1 ‘Feeling at Home’ Using the Geffrye’s collections, buildings and gardens to support the wellbeing of vulnerable older people Welcome to Geffrye! For those who haven’t been, Geffrye is museum of the home… but also gardens – front and back! Garden saved the building! This is what I do here! Vuln people – over 75s, socially isolated, people living with dementia, people with variety of abilities and disabilities Wellbeing – being active, social, keeping learning (NEF) Mostly going to be talking about - Evergreen Gardeners and particularly Access & Recruitment But before I do… Lorna Cruickshanks, Older People’s Project Coordinator

2 Taking the gardens out Stimulating conversation and reminiscenceInspiration for creative activities Outreach to local day services, care homes, hospitals – often do sessions which are garden based Take cuttings from the gardens – very multisensory – smelly, feely, visual colours – good for older audience Guessing what things are, what remind people of, what used for – cleaning, cooking Were you a keen gardener? Did you have a garden? Lots of Bangladeshi and African Carribbean people in area – land, big gardens to no green spaces here/small balconies or small gardens Lavender and calming but also memory over long term How flowers and plants have inspired much design e.g. wallpapers, textiles, decoration on tea cups etc. – create own our stuff Craft which can be done at different levels – inclusive! Take aways – mementoes.

3 Evergreen Gardeners Initially ran 2012-2014 Back at start of 2015Monthly sessions 10 raised beds Gardening, and garden-related arts and crafts 17 regulars (mostly Hackney-based) 2 hrs 3rd Thurs of each month Mixture of activities going on in each session – an outdoor and an indoor activity, gardening jobs board, people take it upon themselves to do what they want to now! one gentleman led activity in the past – hanging baskets

4 Idea of what we get up to STH - Fresh air! Physically active. Green. Benefits of this for wellbeing are being well documented. Social element! Learning, keeping our brains active.

5 Also indoors – not everyone likes to be outdoors too much, weather-dependent!Planting into pots indoors. We have use of a greenhouse. Painting labels for what we grow Bug houses Christmas! Cooking with produce – muffins; mocktails!

6 *Making things accessible and inclusiveTransport Personal care support assistant High staff : participant ratio – 6 : 17 Volunteer support too Space – ramp, beds Activities and equipment in our group we have a mix of men and women (5 men, 12 women), different cultural backgrounds. most in 70s, oldest is 90. range of disabilities people live with – stroke survivors now with visual impairments, limited dexterity/movement, limited speech; people living with dementia; a few wheelchair users/motor scooter. Consultation with local partners done while setting up project – 2 things which came out again and again – transport and care will be the barriers to people joining the group Transport – HCT, Your Car, Dial-a-Ride, we organise and cover cost with our budget. Some people don’t leave the house otherwise. Care – hired personal care support assistant who also works as facilitator. Some people come with carer, or partner who is support Staff ratio Realise these are costly things which it’s rare to be able to have! Very lucky to have the funding we do – external funding from CBT. Volunteers – training e.g. dementia with Age Exchange; moving and handling people; dementia friends training free Activities and equipment – thinking about inclusive activities. Equipment being talked about later – but thinking about those small thigns which will make a big difference. Thrive great org for advice on this. important part is to challenge people too? Just asking how can I best help? e.g. potting plant with someone use of only one hand… Options for people

7 *Recruitment How can you reach people?How can you reach socially isolated older people? Partnerships! Word of mouth Outreach sessions – reaching people who access services, who live in housing schemes Stroke project Sheltered housing scheme Alz Soc dementia cafes But those who aren’t accessing any services? GPs HMLS – reach lots of otherwise isolated people. They have great recruitment methods to reach 800 older people in Hackney. Advice on leaflet and what will stand out, what older people will want to know e.g. free, transport. Word of mouth – participants knowing others, latest addition to group has come via neighbour of one of our participants who became aware of someone else around the corner who’s husband had just gone into a care home so she rang me and then put us in touch

8 *Unlocking the Geffrye*Energy Garden Groundwork project looking to green London overground stations – Evergreens and Hoxton *Unlocking the Geffrye Getting involved in more EG confident, ownership of Geffrye AND known by museum and gardeners Interpretation of gardens for other visitors

9 More info… Evaluation report 2012-2014 Film Activity packMore about impact of work Practical activities as selected by Evergreens

10 Cost £750 – transport £250 and staff £400, food and materialsChallenges- logistics, nature of audience, not as frequent Evaluation – wellbeing measures, observation, record of numbers