looking forward to running a joint approach to let older Sutton residents and local employers know what help is available.

This joint work has been helped by the good offices of Ruth Dombie, the leader of Sutton Council ( who has been re-elected) – she has shown real leadership and enthusiasm to make Sutton a truly age-friendly borough. 

We are hoping that more London boroughs ( and indeed local authorities elsewhere) will join us to help them support their older people looking for work and to promote an age-friendly agenda both for local companies and organisations and themselves. Wise Age is pleased to offer support including running virtual or face-to-events and consultations around age issues, especially with regard to people aged 50+ who still want to work.