Challenge question
How might the City of Oshawa support a more holistic approach to Mental Health initiatives through intergenerational opportunities specific to older adults who may not have the financial resources and/or ability to use digital technology?
Educational partners
Course
Mental Health Challenges
Instructor
Kimberlee Neault
City branches
Innovation and Transformation and OSCC 55+
Student Solutions
Mental Health Challenges
This full year class focused on intergenerational opportunities for older adults without access to digital technology. The class divided into eight groups to pitch potential solutions to City of Oshawa and OSCC55+ staff. The ideas included: Crafting Together, That’s So Trivial, Winter Tea Party, Beautifying the City, Scribble Memories, Planting Program, Down Memory Lane, Volunteer Program.
Staff from the City and OSCC55+ selected the Volunteer Program for implementation, and the PSW students were incorporated into the OSCC55+ Volunteer Program, given training and orientation. This provided the OSCC55+ with a pool of qualified candidates while providing an experiential learning opportunity for students in the field.
Site restrictions due to COVID-19 didn't allow for all students to be in-person and therefore some students became digital volunteers, developing digital pieces to be used by the OSCC55+. Some example digital topics included: Basic Yoga, All About Canada, Video Reminders, Trivia Games, Astrology, Let’s visit Algonquin Park Video Tour, and Daily Affirmations.
Check out this Chronicle article written about the course:
DC's PSW students help older adults with mental health - The Chronicle (durhamcollege.ca)
Students split up into 8 groups to pitch potential solutions to the above challenge. The City then chose one solution for students to implement in the Winter 2022 semester:
Crafting Together: A communal art piece centred around cultural expression to support inclusion and diversity. Senior participants create artwork in representation of their cultures, share and exhibit, building a safe way of cultural understanding between generations.
That’s So Trivial: An interactive trivia game exposing seniors to trending topics of the younger generations brought into local senior housing units throughout the city.
Winter Tea Party: A virtual intergenerational tea party where participants are provided with kits sent to their homes to encourage social interaction in a safe way.
Beautifying the City: An intergenerational community gardening program where senior participants along with youth contribute to the city’s community gardens.
Scribble Memories: An intergenerational letter exchange program between seniors and students of the PSW program. Providing a point of contact for isolated seniors and incorporating a variety of language options to encourage inclusion.
Planting Program: Working with local youth groups, seniors and youth have a planting day in a designated area of the city. Communal planting during winter will be done virtually at home through potted planting kits sent to seniors that will be transplanted in spring as a group.
Down Memory Lane: A scrapbooking project to encourage family bonding, self-confidence, knowledge sharing and support cognitive development. Kits would be provided to senior participants with the intent that multiple generations would spend memorable time with their loved one learning and creating the scrapbook for future generations.
OSCC Volunteer Program: The integration of PSW students into the already successful OSCC Volunteer pool. Incorporating Durham College’s PSW Program into the OSCC Volunteer Program would provide a pool of qualified candidates with expertise the OSCC would benefit from while also providing experiential learning opportunity for students in the field.