Council for Third Age launches a toolkit for seniors to access their own state of well-being.

 

The Council for Third Age (C3A) launched a Positive Ageing toolkit for third agers at its inaugural positive ageing conference called “Happiness in your 3rd Age”, which focuses on staying happy and being positive about ageing. The simple DIY toolkit, which complements the new Action Plan for Successful Ageing for Singapore, will help seniors to assess their own state of well-being and improve it. It also allows them to discover themselves through learning and acquiring new skills and hobbies.

“Every single person wants to be happy in whatever state of life they are in,” said Chua Foo Yong, chairman of C3A. Added C3A’s CEO Soh Swee Ping, “Ageing well begins with having a positive mindset: A combination of optimism, open-mindedness and proactivity. We want to encourage positive ageing by providing individuals with the tools to chart their self-discovery journey. After which, they can decide the aspect of their lives which they can make changes, or even have meaningful contributions which can positively impact the lives of others.”

The toolkit covers the seven dimensions of wellness – physical, intellectual, social, emotional, financial, vocational and spiritual aspects. Through the exercises embedded in the toolkit, seniors can discover their wellness level across these seven aspects of ageing, and explore ways to strengthen areas of weaknesses. They will need to answer simple questions and tabulate their scores, map them on the Self-Discovery Wheel and check out a network of resources to participate in various programmes and activities. Seniors can chart their progress and there are 52 inspirational cards to spur them on. Prior to its launch, the toolkit was tested with about 100 seniors in the focus group.

Shared guest-of-honour, Dr Amy Khor, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Health and Manpower, of the toolkit, “The more we understand ourselves, the better we are able to seek out opportunities available to help us age well and meaningfully.”

She added that with lifespans increasing, ageing should not be feared. Instead of worrying about this, Dr Khor said, “we should all celebrate longevity and plan ahead to enjoy life and pursue our aspirations within our longer years of life”.

The toolkit will be available at C3A’s partners like WINGS, YAH! College, RSVP Singapore and Fei Yue Community Services, and from next week onwards, at C3A’s office during office hours. It can also be downloaded online at C3A’s website at www.c3a.org.sg this week. According to C3A, 20,000 to 30,000 of the first batch of toolkits will be distributed by end of next year.

 

SIDEBOX: Keynote address during the conference   Chairman of non-profit organisation, Honour Singapore, Professor Lim Siong Guan (left) gave his keynote address at the conference titled “3rd Age: Open Arm, Open Minds, Open Hearts.” He shared what third agers can give to those around them including their capabilities, experience, etc and that their third age should be considered the “age of giving”. He warned that we should not be a YOYO (you on your own) society and we need to be more aware of our surroundings and appreciate those who are “invisible”. “It is the people who give us service but we act as if they are invisible” or saying thank you to the bus driver when one gets off near him. He added that these people are integral and useful parts of our lives.

 

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