HOW LISTENING CAN BRING LIFE
A day event for anyone
involved with Pastoral Care of older people
WHY
Listening to our older people is especially
important in our society that remains focused on activity and achievements and
does not value quality of life experience and the wisdom that comes from living
a long life.
Yet our older people do face real challenges
of increased frailty; loss of friends; disappointments through life and often
lack of choice in current forms supported care.
WHAT
So what have each of us learnt from the
older people we have lived alongside? What has listening to them taught us about
listening well and ageing well? We will listen to one another and gather our
experiences and reflect upon the richness of the life experience of the elderly
and how to listen to them and bring them compassion and valuing. We will tackle
some of the more difficult issues, how to bring hope when older people feel
hopeless; how to bring questions of faith into the conversation; how to work
out what lifts their spirits?
A simple framework will be offered to help
you reflect yourself on your visits in a focused way. The exercises we use you
can replicate with others who are also caring, potentially giving networks of
learning and support at home.
AIM
The intention of this day is to allow us
all to appreciate the power of listening well; so that listening can be both
ordinary and extraordinary.
Above all it is about reflecting on how to
listen so that those we listen to, most especially the elderly, experience
affirmation, appreciation, understanding and so given life.
The beauty of listening well is that it is
reciprocal process so that the benefits are mutual, thus making our gift of
time and listening life-giving for us, too.
Jenny Williams
December 2015
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