Care Home Network

Our aim is to build on the connections made with staff and volunteers within care homes across Scotland during the past few years. The network will meet three times each year inviting care home managers, activity leads and volunteers to learn more about intergenerational work through supportive conversations with colleagues and the sharing of good intergenerational practice.

We hope to:
- raise awareness of what good intergenerational work looks like
- upskill & train staff and volunteers on how to plan, facilitate and evaluate intergenerational projects
- build intergenerational partnerships and connections
- provide networking & mutual support

Future meetings for 2024

Dates yet to be arranged.

During each of our two-hour meetings we shall also cover awareness/training elements.

Previous meetings in 2023

Wednesday 15th November from 10.00am – 12noon: Reflection (online session)

We were joined in this session by Amy Lock from The Linking Network who shared the results from their project Care Home FaNs which linked 4,000 young people with 2,000 older people living in care homes in England.
You can watch the recording of the meeting here
Passcode: 9?pwh2F%

Amy’s presentation slides can be found here

Additional links from Amy can be found in the agenda/meeting notes here

• Thursday 21st September from 10.00am – 12noon: Come and join us at Methil Haven Care Village (Fife) – the first intergenerational shared site in Scotland

This is a wonderful opportunity to view the new Methil Haven Care Home and observe how intergenerational practice is being developed with the onsite nursery in this inspiring space. Discuss with colleagues what difference daily intergenerational interactions makes to the lives of participants, and staff as well as the community. How can this be replicated elsewhere in Scotland?

Meeting notes

Measuring & evaluating intergenerational work with Lorraine George; where do you start?

Meeting notes

Presentation PDF

Global Intergenerational Week: Celebrating intergenerational learning in care homes

What is it about intergenerational learning that makes it fit so well within adult residential care? There are many benefits that come from embedding intergenerational activities into existing routines, rather than developing it as an additional piece of work; improved engagement for residents and staff and sustainability are just two of them.
This session will explore the benefits and challenges in taking this approach.

Meeting slides
Notes

Let’s talk about the importance of effective intergenerational partnerships
The pandemic has had a huge impact upon existing intergenerational partnerships and faced with the challenges of online or distanced activities, many intergenerational programmes have just been put on hold. Let’s take time in this session to consider how we can rekindle the intergenerational partnerships we had and support each other to be ambitious and start to plan for the future when we can bring generations back together. This session will explore intergenerational opportunities in the community and the things that should be planned and considered when restarting or building intergenerational partnerships.