Over the past few weeks, our incredible service users Sydney, Brian, and Elizabeth have been working on their green-thumbs and nurturing their own plant pots, gifted by ourselves, and blooming some beautiful and colourful flowers!
Not only has this developed their skills with gardening and created a new and exciting hobby for our service users, but this has also nurtured relationships between our service users and care staff. This is just one of the many activities our staff and service users take part in together, to develop that bond even further.
So, what are the long-term benefits of engaging in new hobbies and interests in older age?
The importance of hobbies
There are a number of benefits of engaging with new interests and hobbies later on in life, including:
- Lowering the risk of developing certain conditions, such as dementia, heart disease, stroke, and some types of cancer.
- Can increase the individual’s life span.
- Can promote happiness and reduce depression.
- Can enhance coping abilities.
- Helps with socialisation and communication skills.
- Improves thinking abilities.
- Gives the individual a strong sense of purpose.
- Provides stress relief.
- Promotes healthy well-being.
So, here at Homecarers, we like to ensure we are engaging with our service users with any current hobbies they have, and spark interest with new hobbies – like with our flower growing!
Companionship
Alongside encouraging our service users to engage in their favourite hobbies and interests, we also offer companionship services to all of our clients to provide mental and emotional support. This can include running errands (e.g: shopping calls, collecting medication from a pharmacy, etc), playing social games, walking the client’s dog with them, accompanying the service user on journeys, going to the theatre, cinema, or social clubs.
A lot of the time, some of our service users may not have an extensive care plan, and for the majority of the care call, our Care Assistants will provide companionship. Many elderly people like a companion to spend time with them or to support them in different activities. Our caring team can share quality time with you; share your interests, be that extra support when you go out or anything. The possibilities are endless!
Further information
For more information about the services we provide, please visit our ‘Services’ page here.
For more information about providing support to those in later life, please visit Age UK’s website here.
