Did you see something unusual happen at a residential aged care facility or see an older person you know acting out of character… Are you ready to listen?
Commencing on 15 June, which is World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, Advocare’s ‘Ready to Listen. Be Ready to Act’ webinar series will assist community members and service provider staff to identify the signs and signals of elder abuse, and how to act on them. Find out more about the free series.
Elder Abuse is:
“…a single or repeated act, or lack of appropriate action, occurring within any relationship where there is an expectation of trust, which causes harm or distress to an older person.”
The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates almost 16% of people aged 60 years and older may have experienced elder abuse. In WA that’s equivalent to 75,000 people.
The abuse of older people is everybody’s business, and silence is its greatest ally. Advocare’s advocates hear about the different categories of abuse every day in their work. It can be a combination of financial, neglect, psychological, social, physical and the most challenging silent form of all – sexual abuse or assault.
While some of these forms can be picked up quite quickly, sexual abuse or sexual assault is the most secretive, shameful for the older person and is the most difficult to see, particularly if the person has dementia or other limited capacity to communicate the abuse.
Sexual abuse is not the most comfortable topic for anyone to talk about, and its definition is broader than you might think. Are you ready if someone opens up to you about this – and are you able to recognise the signs?
Our free ‘Ready to Listen. Be Ready to Act’ series, is specially tailored to both the general public and staff working in aged care and other health-related areas.
Two of the four webinars are designed for you to either join us online or take part by watching the broadcast live, in person and then to enjoy morning tea with us and ask any questions on your mind.
The final event in the series is a Question and Answer (Q&A) Follow-up Forum on elder abuse where the audience can put questions to an expert panel for discussion.
Register for our ‘Ready to Listen. Be Ready to Act’ webinar series:
Find out more about what you’ll learn at each of these sessions and book your place.
- General audience (in person, online) – Wednesday 15 June
- Aged care and health-related staff. Daytime timeslot (online only) – Thursday 16 June
- Aged care and health-related staff. Evening timeslot (online only) – Thursday 16 June
- Community and service provider staff. Q&A Follow-up Forum (in person, online) – Wednesday 22 June
We’re ready to listen. Are you?