Sounding Out Your Heritage

Project

Introduction

We never envisaged that Sounding Out Your Heritage would be such an amazing success and produce some dramatic early results. If you want to improve health and well-being in older adults using learning then read on.

The participants made some fantastic resources: CDs, posters, leaflets, an object box and a sensory quilt. To inspire and help care and heritage professionals, we have collected our experiences together in GEM’s Best Practice Toolkit.

We had a very short time to complete Sounding Out Your Heritage. We partnered with three housing providers: Abbeyfield Kent Society, Canterbury City Council and Southern Housing Group, who gave us access to five of our six groups of over 60s. Working with museum educators and freelancers, the team took the project into sheltered housing schemes, residential care homes and a participant’s house.

One housing manager reported changes in the behaviour of her residents after just two sessions. They had become enthused, and even those normally reticent to converse with others were discussing the project and also a range of other topics. Throughout the project we were regaled with such stories. Housing professionals even reported seeing beneficial results in individuals with challenging mental health problems.

I hope you enjoy reading about our project and that it inspires you to get involved in something similar.

Finally, I wish to thank all the participants for their enthusiasm, commitment and good humour which made this project such an enjoyable success.

Dr John Stevenson
Director, GEM