Anglican Community Services in partnership with Wesley Mission and Western Sydney University has been awarded an ARIIA grant for their project ‘Older Persons Wellbeing Networks - a collaborative, stepped care, peer-based approach to navigating life transitions and improving mental wellbeing’.
The Project will implement and evaluate a community based, stepped care, Community Wellbeing Network model of care that encompasses community-dwelling older people acting as agents of change and peer supporters alongside mental health clinicians and community aged care staff, to build mental wellness, self-efficacy to manage life transitions and adverse life events, reduce social isolation and promote engagement in productive ageing activities.
The proposal is a partnership with Wesley Mission (WM), and Anglicare Sydney (AS) and Western Sydney University (WSU), using a pre-post, mixed methods research design. The Project has strong translational research potential as it will produce new evidence on how a community-based approach can optimise well-being outcomes for older people and under what circumstances it is most effective; informing knowledge, practice, and service development related to older persons’ wellbeing.