BOOKING FOREVER YOUNG
INTRODUCTION
Forever Young is a full day booking package, facilitated by three multi-skilled artists, all of whom have extensive professional experience in the arts, aged care and therapeutic delivery.
It involves two main components:
Morning: Individual bedside sessions for progressed dementia or isolated clients, as suggested by your staff
Afternoon: A large group puppetry performance open to all residents, and if appropriate for your site carers, family or grandchildren to create a shared experience.
The content is an immersive puppetry experience; it is funny, it is moving, it contains recognisable characters, it captures the essence of family, stimulates memories of old-world items and old- world events, contains live music, at times is personalised and always encourages resident contribution and connection. We have taken on feedback regarding sound levels, sightlines, cultural preferences, attention spans and themes then compared that with effective therapies into dementia stages and healthy ageing. All of which has built a program that is relevant, valuable and reflects a high standard of professional artistry.
At the end of the booking, to support and supplement the program, staff will be provided with a creative therapy report, based on artists observations during their individual visits for ongoing care suggestions and engagement strategies.
“I have never seen the residents stay engaged for an entire performance, they were captivated. Other times they fidget or quickly have had enough but today they sat through this entire show laughing, reminiscing and interacting. There were two residents that stood out to me, the first one is completely deaf but was smiling and engaged the entire time and the second is a gentleman who has only recently come to be with us but doesn’t want to attend any group activities and often sits alone in his room. Today, he wanted to come to this performance so I watched him closely, and he was smiling the whole time.”
MEDIA
ABC – 7.30 – 23/11/22
VIDEO: How puppetry is being used to enhance wellbeing in aged care residents
AUSTRALIAN AGEING AGENDA – 31/05/22
Puppet therapy putting smiles on faces
ABC – 30/07/21
How puppetry and theatre skills are helping people with dementia
‘That was really fantastic, there was a resident who is nonverbal and I was worried how she might go, but she was smiling and excited and was physically communicating with her body the whole time, that was great to see”
WHY PUPPETRY?
Puppetry is particularly valuable for creating meaningful arts experiences:
- Puppets can be a tool for enhancing community engagement, social relationships, communication and increase sense of agency
- Puppets provide a sense of safety
- Puppets are empathetic listeners
For the aged care community, Forever Young can provide:
- A way of enhancing healthcare environments through incorporating progressive arts practises that not only achieve a community approach to care, but also create shared family experiences.
- Purposeful, interactive experiences that provide community wellbeing, resulting in reduction of complex behaviours or emotional isolation.
- More sustainable relationships between staff and residents.
- Potentially minimised intervention of pharmaceutical means by incorporating holistic alternative approaches, improving the wellbeing of the individual.
“It was first class- I will go lie down and laugh it off”
“It was very clever”
“Loved it, it took me back. It’s been a very long time since I’ve seen a puppet show”
“That was so funny, very different to anything I have seen before”