Madeleine Taplin

With the current COVID-19 lockdown set to continue, questions have been raised regarding the increasing chance of loneliness and anxiety in NSW citizens, particularly among older residents. As the Delta Variant is incredibly infectious, we are seeing far more elderly citizens choosing to completely isolate in their own homes, and whilst this may be effective in lessening the chance of contraction, constant isolation has proven to have significant detrimental impacts on the mental and physical health of individuals. To help combat these increasing chances of loneliness, The Resilience Centre and Ku-ring-gai Council are teaming up to offer help and support through a range of initiatives.

Four free online Zoom sessions are slated to be held over the August period to help lessen the impacts of social isolation for the older residents in our community. Partnered with the Epping-based Resilience Centre, which specialises in providing psychological help for people from all backgrounds, the Council is aiming to deliver a range of practical tools and psychological resilience through positive and solution focused training. The sessions will ultimately help to fill the absence of the usual face-to-face connection and support networks that a significant number of elderly people rely on.

Mayor Jennifer Anderson stated, “we are hearing anecdotally from outreach services such as Community Transport that older people are reporting higher than normal feelings of anxiety and isolation. The Council wants to offer support to our residents as much as we can during the current lockdown.” In addition, a special Zoom seminar will be hosted for carers who may be struggling to look after their family members without their usual support networks.

All four free sessions start at 10:30am and are scheduled to last around one hour:

  • Tuesday 17th August: Coping with Uncertainty
  • Monday 23rd August: Caring for family members without support networks.
  • Tuesday 31st August: reframing your response to COVID-19.

Furthermore, there are a range of other support tools available on the Council’s website, such as free entertainment and library services to help make the time in lockdown pass by quicker. To book into the online sessions visit https://www.krg.nsw.gov.au/seniorsevents